Welcome aboard! Here is a little Clipper Marine
History 
"Clipper Marine, was originally founded in Sausalito, Ca. And their
goal was to build trailerable 'glass boats. As such, they were the first
to use the swing
keel in a
small boat. All the boats were designed by
W.I.B
Crealock of
Pacific Seacraft fame. The original dozen or so boats
were all 21, with cast iron keels. Once production got rolling, they
moved the assembly line down to Santa Ana in '72 or '73. The plans were
redrawn, and soon a
bilge keel 23 was being produced. This was one of
the first to use high-performance NACA foils, and is supposed to be a
good performer. The original plans for the 21 were enlarged to the 26 MK
I with a doghouse, and later a MK II flush
deck. All of these were
pretty good sellers and the decision was made to produce a 30 and 32
ketch. This was the start of the company's downfall, as they just
started increasing the
hull length for the new boats without doing
anything to the rigs. The rig on the 26 and 30 is identical, and they
added the mizzen on the 32. The 32 was unique in that it was the largest
trailerable
boat produced up until that time. In the meantime, they also
started producing a 1/4 tonner (26 ft with a high aspect fixed fin keel)
and a couple of other 24-26 designs based on the original 21
hull
design.
Crealock was involved in the redesign of each one, by the way.
In about '76 the decision was made to produce a true blue-water boat,
and Crealock sat down with a new sheet of paper. The drawings were even
completed, and a hull
mold was actually started. Unfortunately, the
owner and CEO disappeared with the company bankroll one night and the
company filed bankruptcy. The
mold for the 37 and the drawings were
returned to Crealock, and he made some minor design changes before
having the first boat produced by none other than
Pacific Seacraft. And
from that, the legend of the Crealock 37 was born, which is one of the
most sought after sub 40-foot cruising boats. Okay enough on the
history........ The 26 is 25'10" overall, 19 ft LWL with an 8' beam and
weighs in at a little over 3500 lbs. The keel itself is solid cast iron
(550lbs) and hung on a 1/2" pivot bolt with a 3/8" lock bolt. Check and
see what the hull number is. The last 4 digits will give you the year
and month is was produced (ie. CM00430674- hull number 43 of the 26ft
MKII and June 74) . The post 75 boats were very poorly manufactured!
Don't worry too much about the flat hull sections. Ever see the bottom
of a high-performance
dinghy or a Moore 24? See, Crealock does know what
he is doing. The boats are a little
tender in a sea way, but that is
because of the light weight. The only real problem is the low surface
area of the foils when you are going to
weather. I had ours out in 30+
kt winds with a reefed main surfing at 10 knots! The keel trunk is solid
glass, so don't worry about that unless it has been grounded. The
pop-top is
core with foam and will probably have to be reopened and
cored with
plywood. As for the bulkheads, if they were wet for very long
at all, they are probably shot and will have to be replaced. Check for
sagging under the
mast step, and where the chainplates are bolted to the
hull for any cracking also."
Enjoy! .................................................. ............_/)
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions