37' Herreshoff Meadowlark Ketch?

[Jim Cate]

This is a very interesting boat to me! I've never considered lee boards as a performance oriented feature, yet the above comments started me thinking...
and their similarity to the dagger boards on canting keel monos popped into my mind. Not exactly the same, but I can see how well designed lee boards might be a good idea in a performance oriented shallow draft boat.

Thanks for posting all the info!

Jim

[PineyWoodsPete]

Originally Posted by Whipray

Hiya Pete!

She was just south of Big Pine Key when Irma made landfall...pretty much dead center of the storm.

Even though Bay L'ark is a very desirable boat, one Meadowlark is enough for me, LOL!

However, every now and then someone will express an interest in buying mine. Next time someone shows interest, I'd be happy to send them Fred's way.

What's he asking?

Don't know - it's changed a couple of times. Been a while since I've talked with him, and he's recovering from a hip replacement. I'll give him a call...

In the meantime, below a few shots of interior and cockpit. The boomkin structure aft has been replaced with new teak a few years ago and varnished, and now has a traveler track for the mizzen sheet across it.

[AA3JY]

I received some photos from my brothers first wife as I had asked about his Meadowlark Ketch from years past. I had never seen her but he had always described her as a special wooden vessel. She was built by the Concordia Boat Yard’s master boat builder for himself. He used some wood off his property and her finish and form was refined but she was a simple vessel. I think light was kerosene lanterns and navigation was via compass and dead reckoning. She only drew a foot and a half and her leeboards opened up the cabin as there was no centerboard trunk to take up space. I believe she was 37 ft in length.
When I compare the vessels of today, they are complex machines. There are power windlass’s, hot power water, nav equipment and radar. Most boats folks cruise in today are certainly much more sophisticated than my brother’s Blue Chip but the adventures shared are no less fun and memorable.

Originally Posted by AA3JY

‘Blue Chip’ https://ibb.co/rmcHBnB

[Jdege]

Curlew is certainly simple. There's no electronics on her other than the running lights. Only one winch.

She even has the Herreshoff port lights.

[psk125]

Those ports are the epitome of KISS. Should make putting in screens fairly easy too.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by psk125

Those ports are the epitome of KISS. Should make putting in screens fairly easy too.

Yep. The screens are sitting on a shelf in the cabin.

[Whipray]

This may be of interest to some...

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Whipray

This may be of interest to some...

Thanks.

[Joseph D]

I have owned and sailed a Vaitses 37 Meadowlark for about a decade. Going in for a total refit this winter. Happy to talk to any owners about the boat.

[Jdege]

Whipray has also owned one.

Where did you sail her?

[LEK]

hi Jdege, I have recently discovered that their was a glass/core Meadowlark made and I am actively looking to purchase, however it is difficult to obtain specifics. if you have a minute would you please answer a few questions. 1. what is the exact headroom under the cabin house overhead? 2. how thick is the foam core (topsides and bottom)? 3. what is the glass layup schedule topsides and bottom? 4. does she have a long wide and thick lead shoe attached externally to the bottom as the wood design had(recalling from memory it was 17'L x 14"W x 4"Th)? 5. do the masts fold with tabernacles? 6. do you think a flatbed trailer could be easily modified to transport the vessel at freeway speeds? 7. what is the weight of the vessel/trailer and tongue weight? 8. do you think the hull would need reinforcing for a lot of trailering as I don't think(not certain) trailering was a primary design goal? thanks for any assistance. Lawrence k
9495729281

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by lawrence k

hi Jdege, I have recently discovered that their was a glass/core Meadowlark made and I am actively looking to purchase, however it is difficult to obtain specifics.

The flyer from New Engand Boat Builders I posted earlier in this thread is the most of the info I have, other than examining my own boat.

Keep in mind - I've been told that there were only 20 or so built, and each as a custom build. They're each a bit different.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

if you have a minute would you please answer a few questions.

Not a problem.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

1. what is the exact headroom under the cabin house overhead?

I've been told that most have centerline headroom of 70 inches, except those that have a raised coach roof over the galley. But most seem to have a very shallow bilge.

Curlew doesn't have a bilge at all, just a sump, and her centerline headroom is 72 inches.


She only has an 8-foot beam, which makes her very narrow. The reason, AIUI, that she leeboards is to avoid having a centerboard trunk in the middle of the cabin. So naturally, she had a folding-leaf table right where her centerboard trunk would have been.


I pulled that out and installed a folding tabletop I threw together from scrap on a Lagun RV table arm. I'll replace the top, someday, but it makes it a lot easier to move around the cabin.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

2. how thick is the foam core (topsides and bottom)?

I've been told that she has a 1-inch-thick Airex core. I've only drilled through the hull in one spot, fairly high up on the transom, and while I didn't measure it, it was about an inch thick. The cabin portlights, cockpit lockers and lazarettes, etc., all seem to be simple fiberglass, perhaps 1/4 inch thick. I've no sense of how thick the deck is - except that it seems solid. I've noticed no flex as I walk on it.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

3. what is the glass layup schedule topsides and bottom?

No idea.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

4. does she have a long wide and thick lead shoe attached externally to the bottom as the wood design had(recalling from memory it was 17'L x 14"W x 4"Th)?

I've been told she has 4000 pounds in her keel. I've no way of measuring it, but there's certainly a real keel there, as shallow as it is.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

5. do the masts fold with tabernacles?

I've seen pictures of Vaitses Meadowlarks that did not have their masts on tabernacles. But I've seen online sale listings that did. I have no idea how common it was.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

6. do you think a flatbed trailer could be easily modified to transport the vessel at freeway speeds?

Certainly. The keel is broad, long, and flat.


You'll have to watch the weight distribution, though. Curlew is on a trailer that was custom built for her.


I hired an experienced boat hauler to tow her from the yard where she sat when I bought her to the marina where she sits now, and he said she developed significant sway at speeds over 45 mph. That's usually a symptom of insufficient tongue weight - the center of gravity of the boat being too far back.

Given the way she sits on the trailer, there's no way of moving her forward in the cradle, and since the trailer was custom built for the boat, I was wondering if they'd screwed up the math.

But then I realized I was moving her with fifty gallons of diesel in her tanks - which are under the cockpit lockers far behind the center. Fifty gallons of fuel is about 350 pounds, which is enough to throw off the balance. I'm thinking the trailer may have been designed assuming the tanks were empty. The prior owner drove her from Maine to Minnesota and didn't have any problems.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

7. what is the weight of the vessel/trailer and tongue weight?

I've been told the boat weights 12,000 pounds, and the trailer is registered at 15,000 pounds gross. I've not weighed either boat or trailer, myself. I intend to weigh the trailer itself, sometime this summer, once I splash the boat, and then the boat and trailer together next fall. I'll be testing tongue weight, etc., then.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

8. do you think the hull would need reinforcing for a lot of trailering as I don't think(not certain) trailering was a primary design goal?

She was designed to beach. To dry out on the sand, sitting flat. She'd sit pretty on a flatbed. The trailer she's on is not a flatbed, her weight is carried on three horizontal cross members, and she's been on that trailer for 20 years and there's no indication of problems.

Originally Posted by lawrence k

thanks for any assistance. Lawrence k
9495729281

Not a problem.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^
Nicely done, Jdedge! The power and usefulness of CF when we're not harping on politics and other off topic areas is considerable.

Jim