Your Boat

[James S]

Ours is a 1978 CT48 under refit and reconfiguration
Full keel, canoe stern, sloop.

[bstreep]

1990 Macintosh 47. Not likely to run into too many here, as there were only 16 made.

[Woodsong]

I guess techincally ours is a monhull!

[svquest2]

I have a 1980 Barefoot 37 CC sloop by Irwin made from the Irwin 37 Mk V molds to custom specs. I also have an older 26' Thunderbird Sloop.

Joe S

[ldrhawke]

A C&C 40CB, I purchased new 27 years ago. Just completely re-outfitted it; new mylar sails, new upholstery, new windows, new instruments,new engine, etc. I'll probably be putting it on the market in a few more months. Moving up to a larger boat.

[rickquann]

C & C Wave 26 (which is the same hull as a Mark V 27 with a wing keel and shorter mast) This is the skinny water version

[jayncee]

Brand new Hunter 49--traded in a 2003 Jeanneau Deck Salon. Haven`t been sailing yet and we are still learning the boat, but hope to get out this weekend. I think there may be a bias against Hunters on this list. We never considered a Hunter before we saw this one. We are very impressed with what we`ve found so far--very well engineered and we keep finding things that surprise us.

[sv-Mystique]

Jayncee - I couldn't agree more! We purchased our 2007 Hunter 41 last May and absolutely love her. The build quality, design and sailibility totally out perform other boats in her class. She blew my socks off two weeks ago, reefed jib and mail she hit 8.3 in 15 - 18 knts of wind. We are preparing for a 12 day cruise starting this friday.

[Eco Voyager]

I just joined the site and currently have an RL24 Drop keel version trailer sailer in OZ. She is fast and fun, just got to know how to handle her as she is tender. Before I had a Seaway 25 which, as I am often solo, got a bit heavy to launch etc but was a great sea boat for a TS. I took her out up the coast in 35knot+ winds in 4 to 5 mtre swells and not one wave came aboard. I am a bit crazy as i am planning a coastal trip to Port Stephens for the RL. You see it is all about seamanship and common sense really.

Get out there and do it in whatever you can, wherever you can before it is too late!
Colin
"Life is a daring adventure .... or nothing!" Helen Keller.

[avazquez]

We own a Beneteau First 456 by German Frers. Very fast, very stiff and a pleasure to sail upwind specially if its blowing over 15knots.

[Samadhi V]

Our home is a Tayana 55 - She has been very good to us.

[Tempest245]

Wow! there are some gorgeous vessels here.

Tempest is a 34 sabre

[Tahiti Rover]

My boat is a steel version of John Hanna's Tahiti ketch. She is a fabulous bluewater cruiser with a design reputation that spans over 80 sea-going years. Tahiti ketches have crossed every ocean and rounded every cape on the planet. In spite of never having been a production boat, it is estimated that over a couple thousand of them have been built all over the world, and many hundreds continue to this day to carry their owners safely to their destinations.

The original 1927 Tahiti design, a 30-footer, called for wooden construction. The first conversion to steel construction was drawn in 1947 by Weston Farmer, then editor of Modern Mechanix magazine, and the updated design was named "Tahitiana." Unfortunately, the amateur construction method called for the use of flat sheets of steel and hard-chines, resulting in two chines showing above the waterline and, in my opinion, making for an ugly boat.

Things got real interesting in the early 1970s when Merritt Walter, an engineer, designer and boat builder with an international reputation for creating large, stunningly beautiful gaff-rigged schooners for inter-island trading in the South Pacific, was approached by "an experienced deepwater sailor intent on a yacht with a traditional look, but one with good sailing ability on all points, not just reaching and running."

The original Tahiti ketch had a reputation for being slow and a poor windward performer. Merritt Walter conducted an engineering analysis and comparison of both Hanna's original Tahiti ketch, and Farmer's Tahitiana. Calling upon his first-hand experience with improving the speed and windward performance of his large gaff-rigged steel schooners, he introduced into the Tahiti's basic design parameters a longer waterline, an improved stem/forefoot/keel configuration, a more favorable prismatic coefficient and ballast displacement ratio, plus a larger sail area. Tahiti ketch owners had long discovered that she was under canvassed, and Mr. Walter's refinement added 111 more square feet, to 581 sq.ft. over Tahiti's original 470 sq.ft.

The make-over was phenomenal! Merritt Walter retained all of what had made the Tahiti ketch such an exceptional sea-keeping vessel, as well as her deck/bulwark/house configuration which contributes so much to her "ship like" feel. Walter named her Tahiti Rover, and called for multi-chine steel construction, but both chines were now below the waterline, creating a curvacious hull that mirrors precisely John Hanna's beautiful little cost-conscious cruiser.

John Hanna designed the Tahiti ketch for the average work-a-day guy of modest means. His intent was to produce a boat that would be “the best for cruising with maximum comfort and safety, with minimum effort and risk.” My Tahiti Rover is gaff-rigged on main and mizzen, and was built in 1991. After 17 years of service, she has not a speck of rust on her, inside or out. Once or twice a year I lift the sole boards and wipe away the dust and galley dribblings with a lightly oiled rag. I spend less than $100 a year on her maintenance, most of that being for varnish for the hatches, toe rails, and cockpit coamings, and perhaps some halyard or sheet cordage. A simple bronze manual windlass handles the ground tackle, and an Aires windvane spares the skipper at the helm. There is not a single halyard or sheet winch on board. Her motion is gentle, and she behaves like a lady in the nastiest weather. Hanna said this about his Tahiti in a 1935 magazine article:

“She is dry; that means she stays on top of the waves, and does not tend to stick her nose under them. She is easy in her motion; she is remarkably easy to handle, and obedient to her helm; the rig, known as the ketch rig, is extraordinarily well balanced, not only under full sails, which all boats are, but under any combination of sails, which few boats are; and she has that much-desired but seldom-attained merit of a good cruiser, the ability to sail herself and hold course for hours with the tiller lashed.”

No other cruising design has logged more sea miles, crossed more oceans, rounded more capes in greater numbers than the Tahiti ketch. If a sailor is looking for an uncompromised blue water vessel with impeccable sea-going credentials, it would be hard to beat the original Tahiti ketch if her sail plan was improved to enhance speed and windward performance. In steel, like Merritt Walter's Tahiti Rover, she is an incredibly strong, dry and easily handled vessel.

Although now retired, I believe Merritt Walter still sells plans for the Tahiti Rover. He has a website (Tahiti Rover by Merritt Walter) that offers a free booklet about the design. I will be happy to answer any questions about my own Tahiti Rover. And, no, she is not for sale at any price, thank you very much.

[Hampus]

Amigo 40. 31ft double ender, full keel.

[Danceswithsails]

Ahoy All!

My dog and I ease around on our Vagabond 14 daysailor when we're not pushing her beyond extremes. We joined a the Lake Conroe Sailing Assoc. so we can run with the big dogs. We race weekly, and my 1st mate (dog) actually sits up on the gunwale -blows me away. I only pray that someday we'll be struttin' with ye full growns.


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