Porter's Boat Search

[Porter Wayfare]

subtitled: Three Alberg 22s, 2 Moose

I'm kind of fond of Alberg 22s. So, Thursday a week ago I traveled back and forth across Michigan and a little into Canada to see a couple of them.

One of them had the mast up: the first one I've looked at with the mast up. Well, I was a builder/carpenter for a living and it was great to see that rig. I can stand that mast up by myself. I've dealt with a lot of stuff much more difficult than that.

I also got a copy of The Sailor's Sketchbook by Bruce Bingham. It has a drawing of how to stabilize the mast laterally on the way up with a raised pivot point for one pair of the shrouds.

And I got a copy of Inspecting the Aging Sailboat by Don Casey. Both of these books are very helpful. Confidence builders.

So, this is good--quite easily trailerable and the mast can be pretty easily hand raised. Easy up, easy down. These traits add up to more sailing, I'm sure. Sailing--what's that? It seems I'm only driving.

One of the A22s had 4 bronze opening ports. This one could be the boat. It was generally in very good shape. But I am being encouraged by someone who definitely knows what he is talking about to get a moisture meter and check it anyway. He says that with tapping the fiberglass it is possible to detect delamination but it is not possible to detect moisture that way. Moisture is on the way to delamination but it's not there yet and it is possible to save the core if you can dry it out.

He says he has done this on an old Typhoon by drilling lots of 1/4" holes on the inside of the cabin and circulating air with a fan. Even with heat lamps shining on the deck it took a while, but the core is now dry and solid without the major surgery of recoring.

So, I'm looking in to moisture meters. Ugh.

The other A22 I saw was a nice boat except for the completely shot cockpit seat fiberglass. Someone had screwed a wood trim on the seats without sealing the screws. And there was the mouse smell below. It's going to take a lot of bleach, but I suppose it can be cleaned up. This must have been a special boat. It had all stainless hardware and six (!) winches, factory installed.

I'm at the point where my ability to actually see what I'm looking at is increasing rapidly. I am now quite glad that the deal in Nova Scotia didn't go through. I think the surveyor I hired must have come under the manipulative spell of the "broker" to tell me that the boat was "Bristol." I've seen a couple of boats since that were nicer, less money, and the trailers were roadworthy!

Somewhere in all this a boat friend suggested that the busted mast foot on the Kittiwake I saw was the result of it having been dropped as it was being raised by a crane for stepping. That fits the damage I saw, but who knows.

Finally,  I drove 100 miles north of North Bay, Ontario to see another A22. It is a very nice boat--the most meticulously cared for I've seen. Except for the mild dent one of the poppets is pushing into the aft starboard hull. The owner and I tried to back the poppet off, but the nut wouldn't turn. Some of the boat's weight is going to have to be lifted. That, and there was an odd very regular pattern of dimples in the cabin roof on either side of the companionway hatch.... It had a beautiful set of weatherboards.

Just out of North Bay heading north I saw a sign that warned of moose on the road. Up and over the hill past the sign was a moose standing in the middle of the road facing away from me. It didn't react until I had pulled right up behind it. I wonder if it is trained to stand there to underscore the sign's message. Moose are big! I think in a pinch I could drive under one. They don't spring away like the deer we have all over the place where I live. Instead they kind of take a moment to get things organized and then they begin to run through the gears like a heavy semi pulling out. They never reach much more than a gallumph. But they're big. Real big.

On the way back the next day along the same 100 mile stretch of road I suddenly noticed another moose running across the road into my lane. They're quite a dark color and hard to see at first. I locked up the ABS brakes and headed for the shoulder. The moose saw me and turned to the same direction I was heading and we travelled beside each other for a bit.  If I had had my window down I could have slapped it on the ass! It ran back across the road and gave the two cars coming that way the same thrill I had. We all, all four of us, made it without injury.

But it doesn't always work out that way, I hear.

So, I'm closing in on an A22. I must be closing in. I hope I'm closing in.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I'm at the point where my ability to actually see what I'm looking at is increasing rapidly.

No subsitute for getting hands on and understanding for self - the more you learn now, the more time and cash you will likely save later........by not buying more trouble than you bargained for.  IMO relying on others (whether Broker and / or Surveyor is a poor substitute - unless they are writing the checks to fix!).

The main PITA I can see are the distances involved.......I live on a island 9x5 in miles! (Mind, there be over 100,000 of us!).....but me boat was bought from England (a few hundred miles to the North) - so I can sympathise with viewing / buying away from "home".

Anyway, keeps us posted - and if not doing so already, keep a track of the boats you have seen (or simply considered) - if not sold can always go back to them later (sometimes a boat becomes more attractive when cheaper - albeit sometimes not!), and even if sold finding out how much for is a useful datapoint.

[Porter Wayfare]

I have it on good authority that the dimples on the cabin roof of the A22 in New Liskeard were caused by the holes in the masonite pegboard used for core material:

"The dimples on the cabin are actually prints from the pegboard Nye Scott used as core. Mostly they are seen on the hatch covers. Normally the Nye Scott cabin tops are without core, that's a new one to me. My A22  had pegboard core on the deck and cockpit. Main problem with that stuff is delamination, even if it's dry."

[Porter Wayfare]

Any insight into the Lockley Newport 214? There's a nice package near me.

[Bill W]

No answer on the Lockley Porter. Having just joined SailFar, I saw the thread on your ongoing boat search and the fact that you had looked at several Alberg 22s and you came up into Ontario, my part of the world.

Just did a quick search on Kijiji and see 4 listed currently. Maybe you have seen these listed, but thought  I would pass it along to you. No interest on my part in any of these boats. Would like to see you get something soon

http://ontario.kijiji.ca/f-alberg-22-cars-vehicles-boats-watercraft-W0QQCatIdZ29QQKeywordZalbergQ2022QQisSearchFormZtrue

[Porter Wayfare]

Thanks for the thought. I've looked at two of those A22s. Kijiji is plastered on my computer. It's a great resource.

I sure did think buying a sailboat would be easier than it has turned out to be. Not only that, but I got a moisture meter which has complicated things even further.  One really nice looking boat turned out to have some moisture problems. I'm glad I found that out, but I really liked the boat. The owner withdrew it from sale when I told him. But I think I could have tackled the problem.

By the way, I just finished putting the first couple coats of varnish over the 5-or-so coats of West 207 on my W's decks. I already did three of West 206 with Barrier Coat additive and four more with aluminum powder on the bottom. I added some eel hormones I got from a guy in England to the mix for speed. She's looking great.

[Captain Smollett]

Since a Kittiwake has been mentioned in this thread, I thought I'd throw this one in for consideration.  I realize it's a long way from Michigan and no mention of trailer, but she looks nice anyway.

Kittiwake for sale on Lake Norman, NC

[skylark]

http://swmi.craigslist.org/boa/3093116722.html

[Porter Wayfare]

Yes, I really like the way a Kittiwake looks too. But when I checked one out I was surprised that is had less room inside than an Alberg 22.

[Bill W]

Porter,

Where are you in the search process now?

[CharlieJ]

Yeah Porter- where are you now- been a long dry spell here on your search.

[Porter Wayfare]

Greetings all,
What have I been up to?  Well, here is a piece I wrote to answer that. Fair winds to you all this coming year!

Edited to fix all the screwed up apostrophes and so on...

Wayfarers All the Way Down

Esteemed Professor: Many Native American cosmologies place the Earth on the back of a giant turtle.
     Curious Student: Well, what's the turtle standing on?
               Professor: Another turtle.
                 Student: So, what's that turtle standing on?
               Professor: Another turtle.
                 Student: How many turtles are there?
               Professor: Nobody knows for sure; but it's turtles all the way down.
                     ̶ Traditional

At the beginning of this year, 2012, I was trying hard to make a big mistake.  S, my wife and so-far mostly phantom crew on Solje (W1321), had said toward the end of 2011's sailing season, "If we go out cruising, I don't want to sit for days in the rain.  I want something with a cabin."

So I began torturing myself with the notion of finding a sailboat with a small cabin that was (in order of importance) beautiful, seaworthy, trailerable and affordable.  You may already see the flaw.
 
I hope you never find out how easy it is to become obsessed with the hull designs, capsize ratios, and sheer beauty of the hundreds of small yachts that you can find any minute any day (or night) on your computer.  The ones that sold quickly--perfect solutions lost forever.  There must be an aphorism about the most beckoning being the farthest away.
 
Chester, Nova Scotia, is 27 hours from Michigan.  To tow back home the "Bristol Condition Alberg 22 and trailer" I had found, I traded my economical but insufficiently powerful Toyota pickup for an insufficiently economical but powerful Chevrolet.  In Nova Scotia I was met by the alcoholic broker and the uncurious surveyor that I had engaged to preview the boat.  Let me just say that the boat might have been Bristol ten years ago.  The trailer had never been.  I drove back home depressed but relieved that I wasn't towing that boat behind me. I know what certainly would have happened:  the boat lying on its side across both lanes of a construction detour in downtown Montreal.

Chastened, I resolved not to stray farther than 12 hours from home.  It was no problem finding boats that far away to look at.  To Milwaukee, for instance, or once to New Liskeard, 100 miles north of North Bay, where a moose chased me off the road.

Somewhere in all this I met a man who has forty boats all 26' LOA or less.  There is something compelling about a man with forty boats.  He gave me one good word of advice, "moisture meter," and exponentially increased the difficulty of finding a boat in suitable condition.

Early fiberglass layups involved two layers of fiberglass with varying core materials, like balsa, or pressed-board, or foam.  Being a new technology, it was insufficiently understood that fiberglass is permeable to some extent, and that any holes through it also allow water into the core where it reacts with the core materials and becomes acidic and--but that's another story.  It's enough to know that you don't want to buy a boat with a wet core.  While finding the wet core may not be easy, finding a boat with one is.

Even so, I finally did find the boat of my dreams, a Cape Dory 22, which is an updated Alberg 22.  She was in Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario.  My forty-boat friend even guessed the boat and her owner and recommended them both.  Many long emails and lots of pictures later I had a strong feeling she was the one.  Good sails.  No inboard motor.  Not a lot of fancy electronics.  Dry.  A top notch trailer.  And a very likeable owner.  I add this last observation because it was one of the best things to come with Solje.

Ah, Solje!  Back to Solje.  I had just spent three weeks giving her a new aluminum powder/epoxy bottom and varnish over a clear epoxy sealer on her decks.  RM and I made plans to take her to the regattas in North Bay for her coming out.  She looked beautiful.  I would go see the Cape Dory 22 the following weekend.

The Wayfarer National Long Distance Race was wonderful.  We would have finished under the time limit had the jib tensioner not blown to pieces.  The flogging genoa undid its tack and was streaming like a pennant from its head.  I really love passage races.

The Canada Day Race, R and I got into some trouble (but got back out before the weekend was over.)  At the buoy south of North Bay where we were to turn east into the channel for Callander Bay we were hit from port aft by what seemed like a full gale to me, but what UA's perspective downgraded to a brief squall.  Everyone else struck their sails.  I thought if we could just keep the boat upright it was a perfect opportunity to blast into first place.  And except for H's Beowulf it looked like we would have.  Alas, we didn't understand that the race had been shortened to the turning buoy.  I wonder if either R or I will ever go that fast in a Wayfarer again.
 
Monday I crewed for UA in the Don Rumble Memorial Series, a nearly overwhelming introduction to the finer points of Wayfarer sailing.  By Monday evening I was thoroughly exhausted.  I went out in a dying breeze and dozed off sailing Solje back and forth on beautiful Callander Bay.
 
Sailing with UA had given me one glimpse into how far I had to go.  Another stunning indication happened at Clark Lake in 2011, my first race as helm.  It was a windward-leeward course, two times around.  As I was rounding the leeward mark for the first time the H's and UA were both flying across the line for a close finish, and hence sailing twice as fast as I was.  Twice is quite a bit.

So, on the drive home from North Bay it finally hit me, "What was I thinking?  Another boat!"  That was the same question R had posed to S and me when we told him of our bigger-boat plans on the ride back from the Canadian Wayfarer Association's 2012 Annual General Meeting .  So it wasn't news to him when I announced that I was not interested in the Cape Dory 22 after all:  two boats and I'd probably never learn to sail or take care of either of them well.
 
What a joy is an undivided heart.  When I sail, it's Solje.  I can be on the water of a large and uncrowded lake in little over a half-hour.  This is probably a good place to mention another major feature of my life: S's garden.  It is unquestionably hers.  I am allowed to supply what has traditionally been done by mules. We grow most of what we eat, so the garden comes first. By that I mean that during the height of the planting season you might as well not even ask S to pass the salt.  Any chance that she might go sailing has to wait until at least mid-July.  My garden indenture, however, allows me to sail maybe four afternoons a week.

Our first attempt at crewing together was at Fanshawe's sufficiently-late-in-the-season Pumpkin Regatta in 2011.  We were mercifully cautioned by almost all the other competitors to not begin our racing career in such high and fluky winds.  No kidding:  that race would have certainly been the last time we were ever in a boat together.  Even SP and SR capsized before the start of the first race--twice!
 
But we had a great time and we got to meet V and JE who told us about their recent cruise down the Rideau Canal which they described as their best ever.  Their main advice was to "Wait until all the kids go back to school."  That fit with the garden, so S and I immediately set it as a goal for 2012.
 
We began researching the Rideau, but soon got interested in another canal we were aware of only by name: the Trent-Severn.  The Trent-Severn Waterway runs generally westward from Trenton, Ontario, on the Bay of Quinte in northeast Lake Ontario through a series of rivers, lakes and canals across lower Ontario to Port Severn at the southeast end of the Georgian Bay.  As the crow flies it is 120 miles, by the waterway 240 miles, through 45 locks, past 36 swing bridges and under 24 stationary bridges with a minimum clearance of 22 feet.
 
Now, a Wayfarer can be heeled under twenty-two feet but having already read about "shooting a bridge" what better reason to learn?  So this year at our first opportunity in late July we headed for the public launch on the Black River in Port Huron.  There are four bridges in the mile between the launch and the St Clair River, the highest being 18' and the lowest six feet.  The wind was against us, so we motored out.

Motoring allowed us to concentrate on the mechanics of dropping the mast.  Solje came with one pair of blocks in her forestay. The line through them leads through the splash board to a cleat in the cockpit.  It is a simple matter for one person to handle the mast.  The process is:
 
1)  Loosen the main and vang up enough to take the boom off the gooseneck to allow it to fold along the mast.  It's a nice touch to have the lanyard that retains the cotter pin that goes through the tack of the main long enough to go around the mast so that the boom hangs up out of the way.
 
2)  Release the jib halyard.  It is not necessary to drop the jib completely.  Not dropping it can even be advantageous, as you will see.

3)  Release the line to the forestay blocks and ease the mast down.  At this point you will realize that the spreaders are in the way of the tiller, and so unless and until you have a crutch that will hold the mast high enough for them to clear, you'll need to hold it there yourself.
 
4)  Drift under.  Pull it all back up.
 
The last bridge with just six feet of clearance seems to be always open but I think we could get under five feet if we had to.  We motored on out into the St Clair River and up the US side--the outside of the bend--against a 5 knot current with standing waves and huge ominous smooth upwellings.  The river is forty feet deep along there and about a thousand feet wide.  That's a lot of water and it feels like it!

Under the two Blue Water Bridges--it's quite something, all that structure 135' overhead--and then suddenly you're in Lake Huron.  It's big.  It was also warm and clear with a 10 knot wind.  We were relieved to shut the motor off and set sail.  Three hundred feet from shore we could jump out of the boat into waist-deep water onto a white sand bottom.  We took turns towing each other behind the boat.  We sailed around the channel buoys, across the shipping lane and into Canadian water.
 
We sailed on a run back into the St Clair River, swept along with enough steerage way to keep off the breakwall.  We were passed by a lake freighter and one salty heading upriver.  They made far less wake than the occasional monster speedboat.  We turned into the Black River on a reach.  At the first bridge I dropped the mast all the way and S helmed the shot.  At the next bridge I lowered the mast just enough to clear.  The jib which we hadn't dropped all the way was still catching air and pulled us neatly under the bridge.  We were applauded for that bit of good luck by some people on an outdoor restaurant deck.  On to the Trent-Severn!

Except that S spent September flirting with whooping cough.  Our plan to sail in the Pumpkin and go from there on to Orillia to sail the Trent-Severn to Port Severn and back took on a singlehanded aspect.  I got an invitation from UA to crew for him at the Pumpkin and I accepted.
 
When I first started sailing Solje I had a nebulous concern about capsizing.  Now that I have capsized I have a focused concern about losing stuff if I do.  A ten day cruise is a lot of stuff.  I outfitted Solje with six 16"x 24" lidded plastic tubs.  They weren't waterproof, but they weren't going to fall out. They were each lashed down with two lines through holes in the floorboards.  The two 16" high ones went on each side up against the forward bulkhead under the deck.  They held a land tent, sleeping gear and clothes that I wouldn't need to access more than once a day.  The two 12" high tubs fit lengthwise across in front of the rear bulkhead.  One held cooking gear. The other held a selection of outerwear, hats and gloves.  The two 9" high ones fit athwart under the thwart.  One held food and the other held charts, a VHF radio, and small stuff like that. They untied easily and stacked out of the way at night.  I wouldn't change a thing for the next trip.  Boom tent in the rear compartment.  A working jib and a spare main in the forward.

I stopped in Fanshawe long enough to pick up first place with UA in the lightly attended Pumpkin regatta.  Then, hauling  Shades out, UA and I stopped on the steep ramp long enough to pick up this year's Lansdown Spittoon.  The Spittoon is awarded for the year's most boneheaded move.  This year it is for forgetting to lock the winch to hold the boat on the trailer.

I got to the Orillia municipal ramp at sundown Sunday, rigged Solje under a streetlight, launched her, got the boom tent up and went to sleep.

In the morning the ramp was busy with barges, construction crews and big equipment.  I cooked a pressure cooker full of beans and potatoes and headed north into Lake Couchiching.  I sailed with a kind of worried intensity.  It was about as windy as I would want it on such a shallow lake.  I furled the genoa a couple of times.  Then sailing past some tree-covered rocks about three quarters of the way up the lake it hit me--I don't have to be anywhere for the next ten days.  So I sailed into the lee of the rocky island and made a cup of tea.
 
It just got better and better from then on.  Around each turn I would see a maple tree that was redder than the last.  One day I only saw ten other boats.  At night I would sail into the most beautiful place I could find, drop the anchor and go to sleep.

I'd love a race down the Trent-Severn--like a Tour de Ontario in Wayfarers.  I have one word for you: take a working jib.   


 

 

 

[w00dy]

Bravo.


and

Grog 

[jotruk]

very good read Grog to yea

[marujo_sortudo]

Great writeup.  Another grog to ya!

[Bill W]

Porter, several Grogs to you! For the terrific write up and for finding peace with the Wayfarer. Sounds like you are having fun. Sorry S. couldn't accompany you.

The person with 40 boats wouldn't be BM near Orangeville Ontario would it? I lost count of what he had.

Keep in mind a small boat gathering in August north of Bancroft Ontario. Full moon weekend. Have been Wayfarers there before, among other small open and cabin boats. You would be welcome. 

[Porter Wayfare]

Just when I am pretty sure that the inflammation has finally been brought under control, this shows up:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/65-25-Seafarer-Sailboat-Honda-10HP-4-Stroke-Outboard-Complete-Ready-Sail-/140948790879?pt=Sailboats&hash=item20d133de5f#v4-42

I think it is a Seafarer Meridian--my favorite bigger boat.  And $305?!  A day and a half left.  It looks to be in not glaringly bad shape.

Anybody in Seattle to help?  Maybe only god can help me.

[rorik]

I'm about an hours drive from there, but I have a full schedule `til midweek or the weekend. Looking at the pics, I think it's on Lake Union. It might be just up the western shoreline from the Center for Wooden Boats. There is/was a schooner/ketch(?) similar to the one in the pics near Seattle Seaplanes.  And also one near Sure Marine. Try Dunatos also.
Maybe a Google image search of those areas will yield a marine related business nearby that can help.
Sorry I can't help more.

[CharlieJ]

Just a point- that's a US built Meridian, not a Dutch built one.

From what I've heard the build quality isn't as good, so if you look, check it carefully.

[Porter Wayfare]

Rorik, it was calming to have that lead from you.  Charlie J--you and I have discussed Seafarers before.  Thanks for the communication, you two.

Depending on how you look at it, it is either a blessing or a curse that this boat is so far away from me here in Michigan. 

On the curse side there are now only fourteen hours to go and the bid is still only $650!  This hurts.