[Rhodes22-list] Fw: [tanzer] Digest Number 1986

[Peter Thorn]

Rhodies~

This is a bit a trivia from my "other" boat buds, the Tanzer 16 group.  It may be interesting to R22 folks, because a little bit of the history Tanzer manufacturing in the glider factory is described before Stan took over there.  Stan is definitely much more of a survivor than any of his predecessors, in what I believe is a very tough business.
 
"Andreas" is Andreas Tanzer, youngest son of the late Johann Tanzer who designed and started the now defunct Tanzer Yachts.  Andreas, a successful engineer in Canada, just acquired an old Tanzer 16 and joined the class.

PT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: TANZER16 at aol.com 
To: tanzer at yahoogroups.com 
Cc: gary at controlware.net ; pthorn at nc.rr.com 
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: [tanzer] Digest Number 1986


In a message dated 4/21/2005 1:27:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tanzer at yahoogroups.com writes:
  TNE-  Could be the code for Tanzer Industries in Edenton, North Carolina prior to the demise of Tanzer Industries or after. As some Tanzer boats were fabricated after the demise of Tanzer Industries, the first three letters of the hull numbers should be different. There are no records that I know of to document this though. If the boats were produced by someone other than the original manufacturer, then the first three letters would not be ZTI. Something to look in to, I would be interested
Thanks, Andreas..........

All the boats manufactured in Edenton were "TNE", none after the day Eric Spencer called me (as president, commodore, whatever) to see whether the Class Association wanted to acquire the rights and molds to the 16........  There were 3-4 boats finished or nearly finished in Edenton, NC at that time, and Butch Blanchard from Whiteville, NC I think bought them.  I think the last produced by Tanzer was #1595, and was a 1985 boat.  We had one "prototype" built by International Fiberglass (IFG) in Durham, NC (which we assigned #1600), then decided it was "not" a Tanzer 16 because of it's weight of 475#.  That one was sold to Rose's stores, and given away as a drawing prize in some promotion.  Then we had five boats built in Lookout Mountain (actually Hixson), TN, by Steve Sherman, who also built Snipes and Lightnings.  His prototype was also rejected, and I don't know what happened to it.  Of the other four (numbered 2000-2003), George Smart bought two, Butch Blanchard bought one, and Triton's Cove bought one.  Butch still races his, and has won the Nationals with it several times.  The new design had a false bottom with Elvstrom bailers, to alleviate the problem if capsized, and the depth of the "roll" on the deck down into the cockpit was lengthened to keep it from cutting into one's back so badly.  Other than that (and a different production mast and boom, it's just like the originals).  George traded one of his for a Lightning, and the owner of that has never raced with us, and he donated the other to Camp SeaGull.  He raced his first boat (#232) with a new deck up until he died, and the new owners still race it with us.  I know the lady who inherited the other one (the Triton's Cove boat) from her father, but I've never seen the boat.  I understand it was fitted with a loose-footed mainsail.  

Our class association is now "making a market" in older Tanzer 16s, buying up some of the forgotten boats, refurbishing as needed, and reselling to people who will race them locally.  If you run into folks who have Tanzer 16s, please have them visit the Tanzer 16 website, and let us know where "our boats" are these days...........  As far as we know, central North Carolina is the only place where clubs can still put together a fleet of 5 or more boats for a one-design race, but we may have as many as 12-15 together at a time.

Back to hull numbers, I expect the ZTI may have come AFTER the change in the HIN regulations, and maybe TNZ was used prior to that time............ 


Thanks for responding........... good to hear from you!

Lawrence Miller
T16 #1529 (bought new in '82, but I've owned 3 others)
T26 #535  (replaced a "fixer-upper" T22 I never got wet)