[Rhodes22-list] Skinner's Potters - long, historical, full disclosure

[Robert Skinner]

Tootle wrote:
> Bob,
> Which Potter do you have?
> Here I thought that you were on the Adriatic?
> Snow in Maine?

-----------------------------------

In reverse order:

* There are rumors of snow due in the western mountains 
this weekend.  In Gorham, it is raining and raw.  Outside
work on hold, so I'll write a book, as follows.

* The trip to Adriatic is delayed until August.  Barbara
(wife) broke her tibia (spiral fracture) and fibula last 
October.  The doc set bones using a cast - no pins, etc.)
and healing started.  Wife was in pain for 7 months.  She
bore it like a trooper, and went in in April for a checkup.  

Non-union of tibia fracture - bones were skidding past each 
other, leg shortened by at least 1/2", evidence of lower 
part of fracture constantly rebreaking!  Immediately in 
hospital for surgery, put in plate, wife back in wheel 
chair, now looking at another 8 weeks before full weight 
bearing.  Wife says we are getting on that 5-masted sailing 
ship if she has to crawl.  Not afraid to sail, and she speaks
Italian.

She's a keeper.  Outstanding partner in life, she rides 
easy on the back of a motorcycle, and she brought a 1906
Victorian house with a bomb shelter full of good whiskey 
and other liquor and into the marriage.  I sold my house 
immediately. She has other important qualities as well.

* A careful review of the archives would reveal that I have 
two West Wight Potters, one 15' and another 19'.

-------------------------------------

The '87 West Wight Potter 15' Mark II # 1618 "Little Dipper"
was formerly owned by Holland Webb of Broken Bow, Oklahoma.
This gentleman is now deceased, having elected to drive 
under a tractor trailer at high speed.  However, as a
former airplane mechanic, his boat maintenance was 
impeccable, and Little Dipper was in fine shape when I 
drove out to OK to buy her from his widow.

Since buying her, I have made a few modifications, 
including boom end sheeting, a boom vang, a CDI roller 
furler carrying a big genoa, a topping lift, and a rig to 
allow bow anchor management from the cockpit.

The Potter 15 diaplaces under 600 lbs fully loaded, and is
sailed like a dinghy.  I am the ballast.  There is a small 
cabin, just enough to accomodate one big person and gear, 
but I cannot sit up in it - head room would have too high 
a wind load and CG height penalty in such a small boat.  
But it is a bolt-hole in case of bad weather, and a place 
to keep gear dry and secure.

Being light and quick to rig, with a CB-up draft of about 
8", it is ideal for lake-hopping in Maine.  As lake winds 
are often light, but can increase and come at you from 
any direction, the genoa on a furler works well.  I often 
push it out with my boat-hook/whisker pole, and can move 
rather smartly, sometimes planing on her relatively flat 
and minimally rockered bottom.

----------------------------

While the designer sailed a P15 across the North Sea, and 
another fellow made a passage from California to Hawaii, 
and many of the over 2500 built to date are sailed in 
coastal waters, I like a bit more boat under me when I 
venture into the cold waters and rocky bays of Maine.

I looked at a lot of boats, and the Rhodes seems to me to 
be a remarkably attractive and well-evolved boat.  I have 
met Stan and Elton, sailed on a R22, and may well buy one 
in the future, when I decide to sail in one area.  I 
really like and admire both the design and on-going
execution.

I'm a bit long in the tooth to be doing what Elton does - 
stepping and unstepping R22 masts on a daily basis in all 
conditions.  Hats off to him.  In the mean time, I'll be
learning what I can on this list and contributing where 
possible.

However, at present I need a boat with a light rig, low 
displacement, minimal draft, and flat bottom for coastal 
cruising in Maine.  I want to be able to run up and down 
the coast, putting in from a beach if necessary, and sleep 
upright when dried out in one of Eastport's 20' tides.

With the notable exception of its dagger board keel 
configuration, the Potter 19' fits the bill.

--------------------------------

My '94 West Wight Potter 19' Swing Keel Short Rig # 754 "Edith P"
is the result.  The stock boat displaces about 1250 lbs, 
and the short rig version carries her center of effort low, 
using a long boom.  Not the speed of the high-aspect form, 
but easier to deal with in weather.  

In stock form, the P19 has a daggerboard keel that is dangerous 
in three ways: First, when the 250 lb steel board is raised 40", 
being 20% of the total weight of the boat, it raises the CG of 
the boat 8", considerably reducing stability.  Second, it is a 
long lever hanging out of the hull, and when it hits something, 
it puts a hell of a lot of force on the trunk, tending to rip it 
out of the bottom of the hull.  Finally, the trunk is not 
gusseted laterally, allowing it to wag from port to starboard, 
stressing the hull.

I bought an abused but generally sound hull and started making 
modifications.  The first was the total removal of the liner and 
furniture in the cabin to provide unfettered access to the hull.  
After that, the 250 lb steel keel went out for sandblasting and 
galvanizing, and the dagger board trunk went to the junk yard.  

Then I rebuilt the trunk in a new form.  The new trunk 
accomodates the same keel as a front-pivoting centerboard, so a
collision with a ledge will not tear her trunk out, as has 
happened to some P19 owners.  It is capped so that water 
does not come up through the trunk - a common complaint among 
P19 owners.  It is secured fore and aft to bulkheads so that it 
does not wiggle sideways, as has been noted by P19 owners.

At this point, I have a boat that has a 4' swing keel and flat 
bottom, drawing as little as 10".  Her hull is stronger than 
stock both laterally and longetudinally -- and torsionally as 
well, I think.  

Raising the keel only raises the CG 3-4".  When on a mooring 
for the night in thin water, the daggerboard no longer occupies 
the center of the cabin, resting instead entirely within its 
trunk on the floor of the cabin.

Without the space-wasting interior liner, the hull is completely 
accessable from within the boat, allowing cracks/leaks/damage to 
be noted and treated (if necessary) while under way.

The eviscerated interior will now accomodate removeable 
furniture (including a no-pump-out-problem kitty litter toilet) 
to house two people in comfort for a couple of weeks, rather 
than the former design that was just adequate to contain four 
people for a night or two.

For rigging, there is already a CDI roller furler on the forestay.  
It carries a light genoa.  The planned solent stay, located 6" 
behind the forestay and parallel with it, will carry one of several 
hanked-on jibs.  The behind-the-mast CDI mainsail furler will 
eventually complete the rig.  The long boom will require running 
backstays in weather, and the installation of deck fittings and 
chain plates is in the works.

She splashes this summer.
------------------------------------

One problem with knowing what you want is having to make it
yourself.  But there's a lot of satisfaction in sailing a boat
built to your own specifications.

/Robert