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looking to form partnership in daysailer

AlanH

compulsive typist
I would like to form a partnership with at least one other person, hopefully two, to buy and operate this boat. There's a Piper 24 One Design sailboat for sale in Nevada City. How it got to Nevada City is beyond me but here's the advertisement.

https://goldcountry.craigslist.org/boa/d/piper-24/6587943341.html

The guy who owns it say that he thinks the boat hasn't been in the water for at least a decade and maybe not for 30+ years. He *thinks* that the boat was brought over to the USA from Scotland in the very early 70's with the intent of taking a mold off of it and producing them stateside. That never happened. Obviously it was in the water at some point but the current owner has never launched it and he says the previous owner never did either. The hull is extremely dry. I have pictures of the inside of the boat but there's not a lot to see. It's wide open. Think: Shields ... except that this boat is 24 feet long and 3600 pounds instead of 30 feet and 4600 pounds.

What's a Piper One Design?

http://www.piper-od.co.uk/

It's a 24-foot fiberglass mix between a six-metre racing boat and the wooden Gareloch One Design..the "Gareloch Goddesses". The majority of them race on the firth of the Clyde in Scotland, but a few made it to Bermuda of all places. A dozen have moved south into England and there are seven in North America. Cornish Crabber made one around 2008 and it's in France. With a modernized rig and revamped interior, the Piper One Design is the basis for a "new" and "modernized" version called the Rustler 24.

Here's an article by noted designer, Bob Perry about an attempt to build more boats, by the firm "Cornish Crabber" - http://sailingmagazine.net/article-300-piper-24.html

Here's a Rustler 24, essentially the same boat.

4911781_20150114103547790_1_XLARGE.jpg




And here's an article about a completely restored Piper OD in Texas.

https://www.coastmonthly.com/2017/09/piper/

170924-cst-stem-piper-03_132_3143.jpg

Here's some video and a few photographs of the boat that Cornish Crabber built. It's sailing in France.

http://associationtrident.e-monsite.com/pages/membres-et-bateaux/thor-le-piper-24-de-dominique.html

As you can see, this is a daysailing boat...no cabin, though I suppose a boom tent could be rigged up and one or two folks could camp out on the floors. I would want to install buoyancy bags in the boat, fore-and-aft.

The owner says he replaced the trailer tires a few years ago but the wheel bearings *might* need a rebuild. Most of the trailer is sound, there's one spot that might need some repair. We'd have to go up there with a wire wheel and find out. The mast is the original gold-anodized spar that the guys in Scotland all want, they say it's faster than the newer aluminum replacements. The rudder needs a complete rebuild and one bronze part...a gudgeon is missing. All of the other "wood bits" are there, they need cleaning, sanding and so on. I'm happy to build a new rudder.

The boat does not have sails. However, I've looked online and Star Class jibs will fit, they're really pretty darned close to a 100% jib. Also, Melges 24 jibs are remarkably close. Minneys Surplus has a few for $150-$195. Second Wind sails has a used mainsail which will be a bit short on the foot, but will work, for $100. Sail Warehouse has new "OEM" (means super-basic) mainsails that will be awfully darned close for $695. They also have one with the same dimensions for $895, which gets us a reef point, or we could have Leading Edge sails or Synthia put in a reef point.

We rent a truck and go up to Nevada City. We might have to get part of the trailer welded, we'll have to see when we get there, but there are welders in Nevada City. We bring it down here, and put it at the Treasure Island sailing center and dry-sail it. The TI Sailing Center has a 2-ton hoist, this boat displaces 3600 pounds and the hull is super-dry. It's well under 2 tons. Monthly rent at TI Sailing Center is $130 / month. Insurance would be about $60/month. There's dry storage in Byron for $55 a month, or Morgan Hill for $70 if we can't get the project going immediately.

You won't want to overnight this boat, but you cannot find a more Classic day-sailer. Racing crew is 3, we could even do some races in it.

ESTIMATED COST-UP FRONT
boat purchase $750
possible trailer repair $100
truck rental to move $135
used sails; either $900 high end (used 100% jib and "new" budget mainsail, or $250 low end with a used mainsail)
running rigging $150

Divide that by 3, you get $462 if we go with ultra-budget used sails...$678 if we get the new OEM mainsail and a used Star jib. There will also be some $$ for materials to re-do the floorboards, built a new rudder, etc.


ONGOING COST - MONTHLY if we dry-sail
TI sailing club monthly dry- berthing $130
Insurance $60
PHRF certificate amortized over a year $10

Divide that by 3 and you get $67/month

Every year or two we'll probably do an upgrade. I bet the winches are a mess, for example. Over time we can go to town on the boat and upgrade it like crazy, or we can keep it simple. I'm good, either way.

Anybody interested? She'll be a wet ride on a windy day, but this is a unique opportunity to own the classiest daysailer that's capable of handling SF Bay that I can imagine.

Alan
 
Cool! I’m out of town for a few days, will get back to you on Thursday or Friday when I’m off this phone and on a real computer again!
 
Offer accepted. WooHoo.

I'mma two-boat owner. Also, the trailer is shot, apparently, so I'm looking for a dual-axle sailboat trailer, or powerboat trailer I can put uprights on.

And there's an attached rudder to build. I've been reading up. The boat will live in Nevada City until I've got the moolah to get a trailer put together. Then it'll come down to Morgan Hill for cleaning and rudder building. I may have to 'glass in some structure so it can be launched from a 2-T hoist.

Should look like this one when it's done:

Piper%2050th%20Sat%20morning%20292-L.jpg


I still want a partner in this venture, so if you're interested in 50% or 33% of a truly cool Scottish daysailer, PM me.
 
Nice boat, are you going to keep it in dry storage? Santa Cruz would be great.
 
Nice boat, are you going to keep it in dry storage? Santa Cruz would be great.

Santa Cruz would be great!

According to another guy who has seen the boat up close and personal (I've seen about 50 photographs) the trailer is shot. OK, so I've located a powerboat trailer, 22 feet long, 5,000 pounds capacity, which should carry this just fine with some modifications. Boat + trailer will empty my coffers, and make me put off my haulout for the S-2 7.9 by a couple of months. *sigh* .

This boat will go in the cheapest dry storage I can find that has some security and electricity available while I build the rudder and (probably) overhaul the winches. There's a place in Morgan Hill that I might go to. There's a place 3 blocks from my house which might work out, too. There's no point in paying for storage-with-a-hoist until it's ready to sail.

I'd like to keep it at the TI Sailing Center but they insist on a single-point hoist so there may be some fiberglassing and wood work to do to make that possible. The cold-hard-truth is that I cannot afford both this boat at TI and the S2 7.9 without a partner on this boat. I can afford to pay insurance on it and pay super-cheap dry storage on it, but I can't dry sail it, buy sails etc. etc. So I will need a partner. It's *Possible* that I can ramp-launch it at the Port of Redwood City. It's 1,000 less than my S2 7.9 and some of the Scottish guys ramp launch theirs.

But if I waited, it would almost certainly "go away" to another owner and I'd never see it again.

I've known about the Piper One Designs and the Loch Long One Designs for quite a few years now. I looked into buying the one and only Loch Long One Design in North America about a year and a half ago, but it's a wood boat that's been sitting in a barn, neglected, for 30 years and I don't have the money, skill or patience to deal with it. I gave up on the whole idea of having a quintessentially Scottish daysailer, until POW, three week ago, this Piper appears...in Nevada City of all places. This opportunity will never present itself again.
 
Holy crap Alan. I must have been drunk! Oh yeah, I was drunk on "just sold a boat". Now if Starbuck sells, I'm going to need rehab. And a boat to sail. Out of TISC.
 
50% partnership still available.

Current status:

Boat $600
Replacement Trailer $500
Truck Rental to get it down here from Nevada City probably $120
Total upfront = about $1250....half of that is $625

I'm on the shortlist for a slot in Port of Redwood City dry storage, where I believe there's electricity available. I know there's a hose nearby. $100/month. Estimated insurance is $60 a month. Estimated monthly recurring costs for now are about $80/month. That will go up $15/month after the move to Treasure Island Sailing Center.

Remaining to purchases to get her up and sailing...mainsail, jib, materials to build new rudder, running rigging.
 
Holy crap Alan. I must have been drunk! Oh yeah, I was drunk on "just sold a boat". Now if Starbuck sells, I'm going to need rehab. And a boat to sail. Out of TISC.

I'm assuming that what this means is that:

1.) you'd like to be a partner in the boat, but
2.) you can't commit to doing that until you sell Starbuck

I totally understand. However, the cash register is starting to go cha-CHINNGGG, and I only have so many nickels to pile into it. I can get the boat, put it on a trailer and move it to Redwood City. Beyond that, I'll need a partner. First come, first served. Ideally I'd like two partners for a few years... 33.33% each and it would be *Nice* if the partners were someone I actually knew. However, I can't wait forever to set this up.
 
Can you post pics of the boat itself? Sistership pics are nice and all, but this boat looks like it needs some work.
 
Can you post pics of the boat itself? Sistership pics are nice and all, but this boat looks like it needs some work.

Boat definitely needs work. I'm not hiding it. Here are a mess of pic of the boat.

Piper-One-Design; "Alpha"

The hull is solid fiberglass laid up around 1969-1970. It's solid glass, no core, and has gel coat on the outside. The inside is painted. The boat needs a good hard scrubbing and the gel coat could use waxing. There is essentially no structure inside the boat but some partial plywood bulkheads to rot. There are wooden floorboards, which are included in the sale. They are removed and need sanding and oiling. That's work, obviously.

The decks are plywood-cored. Rotted out decks are the single biggest problem with these boats and many Scottish skippers have opened 'em up and re-cored. Another buyer with whom I'm in regular communication has tapped the decks all over with a rubber mallet and found no soft spots. He says the foredeck is firm. Since the boat has not been in the water for over 20 years, maybe even 40 years, I tend to believe him.

The mast has what I assume is original s.s. standing rigging on it. It's probably never been stressed but it's still almost 50 years old. It will need to be replaced. That costs $$.

There is no running rigging, and if there is, it's completely shot for sure. Gotta buy new stuff.

The single biggest job is that the rudder is ruined. A complete new rudder will need to be made. Also, a rudder shoe will need to be bought. A bronze rudder shoe like this is somewhere between $200 - $400, though I have a buddy who is a really good welder and brazer and maybe....

There are no sails. New sails would cost a lot. Beater used sails can be bought online for around $600. Used sails from the hardcore Scots racing skippers are available, according to several of the class members I'm communicating with.

The front of the trailer is a mess, and will need to be cut off. The supports and center part of the trailer are good and can be mounted on a flatbed, or powerboat trailer.
 
I'm assuming that what this means is that:

1.) you'd like to be a partner in the boat, but
2.) you can't commit to doing that until you sell Starbuck

I totally understand. However, the cash register is starting to go cha-CHINNGGG, and I only have so many nickels to pile into it. I can get the boat, put it on a trailer and move it to Redwood City. Beyond that, I'll need a partner. First come, first served. Ideally I'd like two partners for a few years... 33.33% each and it would be *Nice* if the partners were someone I actually knew. However, I can't wait forever to set this up.

Yes Alan that sums it up. Did I see on another site that you pulled the trigger on this? Congrats and condolences. :)
Good luck. It's an interesting boat. I just spent some time on the helm of a wooden 5.5 (similiar full keel, attatched rudder?) and I have to say that would take some getting used to.
 
I did. Sent the check last week. Now he has to do some DMV stuff...his wife works for the DMV... and cut part of the trailer off and welld in a replacement, and I can bring it down here. I might to up there to get a close look at it in two weeks, and scoop out the leaves, etc.
 
Incredible. Guess what arrived in the mail yesterday....registration in my name. I now, according to the State of California...own this boat. I'd given up on it, and had given them a deadline of Dec. 1 to get the title squared away!

Now to get some welding done and create little Hull ID patches.
 
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