Sailboat rebuild: Starfish
One of my favorite photos of Steven & Dad working together
You may have heard me mention the "sailboat rebuild" before… ever since my Dad and Steven found a workshop space, they have spent a good part of every day working on the project. They’ve been redoing an old Windmill sailboat Steven picked up for free. It came complete with holes in the bottom of the boat! Of course it can no longer be considered a 'free' boat with all the time & money that’s been spent, but Steve says it’s been totally worth it. Steve and my dad have changed the design completely and even used bamboo from my parent's yard to make the masts! This was Steven's idea -which my dad thought was a little crazy at first, but it’s worked out great.
The set of photos below are a lovely sampling of photos that Steven labeled for me. It looks so different now compared to when Steven first brought it home. Now it’s a beautiful blue & white sailboat with Bamboo masts and Tyvek sails, we named Starfish. Steven used to paint trucks professionally and has painted Starfish using the same materials.
Here's what Steve wrote about this project: "The sailboat I got for free is called a Windmill. It is a class racing dinghy, meaning it’s construction, sails, and rigging must meet class requirements to race in official “Windmill” class racing. I have no particular interest in racing and plan to use the boat as an easily trailerable, easy single-handing, skinny-water (shallow) beach-cruiser that can get under all the bridges around here, so some changes needed to be made. The boat as designed is not appropriate for shallow water and the whole area around Cortez, Bradenton and Tampa Bay is quite shallow.
The daggerboard is 5-1/2 feet long and with the daggerboard down the boat draws 4’ 8” of water! Neither the daggerboard nor the rudder kick-up so if you hit bottom you’ve got a problem and probably damage as well. The mast is over 21’ high and the bridges around here are about 22’ – too close for comfort if a wave raises you up as you pass under. Also, with the high mast and large sail area the boat is very tender (heels over while sailing) and can totally flip over very easily unless two people are hiking out to balance it. Dale and I totally rebuilt the old boat and significantly changed its character. The bottom of the boat and many other parts were dry-rotted and or just worn out and needed to be replaced. We removed the bottom and replaced it with new marine plywood and a layer of epoxy and glass cloth. We removed the old daggerboard trunk and built a new centerboard trunk instead to house a swing centerboard that will enable the boat to access shallow water areas. A new kick-up rudder was designed and built too. We set up all new mast steps and partners for a un-stayed Cat-Ketch rig with Leg O’ Mutton sprit sails, like the old Sharpies used. In the Cat-Ketch rig the two masts are much shorter than the Windmill rig. This means that it will fit under the local bridges easily and also will be easier for a single person to sail (without flipping over, hopefully). A small front deck was added as well as a rear deck with a water-tight compartment for dry storage." Steven Deming, Cortez, FL - July 2010
Original Windmill design
The new rig configuration
Our recovered sail boat is really something else!
I am so proud of what my dad & Steve built together. Below are a few photos of Starfish sailing.
Happy Sailing!