Dave Gerr's 42-foot Leeboard Schooner "Mollyhawk"

[bdshipshape]

I would like information from anyone who has built,sailed or is selling Dave Gerr's "Mollyhawk" Leeboard Schooner. I think this is the boat for my wife and me! Thanks David

[RodB]

"Molly HawK" is really nice with the built in strength of flush decks etc... but she has leeboards. Just a suggestion as I have been researching "Presto" types, you should take a look at S. S. Crocker's "Dorothy" (design # 291) and "Macaw" (design # 302), and "Jingo" ... all three are 36 foot "presto" boats with centerboards, well designed and "Dorothy" is a beautiful schooner. Study plans are available via Internet by calling Crocker's Boat Yard (888-332-6004) and requesting them. Plans are $300. I believe all three have a steel keelson the length of the hull with the centerboard slot therein. Pete Culler's "Dawn Treader" is also a large "Presto" type and is for sale - Cannell, Page and Payne Yacht Brokers (207-236-2383).

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid77/p4292eb2924191af08771891f442e0e20/fb3fd26e.jpg

S. S. Crockers "Dorothy" design # 291

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/p9ffc492dcb9193154a3290bce46affc0/fb1168a9.jpg

S. S. Crockers "Macaw" design # 302

Also Reuel Parker's "Exuma 36" is based on "Presto" and has several rigs available. She is built with "The New Cold Molded Boatbuilding" method.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/p3eeba38c05c032d9fd35044587688054/fb1168a3.jpg

Good luck,

RB

[ 09-17-2003, 02:09 AM: Message edited by: RodB ]

[N. Scheuer]

So what in the World is wrong with LEEBOARDS, Rod?

Our 28-ft Shearwater sharpy yawl has LEEBOARDS. The Dovekie that preceeded her had LEEBOARDS. In fact, more than half of the eleven boats I've owned had LEEBOARDS.

As shocking as it may seem, Some of us PREFER LEEBOARDS.

LEEBOARDS provide a better opportunity for asymetric lifting foils to minimize LEEWAY than any single symetric foil does.

Moby Nick

[RodB]

Yea and they look great too!

They just don't appeal to me.

RB

[ishmael]

Hey, that Culler's Presto looks like a boat. It looks like it's been thoughtfully re-done. A boat for a couple who had not globe girdling ambitions, and some means, free-to-the-wind income to have a hell of a time on the East coast and the Carribean.

[ahp]

Both leeboards and centerboards have there good and bad features. A centerboard trunk can be like the 700 pound gorilla, taking up the best part of the boat. Read "The Riddle of the Sands", in which Davies recounts his many painful encounters with the centerboard trunk.

Centerboards do pretty much take care of themselves while sailing though.

[Ariel]

A question--sometimes centerboards can be difficult to raise because of water pressure, and swelling,etc.--wouldn't a leeboard on a larger boat such as a schooner be a beast to raise when conditions were rough?

[Paul Denison]

OOooooooooooh! That could work here on the Tennessee River. Restored by a pro and not overdone!

Edited to add: The Culler boat that is on Cannell, Payne & Page Yacht Brokers

[ 09-17-2003, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: Paul Denison ]

[rbgarr]

There's no mention in the listing of a head anywhere on the Culler boat, nor is there any sign of one on the accomodation plan. Wonder if they used a bucket.

[ishmael]

Gotta be a head on the boat, doncha think rbgarr?

[RodB]

FYI
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/pbfe3d4e6fb9ea15a8ea67682fe599015/fb0ee092.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/p41ffcde59cb461ebf5857fd940c23810/fb0ee091.jpg
"Dawn Treader's" acc plan

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid79/pd48c65a54296ed29a2ffefceb926d1d5/fb0ee090.jpg

Her sailplan...

The Commodore used the centerboard to hold position in lighter winds (anchor) and also to "feel his way" along a shallow bottom.

RB

[ 09-18-2003, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: RodB ]

[rbgarr]

That's the acc. plan I was referring to and there's no enclosed head or simple water closet under a flat, and none is mentioned in the yachtworld listing either. No big deal, however. I'm not a big fan of enclosed heads anyway, especially the additional tiny sink, which is pretty useless and an additional complication and waste of space. If I had to give over space to 'ablutionary needs', I'd just have a comfortable seat above the commode, for taking a sit down shower in inclement weather. It wouldn't even have to be entirely encolesd either with a door and whatnot...just a big hatch overhead and perhaps a curtain.

[N. Scheuer]

Large Leeboards are not a problem, Ariel.

The difference between the leeboards on a later-model Dovekie and a Shearwater is that a Shearwater's has 40-lbs of lead in each board.

There is also a tackle on each, which leads to a dedicated winch. I never use the winches for the leeboard tackle in TRUE NORTH, just haul them up by hand. We did, however, add a 120% Genny to our sail inventory, and the winches are handy for the sheets.

Leeboards in a Shearwater or Dovekie pivot on rigid axles mounted in the topsides of the hull. They can bind due to friction if lateral loads are great. Herreshoff's Meadowlark design, on the other hand, use a T-bolt pivot mounted on the rail. These bolts allow the leeboard to "flap" outward, away from the hull, which probably makes them more resistant to this binding. When lowered on the Lee side of the hull, they bear up against a strake down by the waterline.

Leeboards on a Martha Jane, in whose company I've sailed, are hung on massive lanyards which behave mechanically much like Herereshoff's T-bolts.

Overall, after owning sailboats with daggerboards, centerboards, and leeboards, it has been my experience that leeboards are the most satisfactory for a cruising sailboat. I won't go into all the advantages here, because that has been done before, with little success in changing constipated minds.

At this point, having gotten very accustomed to them, I think leeboards look more interesting on a boat's topsides than just bare topsides. Many who actually have experience using leeboards would agree.

Faire winds, Y'awl, Moby Nick

[Ariel]

Thanks, Moby Nick, for answering my question concerning leeboards. I know the Thames barges in England used to have leeboards and they were large cargo carrying boats--never read anything about problems with their leeboards and certainly the English waters are temperamental. I don't have any experience with leeboards and was curious--thank you again.

[Pernicious Atavist]

...just my two-cents worth...i find with mine, if i'm in shoals too skinny to let the lee-side board down all the way do the work i need of it, i can lower each side part-way and that about equals a fully lowered, single board, while still accounting for the close-by bottom.