T. Gillmer: Blue Moon

[Enchantment34]

Anyone built this boat? I am giving some serious though to the design. Looking for feedback... Thanks!

[paladin]

There was a beautiful rendition of this boat in Annapolis for the fellow I think Tom originally designed it for or was the first builder.....

[jerry s]

Tom had two of those built by Allen Cady at Craft Works. 410-268-1808. The last one was built for Tom's own use.

[Syd MacDonald]

There's a blue moon this month. Might be a good time to start it.

[plimsol]

It is a romnatic daysailer for sailors who like to have a lot of kite strings to fiddle with. The original, #1 Blue Moon is in Seattle, rotting away at the Center for Wooden Boats.
Thomas Gilmer must have been a diminutive man, there is very little space below decks if you are more than 5'-6" tall. The plans are deceptive, the Blue Moon looks much bigger than she really is. A better choice is the Calypso, her bigger sister, for the amount of work and expense involved it is a more usable boat.
And finally, the construction plans are vague about the ballast and keel construction. There is a legendary mimeograhed response from Gilmer, that is well,...Rude.
Go for a sail before you start.

[Dave Hadfield]

Yes, I've seen the one at the SCWB. I liked it. I never saw inside, but it was an appealing little thing. Small, but very salty.

A shame if it's rotting.

[rbgarr]

I saw the original BLUE MOON at the center for Wooden Boats years ago and have wondered on occasion how she's been kept up.

A CALYPSO was built by Roy Blaney in Boothbay Harbor, Maine in the 70's, and he intended to do some extensive cruising on her, but sold her. She became the JENNY IVES and was used at the WB School for sail training sessions.

Another interesting Gillmer design is shown in "The Book of Boats", ed. Wm. and John Atkin. She's a 29' cruising ketch and the construction plan shows her keel construction very clearly, down to the 'wood graining'.

[Bernadette & David Hedger]

From my father who has built the Blue Moon:
I only built it to the deck beam stage with some furniture inside and then sold it on as we needed the space to build the Malabar II.
I consider it a beautiful little boat, well designed with enough detail for an experienced builder, however I agree with the previous comment that there is little room inside and for the same amount of effort you would be better to build somthing slightly bigger. Calypso would be ideal for a bigger boat. Keith Allen.

[johnw]

I've sailed on the Blue Moon at CWB, back when it was in better shape. I'm 5'6" and I felt really cramped below. I've also been in several wooden boat races featuring Blue Moon and other vessels, and every time, a Pemaquid Friendship sloop beat Blue Moon and her sisters. The Pemaquid has more room, as well. If I had more than 8,000 pounds of materials, 432 square feet of sail and a 35 foot slip, I'd build something with more room and better performance.

[TomRobb]

I don't think CWB needs my defense, but http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/smile.gif

There seems to be a more or less constant tension between their ability to care for the boats they have and wanting to rescue yet another orphan. The pendulum swings back and forth....
The staff can't seem to turn down shabby gifts. The boatshop crew rolls their eyes and thinks, now what?

The boats that get used get maintained. The ones that just sit at the dock looking interesting just sort of demonstrate the principle of entropy.

Many orphans (which don't fit the mission)are accepted with the intention of selling them to use the money for other worthy purposes. Sometime they sit for quite a while.

Where does Blue Moon fit in? I don't know. When I get to work there, I just work on whatever needs done. Nobody asks me about policy questions and it's probably just as well that they didn't.

[Nicholas Carey]

Well, having sailed on the CWB's BLUE MOON, I'd have to agree with JohnW -- there are better uses that 8000 pounds of wood, bronze and lead can be put to.

BLUE MOON is an awfully cute boat. And she'd probably be a much more interesting boat if she was 40 or 50 feet on deck.

But what she is is a [heavy] 22 foot boat that occupies 35 feet of slip. Here in Seattle, moorage runs about US $8/foot -- you're paying a lot of money every month just to park that bowsprit and boomkin.

And (IMHO) BLUE MOON has got way too much in the way of windage. She flies:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>mizzen<LI>main<LI>main topsail<LI>jib<LI>staysail<LI>flying jib
[/list]

Ans since she's a yawl, I suppose you could set a mizzen staysail as well. In any event, that's a lot of strings up in the air to slow her down.

Of course, if you like pulling strings, she's got them all for you.

[destreet]

On the Blue Moon design: My buddy own a cutter rigged version (which I would recommend over the yawl) named Quiet Kitten and was built with teak decks, cedar on oak (iron fastened) by Elmer Collemer in Maine. One solid boat, though the expansive cockpit combined with the low freeboard makes her seakeeping ability limited. Wet going to windward. Space limitations: What do you expect in 23', standing headroom?
NO privacy to head, but 2 comfy bunks and one converts to dinette. He also had a coal stove aboard and used the cooking stove portably on top of it. constant comments and good for limited cruising with 2 or 3. All in all, a good micro cruiser. Too bad for iron fasteners...wonder about her whereabouts now. We miss her. DES