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/b...587943341.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.





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

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

Name: 170924-cst-stem-piper-03_132_3143.jpg Views: 1307 Size: 271.6 KB

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

http://associationtrident.e-monsite....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