RE: Some thoughts...

Gordon (hlg@pacbell.net)
Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:24:46 -0700


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>> I would have to agree/disagree with your comment about "poor"
>> construction.
>> I have noticed what I would call "sloppy" construction, more terms of
>> finishing work(sealer smears, etc.). Overall I would characterize
>> my P-19's
>> construction as "inexpensive". Casey tells of cleats that weren't backed
>> being ripped right off the deck of boats under tow. Could you imagine that
>> ever happening to a Potter?
>
Eric Johnson replied:

>I don't think this is the answer you are looking for, but I sure can! Its
>happened to me - not during towing, but tied to the dock when waves come in.
>My cleats have never actually come off, but they've loosened to the point
>where they would have had I not noticed. I've had rivets on the boom holding
>the mainsheet block shearing off in a gale. I'm lucky I didn't lose a mast
>or the mainsail when that happened. My deck used to leak like a sieve. And
>all the unfinished softwood parts (storage compartment covers, insides of
>shelves, bottom of chain locker, battery support, etc) are like sponges
>absorbing moisture. I've corrected many of these oversights, but there are a
>few more to go. I'm getting a little worried about my transom, which on my
>boat is a layer of fiberglass over plywood. There is no fiberglass on the
>inside - just a peeling layer of paint.
_____________________________________________________________

I've also had a cleat pull out, but it was a pretty severe test. Once upon
a time I decided to leave my P14 in the water for a week at Pete's Harbor
in Redwood City, which is in the southern part of SF Bay. When I attempted
to secure my Manatee for the first night, I could find only one cleat on
the floating dock. No problem: I tied the bow line to the dock cleat and
tied the stern line to a convenient piling. Then I drove home.

Sometime during the night, at near low tide, the dock was 8 feet lower than
when I had secured the boat, and Manatee was hanging by her stern from the
piling - but not for long. The lines, fore and aft, must have been under
considerable tension by this time, and the stern cleat mounting was just
not strong enough to suspend both the boat and the dock.

The liveaboard in a nearby slip, who got up in the middle of the night to
re-secure Manatee, was not kind in her assessment of my seamanship.

Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA