>Hi Harry,
>
>Since you have been so kind answering my questions, I thought I'd test your
>good will one more time! I'm now reading Larry Brown's Book "Frugal
>Yachting," and as I looked at the various "Fearless" photo's, I noticed that
>there appeared to be two or more different P-15s with that name.
>
>One P-15 had a centerboard trunk, and one P-15 had a shoal keel. Another
>photo shows a P-15 with a lateen rig, but doesn't appear to have a name on it.
>In another photo the sail number is 1600, the only sail number I could make
>out.
Hmm... I hadn't noticed that there might be two different boats. I had
presumed he just used two different sail rigs on the same boat. The photo
of Fearless on her trailer (pg 31) clearly shows the shoal keel, which I'm
told he had HMS or IM custom build to his requirements. The interior shot
on page 21 clearly shows a centerboard trunk but is not actually identified
as Fearless. Perhaps it was someone else's boat. Perhaps it had both a
centerboard trunk and a keel.
As I had noticed previously, the mast step on the sloop Fearless is near
the forward end of the cabintop, much further forward than the standard
mast step. The lateen rig requires the mast to be stepped at the front of
the cabintop for proper balance. It appears that both the sloop mast step
and lateen mast socket on Fearless are in the same location. Perhaps he
built the lateen version first, then adapted the lateen mast socket tube as
a compression post for the sloop mast. Or perhaps the keel changed the
balance such that the sloop worked better with the mast moved further, or
someone thought it would. All speculation; I don't know.
On my P14, I can use either the lateen rig with the mast in a socket at the
front of the cabintop, or use the sloop rig with the mast stepped in its
normal position about 1 foot aft of the lateen mast socket.
>For Brown to have so many different P-15s he sure must have had a sweet
>arrangement with Potter! To you knowledge was there only one P-15 made with
>the shoal keel? I couldn't find any owner of Potter 15 Hull 1600 listed in
>the WWPotter Membership List. Do you have any idea what the hull number for
>the shoal keel Potter might be? And to your knowledge is the shoal keel
>Potter still being sailed?
I don't know any more than what I can deduce from Frugal Yachting and what
I've been told by Jerry Barrilleaux, who has frequently talked to HMS/IM
people . Brown was never in the Potter Yachters, so far as I know, and no
one has found an e-mail address for him. I don't know what has become of
Brown's Potters. Perhaps he still has them. The shoal keel doesn't seem
like a good idea except it would allow a much more usable interior. I've
toyed with the idea of twin boards (are they called bilge boards?) for the
same reason. Brown mentions that a shoal keel makes the boat harder to
launch.
>
>And the last question! Does your mast rotate freely in its socket with your
>lateen rig? The mast for my little boat is square, and fits into a square
>socket. Perhaps the boom is held onto the mast by a line so that it might
>rotate around the mast?
Yes, the Sunfish shop where I bought my spars said the mast should be able
to rotate. There is a rounded plastic cap on the base of the Sunfish mast.
On my boat, the base of the mast sits on a bolt that goes through the mast
socket tube. Actually I have three holes through the socket so I can adjust
the mast height by moving the bolt.
A round gooseneck ring like the Sunfish's would allow the boom to rotate
around the square mast okay, but you would probably have to leave a little
slack in the halyard to allow the upper spar to rotate freely around the
mast.
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA