Off center companionways bug me. Sure it can make sense to give more room
to the galley, etc etc, but I just don't like it. Some therwise wonderful
boats have that feature, though.


Maxprop wrote:
Like some of the Hinckleys and the Mason 43/44, for example. My Sea Sprite
34 is slightly offset, but only slightly. I don't think it poses a risk
during a knockdown, especially with the massive keel we have and the 5'
draft.


I was thinking aesthetics, but the safety aspect shouldn't be
overlooked. A lot of schooners and ketches have off set companionways to
get it out of the way of the mast... the Freedom 40s do, one of that
boat's few drawbacks.



.... Personally I think it is better for a boat to look good than to sail
good. :-) (apologies to Billy Crystal)


L. Francis Herreshoff once said, "If it looks right to your eye, chances
are it'll look right to the sea." Of course his mastery was in producing
boats that looked hypnotically right, and yet didn't have much in the way
of racing successes. Personally, while I think any boat that wins is
automatically beautiful, I also put a high value on looks and have only
owned one boat that was not at least pretty... some called the Hunter 19
cute, but it always looked pudgy to me.


The Hunter 19 wasn't bad compared with the current crop of Hunters.

No, but it's best feature is practicality... I kept telling myelf that
'function is beauty' but it didn't take. Too pudgy, too high
freeboard... but a lot of fun, and I realized that you don't have any
idea what a boat looks like when you're sailing it.


... Those
recent boats in the small to medium size range are positively homely, with
their arytenoid transoms and myriad dark glazing ports all over the house.
I find it amusing that the newest Hunters have returned to a more
traditional look, like the new 38. It's not a half-bad looking boat.


Their boats, even the Cherubini series, don't do much for me. In all
honesty, most mass-produced mass-marketed boats seem to be ungainly
compromises... they have to appeal to the lowest common denominator in
order to sell. Except for one-design racing boats, of course


As for L. Francis Herreshoff's designs, they are among the most gorgeous
boats ever penned or lofted. Cannell, Payne, and Page have one for sale
currently, a 44' boat bearing #1, built in 1905, and while it isn't cheap,
it will draw admiring stares everywhere it sails, not to mention that it can
carry a ****load of sail as well.



You mean this one?
http://www.cppyacht.com/boatsforsale/nautilus.htm

One of these would be a lot of fun to sail. There's an old early 1900s
Herreshoff sitting in a back lot in South Carolina, offered for free to
anybody that will restore her... been thinking about that, but my wife
would have to be dragged kicking & screaming away from the tugboat...
I'll give a her some more time to perfect her varnishing skills...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King