Roger,,, don't get upset... if it was my boat the boatyard dope would have
said "the ugly guy's boat".

Just remember ,,, when you need to give them a check .. spit and **** on it
first. Then, very nicely hand it to the yard manager. Say "an ugly check
for an ugly boat"... make sure that the **** do stink, also.

As you can see, I hate boatyards, marinas and the people who work there.



"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I stopped in to ask the yard manager when they would get to replacing my
stern bearing because I don't want to find out a couple days before launch
that the shaft has to come out. The rudder modification on my boat requires
that the rudder come off first. He said he would check with so and so and
we each headed our respective ways.

I looked over a few steps into my walk to the boat and saw the stern
bearing puller so I tacked and decided I might as well hear what he had to
say. It was raining hard so we both under our parka hoods. I heard the
manager say from under his hood, "Say (stern bearing puller), you know
that job I spoke to you about, the stern bearing on the ugly Endeavour.."

The stern bearing puller glanced over at me, the manager looked around his
hood and recovered quickly, continuing like nothing had happened.

Well, she is an ugly boat. The sheer stripe is worn and shows white
underneath the paint, the gold tape put on years ago in Florida is
chipped. The superstructure gel coat is chalky and all the varnished teak
is peeling and mottled with gray. There is also a little glitch in the
sheer line which usually isn't very noticeable but her position in the
yard is exactly right to make it jump right out at you.

I've spent most of my career around hard working boats so yachting spit
and polish doesn't do much for me. I expect the outside of a boat to be
pretty beat up. I hardly even looked at the outside when I bought this
boat except for the equipment and the layout. I bought her because it was
the hull shape I wanted, a heavily built boat with slippery shape, and the
nicest interior I've seen on any glass boat under twice the price we paid.
Still, I find myself looking at her a little differently every time I walk
up to her now. I guess it's like when a parent overhears someone say for
the first time, "Oh, what an ugly baby."

Those of you who have seen the yacht designs on my web site

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/Boats.htm

know that I have some basis for claiming to know what makes a boat look
good. The tall ships were even designed after researching the classic
mathematical ratios used by designers of the period to make every aspect
of the rig and hull proportions harmonize around proportions the eye
expected to see. It's a little odd to be in love with this boat, sort of
like those few movie stars that are married to rather plain looking women.

One thing I learned early in my brief yacht design career was that, if you
put a clipper bow on a boat, everyone would say, "Oh, how beautiful!",
even if it wasn't. A boat of rather plain configuration can be
proportioned properly and the lines of cabin and sheer blended and
harmonized. Something with all the attributes that say, "Elegance" can be
completely screwed up and few will notice.

The E32 was drawn to be a rather plain and straightforward boat. Ted Irwin
knew what he was doing, however. He wasn't trying to make an aesthetic
statement but there is a straightforward integrity and competence about
her lines that I find very easy to nice at.

Still, I really didn't like hearing that.

--
Roger Long