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