June 16, 2007

Hi Howard,

Hope you are doing well and having a great summer. Don't know if you remember me but we sent some emails to each other in Nov-Dec last year when I had just bought Sea Quill. Anyhow we have now lived on the boat since late December last year and we have had an fantastic time so far (and some less good times as well of course...). We have been sailing from Dominican Republic to Jamaica, Cuba, Belize and now we have just arrived in Livingston Guatemala. Have to say that we really love the boat it has been such a pleasure and we have sailed nearly 1500 nm so far and learning more and more about Allied Seawind. Still we feel like new beginners.

Just checked the Allied Seawind website and wanted to ask if you could update the owner information for Sea Quill 29, and put in our website.

www.seaquillsail.com

Regards

Ulf and Jen on Sea Quill.

"Sea Quill is every bit the pedigreed Allied Seawind Mk II Ketch and a LOT more. Her owner, a pleasure boat, marine professional, has spent the last 15 years rebuilding her and perfecting her. You've never seen an Allied Seawind like this one.

That's what $100,000 can do to make a great vessel into a perfect work of art. Sea Quill is gorgeous because everything is absolutely perfect. She shows like a dream come true.

First of all, she's a true classic. "The Allied Seawind Mk II is one of those vessels that have stood the test of time. Tom Gillmer drew a near perfect shear line. It sweeps up attractively to a high buoyant bow and stout bowsprit." Vigor says, "She exudes an air of power and purpose." I could not say it better. Her proportions are just right. She has ample freeboard, a perfectly balanced coach roof. She has the interior headroom and voluminous space without compromising her classy look.

This Allied Seawind has all of that pedigree, plus she's become a work of art! Sea Quill is well outfitted as a proper sailing machine! She has a new custom suite of sails, she is notoriously fast. Even in very light airs she performs very well. And in heavy conditions, she's stable, and surprisingly stiff. And she gets a high comfort rating with plenty of room. Seawind owners all report incredible heavy weather performance and John Vigor gives her a safety as sea rating of #4 out of the 20 vessels he recommends as the worlds best values in affordable, pre-owned cruising sailboats."

The money spent on Sea Quill was well spent! Check out the short list of just the Structural and Safety Upgrades:

1. Amidships, the thwartship bulkhead reinforced from the original 3/4" to 1.5" joined contiguously with full width galley counter to provide very stiff amidships dimensional stability. 2. Coach roof and liner epoxy-joined at every port and hatch. 3. New standing rigging and chain plates 4. Two overhead and four opening hatches removed, re-glazed, re-sealed and powder coated. 5. Custom port and starboard interior grasp rails, fabricated, pre-stressed and installed to add greater structural support to side decks while bringing her lovely shear line into the interior accommodations. 6. Additional support added to rack and pinion steering bridge under aft cockpit locker. 7. Custom aft rode locker installed stbd. aft 8. Custom vented (Seaward Marine), propane locker Safety 9. Doubled (modified) SS rail pushpit and pulpit 10. 30-inch lifeline stanchions 11. Coach roof grab rails, removed and refitted, 2003. 12. Main salon settee lee cloths (2). 13. Three fire extinguishers. 14. A full set of Type II life preserver PFD's. 15. Mast mounted anti-collision strobe 16. Custom, full length grasp rails on the interior cabin sides 17. Custom teak grab rails at stove and nav station 18. Custom Stainless steel crash bar at stove 19. Boom gallows

Three decades ago, Alan Eddy had that dream. He was a regular Joshua Slocum! He was the first sailor to circumnavigate the earth in a fiberglass sailing vessel. That vessel was an Allied Seawind ketch, a 30-footer named "Apogee". The logical successor to that 30-footer was the Mark II version, a 32-foot with vast improvements. Many of the rare Mark II's have made ocean crossings and circumnavigations that only serve to prove the capability of this stout little ship.

Comments from other Allied Seawind owners:

Builder/Designer

Accommodations
As John Vigor says (in his evaluation of another Allied Seawind II sister ship) "She errs on the side of comfort."

Sea Quill is a big little sailing vessel that can take you anywhere. She is beamier than a BCC (Bristol Channel Cutter) and of heavy displacement, resplendent with stowage room for all your gear, safety equipment, food and supplies. Her 10'5" beam gives her lots of space and a comfy ride. Her 6'3" head room is a delight, even if you don't need it. She's a great couple boat for adventurers who want to spend their hard earned money cruising not fussing!

Main salon has the classic traditional blue-water cruising layout with two-settee berths and dining table, an "L" shaped galley aft to port and the navigation table is aft to starboard. Main dining table is a new, custom teak and holly masterpiece designed to swing-up and secure into the main bulkhead on the starboard side. The table is cleverly designed to incorporate the liquor locker, computer storage and electrical (110V & 12VDC) supply outlets with GPS input for laptop access.

The main salon and galley are completely and totally built new. The traditional interior refit has provided for increased stowage, safer environmental space by the removal of all square corners on bulkheads settees and cabinets. The woodwork and joinery are absolutely perfect. The galley is all new too. The V-berth forward is a great bedroom at anchor or a nice garage under way. Everywhere, there is stowage.

Galley and Plumbing
The galley locker space has been structurally re-designed to allow a removable sink locker to vastly increase the access to the engineering spaces. The ice box has been completely rebuilt, 4-inch industrial foam insulation installed with oversized refrigerator drain and fitted with removable Lexan stowage shelf & dividers.

Electronics & Navigation
Sea Quill is nicely outfitted for ease of navigation. The navigation station is optimized with 12 volt plugs for your laptop. In the cockpit, you have great instruments including a Raymarine ST-40, Tri-Data (kt., depth, water temp) and the Raymarine ST-40 digital Apparent Wind Indicator and an additional 12VDC socket in the cockpit. On the mizzen mast is another custom, fiberglass pod that mounts the Raymarine ST 5000+ Sail (linear drive, below decks) auto pilot with all interfaced with NMEA and Sea Talk Bus. All instruments new 2003. The engine instruments have all been relocated from the original position in the forward cockpit well to a handsome, custom made, pod/coaming located on the coachroof, above the companionway.

Systems: Mechanical and Electrical
To port, on the custom, fiberglass instrument pod/spray coaming is the complete analogue engine display (tach, oil pressure, coolant temperature, DC volts). To starboard; the array of the wind, depth and speed instruments.

A great deal of thought and attention has been paid to the electric systems and the power usage of the vessel. The charging system is capable of recharging the house banks from 50% to 100% in 2.0 hours. Average use when cruising (nav lights, interior lights, refrigeration, autopilot and instrumentation) is generally 105 amps per day. Under general usage the electrical requirements, for up to four days) are easily met by the enhanced charging system and five batteries.

Sails and Rigging
Virtually all of the rigging has been replaced since 1996 including the standing rigging, mast step, and chain plates. The sail inventory is just amazing. In addition to a new suite of sails custom made by Doyle to allow a greater range of sail configurations for all weather conditions and reinforced and stress points and triple stitched, you have a complete sail inventory include light air sails and even a storm trysail. Everything is thought out very, very well on this boat.

"Sea Quill" has been often matched against other sister ships and on any point of sail has proven significantly faster.

The split sail plan enables several configurations. In almost any condition this proven plan will allow extraordinary balance and stability. Sea Quill sails most efficiently at 15 to 18 degrees of heel with an easy and comfortable sea-kindly motion. The main sail and mizzen are custom designs, heavily reinforced, loose-footed and controlled by Harken Magic Boxes on each. This allows a very wide range of power and flattening options. The hollowed leach provides greater control of the leach and eliminates the battens and pockets that traditionally separate and require high maintenance of the associated stitching. The traditional headboard and tack has been eliminated in favor of web-bound SS hard rings to further reduce twisting and distortion of the traditional grommets. Reef points on the luff are also double SS rings fitted with web straps.

The extended main traveler allows a significant amount of increased twist for light to moderate wind conditions. This increased shaping option allows considerable power and increased upwind capability over her sister ships.

The two uniquely placed reef points in the main are set at 25% and 40%. Early reefing requirements are reduced by the slightly hollowed leach of the mainsail. Apparent wind, upwind, is generally up to 18-20 kts. before the first reef. Reefing is slab type and accessible from the mast only.

Offwind and downwind this vessel turns a surprising 7.35 knots consistently. Downwind the custom designed, working genny (120%) is set on the whisker pole with the 130%, hard luff reacher flown free with hardened luff tension, the main is reefed and the mizzen struck and gasketed. This arrangement allows the Allied Seawind II to balance well and uses the least amount of effort for either manual steering or under autopilot control.

In heavy weather the Allied Seawind II will successfully heave-to under mizzen alone. Sea Quill is fitted with three tack control points for the mizzen sheet tackle. The tackle is set to the windward position and the sheet hardened. In this configuration she will lie approximately 60� to the conditions. A reefed mainsail can also be set or the headsail rolled to 25% and backed to improve the stability. Fore-reaching of about 1.75 knots can be expected in 35 knots of apparent wind.

Hull, Deck and Ground Tackle
The underbody is classic. She's a full keel cruiser with the greatest depth just aft of the mizzen mast with a long sloping cutaway forefoot that gives her agility to tack short. She's beamy enough to give her a more comfortable ride and increased lateral stability. The beam carries aft to blend nicely with a squared transom to give her more power and speed. Her 5,800 lb ballast of cast lead is encapsulated in fiberglass. And her hull is hand laid with solid glass sandwiching a balsa wood core with solid lay-up at all the stress areas for reinforcement.

Karen.

Thanks very much for once again remembering the Seawind II as one of the most durable, "Good Old Boats", in John Vigor's article in the past issue. He has offered your appreciative readers a fine representation of this, almost perfect, good old cruiser that has yet been written. His views are almost universally, accepted and agreed upon by myself and those other 127 owners of the Tom Gilmer classic.

Within his comments Mr. Vigor has noted some of the "Known Weaknesses". It would be hard to disagree with his short list and easy to add just a few more.

I have taken a rather inventive and very aggressive course regarding my solutions to these and others. Many of which are fairly well documented in the Seawind II web site, mentioned, that Howard Hering has so remarkably maintained.

However, I must make mention that the very truthful observation regarding the serious lack of engine access is one that I have taken my most aggressive, creative and successful steps to cure.

However, my solution(s) is one that may be applied to a host of good old boats that suffer from similar design deficiencies in other venerable older designs such as the Luders 33 and many others.

In addition to my unique removable cabinet solution, I have decided to remove my dual, 12VDC and engine drive refrigeration systems, with its bulky compressor(s) in favor of the new, and remarkably efficient, Sea Frost BD 35, 12VDC system. The advantages begin with increasing starboard side engine access by eliminating the bulky, belt driven, compressor and its related plumbing from the front of the Westerbeke 30.

It took the job of creating more engine access into fully investigating the real truth of the claimed 4"of insulation (as described by the factory) in the "ice box".

I began by removing the entire guts of the original box and replacing the insufficient average of 2.25 inches of open-cell, expansion foam and glass-wool insulation, with two layers each of two inch, R-10, closed cell foam insulation to substantiate the conversion. The compressor/condenser unit fits easily, forward, in the port cockpit locker on a small shelf immediately aft of the galley. The 1/2" thick evaporator unit disappears into the box leaving an additional .5 cubic feet of cold storage in the new space.

Even more engine access was created by the removal of the old hot water heater and replacing it with a standard refrigeration condenser, supplied by Sea Frost, as a hot water loop transferred from the engine cooling system. Hot showers are conveniently available, with the engine running, during battery charging time.

Paul Watson,
New York

SV GiGi, Seawind II, Hull # 29

December 8, 2000

See Westerbeke 2

Starboard Waist 2

Table Leg Detail

Table Opening

Table Tucked Detail

November 1, 2000

The Allied Seawind II has often been touted as one of the ten best, small cruising boats available today. Its design is the logical and refined, evolution of her noteworthy, predecessor the thirty-foot Seawind. This venerable earlier Tom Gilmer design boasted the remarkable accomplishment of being the first production fiberglass sailboat (Apogee) to circumnavigate the globe. Several other Seawind Mark II s were to follow including possibly the most heralded voyage of Scott and Kitty Kuhner in their ketch, "Bebinka".

The high, sweeping shear line highlights her distinctive profile. A proportional, straight coach roof accents a remarkably low freeboard amidships that begins the returning rise aft to a beamy heart-shaped transom. At ten and a half feet the ample beam carries well aft from the distinctive, broad flaring bow through the massive cockpit area and drops almost vertically to about a foot below her waterline where the chine turns towards a magnificently shaped full keel with a very modest forward cutaway. The ultimate result is to create an interior volume that allows more than 75 inches of headroom within her wide main salon and 72 inch by 80-inch vee berth.

By modern standards the four foot six inch draft certainly inhibits tight upwind performance but Gilmer intended her for long distance cruising with the most comfortable sea-motion that could be achieved and certainly did that. From the close reach to the broad reach the Seawind II easily exceeds her theoretical hull speed and will carry over seven knots, in eight foot swells and a two foot cross chop with total alacrity.

The Allied Boat Company of Catskill, New York, first began production of the thirty foot Seawind in 1962. The company produced not only the first Seawind to circle the world, christened "Apogee" but also the Luders 33, "DOVE" that carried the youngest circumnavigator, of the time, Robin Lee Graham, around. Even as the Allied Boat Co. built undoubtedly some of the strongest hulls of the time, (others included the Wright 40, the Mistress 39, the Allied 39, the Princess 36, the Seabreeze 35, Greenwich 24 and the Chance 30), the company was to be constantly plagued with financial difficulties and a failing management structure and was saved from their debtors by bankruptcy seven times. In 1975 the company went out of business with at least 22 ordered boats uncompleted. The Wright Yacht Company purchased it in 1975. From 1977 to 1981 several more business owners tried to continue the work of the original builders with final failure in 1980 at the hands of a group of former managers from the original Wright Yacht Company. The effort failed and the company was to close permanently in the summer of 1981. During those 19 years the company was to produce only 129 Seawind II's.

Even as several production runs of the Seawind II Wright-Allied was only to finish 129 of these hulls in sloop, cutter and the more popular ketch, the graceful and remarkably sturdy hulls seemed the only consistency that allow these nonetheless remarkable boats to flourish with an almost cult-like demand in the brokerage market.

Hull # 29 was born in 1976 and began a cruising life almost immediately with her owner Gerry G. Smith who christened her GiGi. She was to leave her birthplace on the Hudson River in up-state New York to arrive in New York Harbor in time to participate in the 1976 Bi-Centennial Op-Sail festivities. From there the Smiths sailed south to the Chesapeake for some extended cruising and perform the extensive modifications and install the extensive equipment list that Gerry had painstakingly planned.

She was then to travel to Bermuda for an extended stay and then on to the Caribbean for several extended cruises, over a period of several years, that left almost no island un-visited. Often Gerry would haul her in the Virgin Islands and leave her for a few months and then return for more exploration of his beloved Caribbean cruising grounds. His plans were ultimately to take her to the vast Pacific for even more mileage.

During the night of September 17^th 1989 GiGi was shored up in Totrtola, awaiting Gerry and his family's return, when the fury of Hurricane Hugo swept through the Virgins leaving massive destruction in its wake.

GiGi was repeatedly rocked violently against her archaic wooden braces forcing them into the sodden ground. The bracing ultimately failed and GiGi tumbled into another yacht to her starboard, causing a domino effect that left ten grounded yachts heavily damaged and tangled in their respective rigging.

Remarkably, as she struck the ground the soggy earth cushioned her fall and protected the sturdy little hull from certain damage. Her mainmast snapped at the spreaders and both the bow and stern pulpits were destroyed but none of the structural bulkheads had been disturbed.

By September of 1999 GiGi had long been returned to vertical, in the same type of wooden shoring, with the local vegetation growing almost to her gunwales. She seemed to be one of the last vestiges of the myriad of damaged boats left in the yard. The upper half of her mast still dangled from the last attached, remaining, distorted piece of aluminum and remained hopelessly tangled in the remnants of her standing rigging. Little had been done to ensure her future other than to rearrange the loose equipment within her main salon so that a pathway could be found to move through the boat.

She cried for help and I wanted a cruising boat.

Gerry and I, after some impassioned, faxed communication, struck a deal that ultimately resulted in our partnership in the wonderful little cruiser. I was to repair her and we were to mutually enjoy her during contractually defined seasons of each following year.

Her structural and mechanical resurrection began in December of 1991 and the hull was launched in mid-January. The successive seven years of part-time work were augmented by the immeasurable efforts of the close-knit expatriates and many wonderful locals encountered during my lengthy stay on the island.

I moved aboard GiGi almost immediately and after some Herculean efforts to splice her mast and repair her most immediate sailing necessities she eagerly slipped out of Road Town one magnificent afternoon later that month for her first sail in over five years. The brief sail out to Norman Island and back to the dock cemented my resolve to ultimately produce the finest example of a Seawind II in existence and to ultimately depart for the world at large. I knew she was capable and comfortable and if she was willing to go I would go with her.

The naturals fortunes of life had prevented Gerry Smith from ever returning to the islands to execute his option to sail her. Similar turns of events allowed me to eventually make an offer for purchasing my half of the boat and I threw a "Burn the Mortgage" party at the yacht club in 1998 for all of those friends that had helped to maintain my resolve and sanity during the seven previous years.

The liveaboard aspect certainly hinders livability during the seemingly endless, ongoing process of refitting any yacht but we managed until August of 1998 when during a visit to New York I was to realize that my health would soon signal the end of the ultimate plan to explore the distant shores of every landfall I had envisioned for so long.

In July of 1999 GiGi was sailed to New York by professional delivery skipper and close friend Jerry Leclare. His comments regarding her incredible sail plan balance and innate ability to hold a course for hours and days without but minor trim adjustments didn't surprise me. He recounted the second leg of his voyage from Bermuda to Montauk Point, Long Island, New York as a constant gale for the last two days, diminishing only as he neared Montauk. He carried a deep reef in the main and rolled up only about 20% of the new 125% Doyle jib and sailed on at an average of almost eight knots. "She's definitely a great sea boat" he exclaimed when I met him at his landfall in Shelter Island, New York.

GiGi had typically been shaken up during the rough delivery. The fixed ports in the main salon had worked their GE 5200 bedding loose after eight years and the sea water had soaked through the 1/4" plywood trim panels that had been installed as fascia and mounted on the inside of the cabin sides twenty three years before. Seawater had coursed through the chainplates, that had been replaced and re-bedded nearly five years earlier, causing some further delaminating of the locker doors in the head as well as the head's mounting platform. The raw water pump bearings had given up halfway to Bermuda and Jerry had rigged an electric pump to aid the cooling flow but she trundled on gallantly. In short she was a mess but had suffered nothing other than minor cosmetic damage to the original joinery installed in 1976.

The logic of performing a major cosmetic refit on an aging yacht, that in the foreseeable future likely will be in search of a new owner, seemed to escape most of my friends when I mentioned that I would undertake to drastically alter most of her interior. They pointed out that the Seawind II had enjoyed a fine reputation with her owners and most knowledgeable boaters for more than 25 years and would still bring a fine return even considering her relatively shabby interior cosmetic condition. I was steadfastly un-swayed.

I had lived aboard her for almost eight years and too often been defeated in simple maintenance tasks by incredibly limited access to the engine as well as had graphically envisioned an interior that went far further than the basically constructed and minimalist one that the financially desperate manufacturer had been able to provide in 1976.

Driven by both the vision of an interior that would be not only ergo dynamically be more comfortable, functional and inviting but also to find the Holy Grail of all Seawind II owners, provide better access to the engine compartment, I insisted that GiGi's final and crowning moment with me would be to enjoy the best possible results from my demands as well as the incredible mind, spiritual ministrations and precise workmanship of long-time friend, delivery mate and talented marine carpenter, Wayne Mantynan.

I had a very good understanding that Wayne was now married and raising two kids with a busy, full-time job as a project supervisor for a large, commercial construction company and would have limited time to dedicate to the project. This understanding would facilitate the time to fund the project at a rate that I felt comfortable with as well as to allow evolution of his fertile and creative mind to transform her. Without the timeless spirit imbedded within him to visualize the project through my requirements and create the artwork that has been his signature for over twenty-five years GiGi's refit would simply become another unqualified hatchet job.

Wayne signed on to crew for the day and a half delivery from Huntington on the North Shore of Long Island to a small yard nestled on the Amityville River on the South Shore late in October of 1999. He communed with GiGi sitting below, while underway, and began his own visualization. Upon our arrival at Steve Brice's, Yacht Service, Ltd., boatyard Wayne had already seen the beginning and was anxious to commence the job.

There seemed little to do for me other than to show Wayne to the engine compartment doors and ask him to reach for the dipstick, reach for the adjustment bracket the fresh water pump was mounted on, locate the heat exchanger stack or simply to access the secondary CAV filter on the Westerbeke 30that lived in there.

He got the message immediately and indicated that the designer clearly had managed to pencil in the galley sink and its supporting cabinet well encroached into the centerline without much regard for engine access.

I related the story of the day that two local, Guyanese mechanics and myself actually removed the engine into the salon, lifted it into a waiting dinghy with the main boom within one hour, all while on the hook in Road Town during a 25 knot breeze and a two foot chop. He laughed and said that maybe I should plan to remove the engine once a year, service all that it needed and reinstall it since it appeared to be almost as difficult a job as simply removing the starter.

Then I sat down on the starboard settee to show him that if I sat back I could not reach the table. The berth had been designed and built as an expandable pull out that was barely more than 40 inches wide when converted to a double using the cumbersome backrest cushion as a filler. Then I showed him the narrow bin stowage that existed behind the offending backrest bulkhead.

The last item that I had on my list was that I wished to replace the dark, wood-grained laminate that had been used throughout the boat. I had sanded and painted most of it in the forward cabin but had long abhorred the dingy darkness of the salon and galley area.

A few weeks went by and Wayne called me to meet him at the boatyard.

I arrived and climbed aboard for the conference I expected. To my surprise he had surgically removed the offending sink section of the thwartships cabinet that also contained, in the outboard corner, the refrigerator locker. The entire counter surface from the refrigerator to the navigation table/locker and all of the above counter locker faces had also disappeared. To my absolute shock I could see the entire port side of the Westerbeke including parts I had not viewed since the major overhaul it got back in 1995.

He explained that he was remaking this cabinet to be easily removable with the help of some quick disconnect couplers for the plumbing. His view contained many more features that are now works-in-progress.

All of the offending dark laminate has been removed from the vertical surfaces and bulkheads and replaced with a soft, eggshell white, counter surface grade laminate creating the instant illusion of far more volume in the main salon.

The port and starboard berths have had the outboard backrests moved inboard as much as three inches. In the case of the original "double" on the starboard side he has retained only part of the original slide out frame but modified it to swing out only at the aft end of the bunk to allow considerable and comfortable shoulder room making the bunk size wider at my widest dimension. While modifying the starboard side settee he noticed that almost no legroom had been offered in the original design between the companionway ladder and the tiny navigation locker in the starboard aft corner of the area. To offset this ergo dynamic deficiency he removed the square corner and laminated in a soft radius and increased the passageway be another three inches.

Above the settees he has created new and wider waist locker spaces with magnificently teak-trimmed openings for the custom made, teak-framed, rattan centered sliding locker doors. Each locker opening, with curved corners, tapers from narrow to widest as the space increases, following the shear of the boat forward.

Above the eye arresting waist lockers he had removed the delaminated fascia panels only to find that the original fiberglass cabin sides were in perfect if not somewhat perforated condition. With judicious placement of some narrow, complimentary moldings he will cover the original, installation drill-holes and accent the framing of the cabin sides. He turned his attention to the removal of the 25 year-old fixed ports and the weathered aluminum frames. As replacements were unlikely he sent them out to be sanded, filled and powder coated by his brother. The resulting workmanship and the pewter colored frames surrounding new, dark smoked Lexan port lights will, again bring the eye to the bright, wide space that has been illuminated.

Next, Wayne decided that he needed to define the area of the cabin sides with a more practical solution than simple molding. He took a page from so many of the heavy cruising boats and felt that another multi-purpose piece of joinery should be created. Heavily constructed, outboard mounted grasp rails adorn many Oriental built cruising boats just below the ports. As any offshore maven will attest to, there are never enough places to grab for when being tossed about in a seaway. His answer was, again, simply testament to his genius. Grasp rails were created with several functions in mind. They had to be strong but flexible enough to bend into the natural curve of the cabin side but not overpowering in width or projection. The consequence of natural condensation and leaks from ports or double purpose, overhead grab rails, mounted through the coachroof, is usually destined to cause damage to ships stores as well as joinery, as had already be evident during the offshore delivery. He created the rails as a gutter to direct the moisture aft into a small hose leader that carries the water to the bilge. Even as this seems trivial he constructed the grasp rails with a one inch, routed channel in the facing to allow a new wire chase from the aft salon forward. The routed channel is covered by an ingenious, thin, pop-in, mahogany insert that covers the wires and attaching screws.

The bending of these rails, during installation was so difficult that when finally fit Wayne noticed that the linear, structural improvement to the inboard area of the walk-around decks had stiffened the cabin sides significantly.

As he is a sailor his attention now turned to the navigation locker and recognized that it too had been designed with little purpose as a navigational work surface and more as a natural debris collector. This observation has been often documented in Sea Words, the owner association's newsletter, by many of the Seawind owners but rarely, if ever, has any owner approached the daunting task of redesign and modification to a more dedicated purpose. Wayne pondered the locker with a more global intentions and came up with yet another answer that would contribute to the engine access problem and provide yet two more surprises.

The forward facing vertical surface of the locker provided an opportune space to fill in with two long drawers as well as another that would project inboard below them. As he would be removing the three, minute drawers along with the tiny, existing engine access doors as well as almost the entire thwartships bulkhead, in order to create a massive new engine access hatch and new structural, support for the bridge deck and another for the proposed full-width countertop, the drawer space would become much more than it had been previously. To add to an already voluminous storage capacity he has built another, shallow locker, faced with white laminate and fitted with the now signature teak and rattan sliding doors to mount thwartships, full height, from the hull side on the starboard side extending to a spot just short of the companionway ladder passage. The depth of this locker is just the same nine inches that had been designed as a "wet locker" but always used as the "black hole". The small void created by the now unused, lower section of the wet locker has been modified to allow access to it from the engine compartment as an oil and fluids stowage locker using the natural curve of the hull as a delivery ramp to the ship's mechanic.

The two foot section of thwartships counter space between the new, custom lockers at the navigation locker and its complimentary companion to port side will be largely obscured by the ladder but will become a nine inch deep by twenty-two inch wide, hinged-up counter to allow even more top access to the my long neglected Westerbeke 30. Checking or topping off the header tank and filling the oil sump can now be done standing up!

Even as we have tried to be as artful and practical as deserving our combined visions, Wayne has added yet one final touch to the navigation locker. He seemed bothered by the new void left just outboard of the space consumed by the new drawers so he has taken on a new and fanciful project that seems to amplify his unusually talented capability. The laminated work surface of the navigation locker shall be split to allow a hidden, ten bottle capacity, wine rack to rise up from the void just about time for that occasional, evening taste test of my unusually obscure, eclectic collection of aged Hudson Valley wines.

The location of the electrical distribution panel had traditionally been below the companionway, under the bridge-deck, in the Seawind II. This location was always in the direct line of fire for an annoying drip and ensuing splash that occurs from the poorly designed drain from sea-hood as well as seawater from the occasional breaking sea mounting the deck, as again, documented by most of the owners. Similarly, the engine control panel was mounted in the forward cockpit, footwell bulkhead and again, susceptible to corrosion damage from frequent dousing. He has since removed both panels, closed the hole in the cockpit bulkhead and begun production of the new location outboard of the nav station where one would have logically placed it originally.

It has become my job to provide new wiring for all of the existing circuits to terminate at the new distribution panel location outboard of the new navigation locker. During my dismayed period of trying to envision a new location for those vital gauges and switches that the Westerbeke seems so attached to Wayne mused silently at my dilemma.

It seems only logical that unless the instruments are within the pilot's immediate and constant view they often go ignored. The answer seemed suddenly simple. The gauges would be moved to the coach roof, above the companionway. The idea has now evolved so that the answer to the instrument location also becomes the cure for the typically Seawind II moisture problem.

Wayne has agreed to create a low, compound curved, teak coaming that runs across the forward edge of the sea-hood and continues curving aft and finally reaches to both outboard sides of the coachroof and disappears to almost a "0" clearance at the coachroof horizontal extremity. The dodger will be fastened tightly upon the cambered, vertical surface of this coaming to help prevent water from entering beneath the previous, deck mounted fastenings. The coaming will then be configured with a shallow, watertight pod, built in on either side of the sea-hood, to contain the entire compliment of engine monitors as well as the Auto Helm Bi-Data instrument. Short fiddles will be installed both fore and aft as well as at thwartships, aft to help contain the inevitable small clutter that accumulates on both the aft coachroof surfaces. The waterproofed Start, Pre-Heater, fuel shut-off and the Power switches will be mounted on a vertical surface just below the steering wheel on the helm seat for quick and easy access.

It appears that I have become a bit more ambicious than I had originally planned but the results have so far been exciting and GiGi will be very difficult to part with upon completion. Maybe I will just be thrilled to sail her locally and show her off a bit. I will continue to keep you informed as well as provide supporting photos of the progress until her projected launching in May of 2001. Then I will be out sailing with no time to spend except muse over the magnificent result of mind and effort.

EOF 11/01/00

August 4, 2000

From Paul Watson

It has been an incredibly busy year for me and GiGi still resides in the yard here in NY. She is slowly transforming and the interior refit is exciting. Gigi is scheduled to launch next Spring. Hopefully, the new GiGi will emerge to sparkle and dazzle all of the SWII owners. She may not become another "Solution" but the modifications are quite stunning.

I have attatched some revealing photos of the work in progress with some comments in the form of an e-mail to my yacht broker, BVI Yacht Sales, in Tortola, British Virgin Islands and two prospective buyers. You are welcome to edit as needed for the website (I love it!).

As she is For Sale you may wish to include her in the website.

Within the cosmetic modifications came some functional changes that seem to address the problems of port side engine access, stowage and moisture problems in the electric distribution panel area.

I would be happy to discuss the details with you or any other interested party along with some of my more interesting approaches to other inherent design failures.

At long last I have arrived. This new web weenie and old Seawind II owner has found a place to set his anchor.

I am Paul Watson, hull #29 (k), the former partner of Gerry Smith and now full owner.

I have left my beloved GiGi, temporarily, in Tortola, British Virgin Islands while I attend to some important issues here in New York.

With your permission I would love to participate in the group, be notified of chats, allowed to provide the benefit of seven years of the revival of one of the finest small yachts I ever had the pleasure of sailing and now owning.

There appears to be a possibility that GiGi may come up for sale as my health has become an issue. I would love to turn her over to a true Allied Seawind II afficianado.

I have spent considerable time over the period 1991 - 1998 attending to the typical needs of a Seawind and seem to have permanently fixed many of the more difficult areas. I can even claim to have some SW & SW II racing results from the sunny Caribbean.