As She Was

In 1985 I purchased Sulaire, then named "Trouble" with a broken mast and a blown engine. According to the broker, even though her hull was in excellent shape, she was taking on a fair bit of water.  The first thing I did was to paint her white to help reduce shrinkage from the sun.














The next step was to build a new mast. The fittings and chromed bronze hardware were intact with enough pieces of the old mast left to get measurements.  I set out to duplicate the tapered, tear drop shape. Consulting an accomplished spar builder on Orcas Island who had previously owned a Fife 10 Meter I learned how to lay up the pieces. how to orient the grain and how to use threaded rod to make inexpensive clamps.

I built a jig for the router to reproduce identical long scarfs making 5 - 62' lengths out of 30 ft 2x8s. The tapers were cut into them, cants were glued to the front and back sections to allow clamping in both directions. This also kept the wall thicknesses even.



















The box was glued using resorcinol glue and clamped with 60 clamps made from threaded rod and 1 x 4s. Using a power planer for two long days the excess was trimmed away. I finished by hand with a sanding belt (from a belt sander) using it like a strop to smooth the rounded leading edge.

With paint and the installation of hardware and wire I was ready to raise the mast.  I installed a new motor and motored across Puget Sound to use the crane at a Seattle marina.

I set the mast rake using an old photo of the boat and sailed her home with an older suit of sails. She handled beautifully. I had been told by the previous crew that the boat had a serious lee helm but here she was perfectly balanced.  When I had the newer sail repaired the helm issue was clear, it was 15" longer on the leach and the mast could not be raked enough to balance the boat.

After the first sail in heavy air, it was obvious she was flexing too much.  Even though her sheer looked perfect, the hull seemed slightly flat amidships and her cabin sides were pushed in where they meet the deck. I referenced the Lloyds numbers and found that she was 3/4" narrower than she should be. For the next few weeks, using a jack, I put pressure on her cabin sides and cockpit coamings pushing her back into shape, a slight bit every day, keeping an eye on her progress from the deck of a neighboring boat. 

To keep her shape, I installed a new deck beam between the cabin and the cockpit. This beam is notched into 2 new beam shelves of the same dimensions as those spreading the load at the mast.

After this the leaking stopped and she felt as stiff as a rock pounding through rough seas.

Fife built Sulaire with tight seams and they are as functional now as they were 84 years ago.  



(Last photo: Detail of beam shelf and joint with new cross beam, the hull here is sanded and ready for varnish)