Under Build

The New Antrim 40

“A little less conversation…”

By Antony Barran

In the past six months, since my father and I began this project, I’ve heard more comments, been given more pieces of advice and seen more looks of both wonder, confusion, and scorn than in the previous 7 years.  Of course, there are the predictable standards of “why not just get a Farr 40?” Or “why build new when there are so many good used boats on the market?”   But the best came from our former bowman, who now runs the bow on a local 1D48.  To put it mildly, he is in complete shock and disbelief of our decision. 

In his mind, I’ve gone soft.  Sort of a “maybe he should let his husband choose the boat next time.”  Or “can they get enough batteries aboard so that he can blow dry his hair after each shower?”  Of course, he never actually said these things to me.  Nope.  I merely get this bewildered expression.  I can only interpret as “it would have been less embarrassing if you’d started driving a Volskwagen Cabriolet….a Racer/Cruiser?  What happened to you?...” 

My previous couple of articles have outlined the process we went through to decide to do a custom boat and then in selecting a designer.  Everything, until now, has been a lot of talk and not much action.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we had a rather unique experience that radically changed the project.  As some may recall, we were going to use the parts from our old boat on the new one.  Frankly, there wasn’t much resale value for a very average, used ILC 40.  However, in one smashingly exciting moment, an angry sperm whale changed all of that.  Of vaguely interesting note, we’ve learned this was the first recorded instance of a sperm whale initiating contact and sinking an American boat since the Essex was sunk, in 1821. 

After the sinking, we sat back down with the team and recognized we were no longer tied to the legacy of the former boat and could go in any direction we wanted.  To answer the typically American questions:  (1) Yes, the insurance company paid off the policy and (2) No, we did not ‘come out ahead’ on the deal that would be like getting an new 2007 Volvo from an insurance company after wrecking your old 1996 edition – in your dreams! 

I will quickly note a couple of things.  First of all, I would recommend always keeping a digital camera on your boat.  The plethora of pictures we had of the whales and damage made the whole process far more efficient with the insurance company.  Secondly, I’ve made my share of less than positive comments about US Sailing.  This time they came through for us.  We got our insurance through them and I have to take my hat off to them and the insurer.  Continuing along that vein, I would also like to thank Dan Nowlan.  We wanted to keep the sail number from the old boat.  I pinged him and he said not only could we, but also, because the boat was ‘lost’, their normal procedure is to transfer the number to the new boat without a fee.  I know it’s a small thing, but it certainly was a nice touch on their part.

So there we were.  We’d spent a couple of months figuring out how we were going to fit all of the old stuff, like rigs, engines and rudders onto the new boat.  Jim Antrim, our architect was great.  He kept pressing on with the engineering and build process, while adding all of the new work…without missing a beat. 

A lot of new conversations occurred.  The most significant of which was “so what do we want to do with the rig and sail plan now?”  Largely, this involved Harry Pattison, of E/P Sails.  He is going to discuss the sail development, so I won’t get into this, as he’s got a much better fix on it. 

With respect to the rig, I’m a fan of runners, especially in Southern California.  Having spent a season on a J-105, I confirmed my dislike for ‘runnerless’ rigs in racing.  However, as a major goal of this boat is for us to take the family to Catalina, we decided on a rig that was mostly runner-less.  We will have topmast runners to stabilize the rig and help add a bit of forestay tension.

So about the time that my father returned from his fateful trip, we settled on a builder.  It is a process that is far less interesting than choosing a designer so I’ll skip the tedium that surrounds it.  Our builder is a partnership between Cree Partridge (Berkeley Marine Center) and Gordon “Gordie” Nash.  Cree is not new to boat building.  With his former partner John Palmer they built almost 50 custom IOR racers, mostly drawn by Mull (or really Carl Shumacher and Jim Antrim who both worked for him at the time).  Of significant note, for those SoCal nostalgists, is that “Drifter” was built in their shop. 

Gordie is a very capable NorCal boatbuilder; with a beard that is somewhat reminiscent of a grey-haired Abraham Lincoln.  Together, they are poking and prodding the project to succeed as much and as quickly as they can.  One of the significant changes they have made was to figure out that instead of building the panels and bending them onto the frames, we could do it differently.  Using the frames cut in female, instead of male, and cutting out the panels using thin plywood, instead of cored, glass laminate, they realized that it would be really cool and easy to construct female, right-side up mold.  This meant that we would not have to tape and fair the panels together.  Rather, we could quickly build a mold that required little fairing.  Added to that, because it was right side up, the entire boat could be put together before having to pull the hull from the mold.  All of which would add to the efficiency of the process.

So, it is now early October, and we’ve got the hull lofted, a builder chosen and a place to build it.  John Palmer, Cree’s former partner, figured out very early on, in the world of technology how to loft a hull on a computer.  In fact, Jim figures he was one of the first.  John also has developed the ‘nesting’ software that manages the panel layout process for sail makers like Elliott Pattison.  Based in Northern California, he has a shop that specialized in the CNC milling of large format objects.  Working with Jim and Cree, John took the lofted design and cut the frames for the hull and deck mold.  So in a very short period of time we were able to get the frames lofted and cut to an exact specification.  John also cut the plywood panels so that they could be laid into the hull without any requirement to shape them to fit. 

For fun, Cree set up a webcam in the shop that takes an image every 15 minutes.  Our goal is to produce a short time-elapsed movie on the construction with all of the images once the process is complete.  Attached are a series of pictures that shows how efficient this process was.  Once the hull mold was nearing completion, the original plan was to then build the deck mold, but John had a family emergency that understandably moved our project down on his list of priorities.  So off camera, the team began working on the interior structure and bulkheads to stay on schedule.  But at the end of the day, building a boat is a looooong process. 

“A little less conversation and a little more action please.” 

It’s something akin to going shopping with your wife, significant other or girlfriend?  It all starts out quite enjoyably.  You feel good because you’re being the good husband/partner/boyfriend.  She likes the thought of having someone along to share the experience.  This is especially true if you’re looking for an outfit that will be worn at an event the two of you will be attending. 

Arrive at the mall, grab a cup of coffee, exchange smiles with each other, enjoy light discussion and before you know it you’re off to the first store.  Everyone is happy and filled with enthusiasm for the experience. 

Now, I like shopping as much as the next guy, but I get pretty bored, pretty quickly, if I don’t see the whole process moving logically towards completion.  At a certain point in time, I’m done looking and ready to make a purchase.  But it get’s worse, if I stare at enough leg slits in the dresses she’s trying on, my mind invariably moves on to more interesting thoughts…. that invariably get me in trouble…for just thinking them…

For anyone that has never built a boat, welcome to the reality you face.  It’s awesome as the process starts.  Doing the design brief is great.  It really allows you to think about what you’ve loved and hated in boats.  Choosing a builder is fun.  Working with the two, to design a boat is equally enjoyable…personal boat porn.  It’s all fun and games.

But at a certain point in time, you begin to realize how much goes into the process…and how long it will really take to bring a virtual boat into the physical world.    There is no perfect boat.  There are only those shaded to your preferences.  A number of choices were made because my father and I like those features in a boat.  I like the bunks by the companion way and the nav station forward.  Why?  Because a wet soaked bunk is better than a wet-soaked nav station.  Our Santa Cruz 40 had a nav station near the companion way.  On one Pacific Cup, the SSB got soaked and as a result, ruined.  Not being able to make a daily position report is not a good thing.  I also believe that a nav station forward, in the middle of the boat, is more comfortable than one near the ends. 

At the same time that we worked with Jim and Cree, we were also chatting with Harken about deck layouts, Harry about sails and various other people about the other issues at hand.  We hope to lauch the boat in the middle of March and begin to race her in Southern California in April.  Next up, from this series, will be a piece, written by Harry on the sail plan.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

02/15/07