Following my recent acquisition of a Rustler 31 I'm reluctantly offering my 18ft double ender for sale, as I really can't justify owning two boats.
I built her from scratch over the past two years mainly as a project to provide some 'occupational therapy' following a long period of illl health. She's based on George Buehler's 'Hagar' 27ft design but with a bit of the MacNaughton 'Coin Collection' boats, and John Welsford's 'Swaggie' thrown in for good measure. I wanted a mini-blue water cruiser specifically for singlehanding with seakindliness rather than speed being the priority. LOA is 18ft, beam is 6ft 6" and draught is 2ft 9".
I took the 'Hagar' lines and reduced the frame dimensions to 80% and the station spacing to 66% yielding a somewhat beamier hull shape, and a slightly more pronounced sheer similar to the 'Juno' design mentioned by Arne in his junk rig tutorial on suitable hulls for JR conversion. Pictures of both designs can be seen on George Buehler's website.
The hull is 18mm thick (two layers of laminated 9mm hardwood ply) and the heavily cambered frameless deck is three layers of laminated 6mm hardwood ply. The doghouse is 38mm ply throughbolted to the deck, and there are substantial ply reinforcements in way of the deck amidships, the mast partners and under all deck fittings. The small windows in the topsides and doghouse are very strong 12mm polycarbonate
The full length concrete/steel ballast keel casting is epoxy bonded to the hull, backed up by nine 12mm stainless bolts through solid timber floors. Everything is overbuilt and rugged.
The entire bottom of the boat, ballast keel and rudder have been thickly coated with West epoxy mixed with pure copper powder. The hull is sheathed in West epoxy and Diolen fabric (used in kayaks for abrasion resistance) and the deck/doghouse are sheathed in West epoxy and biaxial glass fabric.
All the cleats, chainpipe and bow roller are oversized stainless steel, throughbolted, and a large Dorade vent provides ventilation. The doghouse incorporates a Blondie Hasler 'Jester' rotating pram hood. I've built the framing for the pram hood in glass/epoxy, it just needs the canvaswork to complete. Solid oak deck boxes are installed for sheet, halyard, yard parrel and luff parrel.
The rudder is oversized to ensure good control at all speeds. The gudgeons and pintles are 1/2" diameter bronze pins with machined Delrin replaceable bushings. Two spare sets of bushings are included, so you'll have virtually everlasting, low friction rudder bearings. The long tiller reaches to the control position at the hatch so you can hand steer without having to leave the shelter of the doghouse. A spare tiller is included.
Auxiliary propulsion is by a properly designed yuloh operating on a stainless steel pin. The yuloh is laminated pine sheathed in unidirectional glass/epoxy. The pivot block is tufnol with a stainless steel wear pad at its base. The 11ft yuloh stows on deck in two oak mounting blocks.
I've built the mast from 4" by 1/4" 6082 grade aluminium tube with a short hardwood section added for the mast heel. All the fittings for halyard block, mast lift and topping lifts have been installed. The mast partners and mast step are very ruggedly built and the mast is ready to step.
The yard is laminated pine, heavily sheathed with unidirectional glass/epoxy and painted with white gloss. The battens are 1 3/8" by 16swg 6082 grade aluminium tube. The only things needed to complete the rig are approximately eight small blocks and a sail. I've drawn up a suitable fanned sail which I planned to build using inexpensive Polytarp, with an Odyssey version to follow. A 100 metre reel of Marlow 8mm 3 strand polyester rope is included.
The interior arrangement from fore to aft is an anchor chain locker in the forepeak, a large double berth with huge storage beneath (all locker lids have heavy duty stainless steel hinges), a comfortable lounging area with sitting headroom, a galley area with decent work surfaces port and starboard, including an as-new Origo single burner stainless steel alcohol stove. The hinged solid oak seat serves for galley use, a step up to the hatch, and as a cover for the bucket loo. There is also a hinged oak toilet seat. I planned to make extensive use of net racks for stowage so I haven't built in lots of shelves. A 2 metre by 1 metre sheet of 50mm EVA closed cell foam is included that would serve as a comfortable sleeping matress.
The flush deck arrangement obviously reduces the interior volume, and headroom is limited over the double bunk, but it does allow a 6ft hard dinghy to be stowed on deck. A larger cabin could easily be fitted if desired.
The entire interior of the hull skin and deck has received multiple coats of West epoxy. The 18mm ply bunk boards have been polyurethane varnished. All the other joinery is solid oak which has been given a seal coat of polyurethane varnish. I was intending to paint the plywood hull and deck interior surfaces with white gloss, and to do this you'd only need to give the epoxy a light preparatory sanding.
I haven't painted the topsides or deck so you can easily see the construction. Jotun 5 litre tins of 2 pack polyurethane gloss are available on ebay for £55-60 which would be ideal for the topsides, and with sand added, for the deck.
A 6kg genuine S/L Delta anchor is included, as are 50 metres of brand new 6mm short link galvanized chain.
The boat is currently located in a farm shed at Boston, Lincolnshire, and sits in her building cradle. You would need a flatbed car transporter trailer (can be hired quite cheaply) and some ratchet straps to trail her. I estimate the displacement at approx 1 ton.
I've spent well over £2000 in materials and equipment, and have lavished hundreds of hours of mostly pleasurable work on her, but I'd be happy to accept £450 if I knew she was going to a good home. She'd make a lovely first cruiser for a youngster with limited funds. She could be kept on a cheap drying mooring thanks to her shallow draught and long, straight keel.
I'd love to keep her but I'm now committed to living aboard my Rustler 31 and sadly, cannot own both boats. I have previously built two 30ft yachts (one wood/epoxy, the other steel).
Photos are in my 'members photos' They show the boat a few months ago prior to interior varnishing and addition of the tiller and yuloh.
Cheers,
Jerry.