Seafarer 23 for sale $500
As some of you may know, I purchased a Seafarer 23 Challenger a few years back and began the conversion process with the goal in mind of sailing her to Plymouth England and entering the Jester Challenge, a lifelong ambition. Well, last year a junk rigged Kingfisher 26 became available in Southampton for less than I could complete the Seafarer for and it was already in England. I purchased it in Nov., renamed it from “Lanamente” to “Tao Zou” (Chinese for Skedaddle) prepped her for and entered her in the 2016 Jester Azores Challenge which departed on the 15th of May from Plymouth.
Of the 24 starters, fully half abandoned the challenge by the 3rd day due to deplorable weather. Tao Zou and I plowed on to windward for 3 weeks through 4 full gales to arrive in 6th place under the bottom four panels, having lost the top three to sail damage and batten breakage. Four more finishers would follow me.
Through several knock downs, numerous gear failures and the worst weather conditions I have ever experienced in over 50 years of blue water sailing I was never once fearful of sinking or afraid for my life. It was, however, the worst sailing experience of my life, a sentiment echoed by all the finishers.
Tao Zou Sits on the hard in Praia De Vitoria awaiting my return with a new sail and needed repair items for our next adventure together.
As for the Seafarer, she sits in my shop on her trailer awaiting a new owner. With three other boats to take care of, the wife made me promise I would sell her if I bought the Kingfisher. It is with this in mind that I am posting her availability to this group.
Information on the 23 Challenger can be found on Sailboatdata.com here: http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=229 and to that I would add that I know Bryan Acworth, the founder of Seafarer Yachts, personally and he once mentioned to me that when he ask McCurdy & Rhodes to design a 23 footer for him he ask them to give him a design worthy of voyaging and not just coastal cruising. The Challenger was the result. As an example you won’t find many 23 footers with skeg hung rudders. There were to models, a shoal draft and performance. Mine is the performance. The work done so far includes the complete removal of the lower liner; the headliner is still in place and in good shape. All the unnecessary deck fittings have been removed and their holes filled. A pram hood hatch surround and frame has been installed on the once sliding hatch now designed to lift on forward hinges when in port and be dogged down at sea. The drop boards have been eliminated in favor of a single heavy board with port to be dogged in place when at sea. A complete interior will have to be installed to the owner’s tastes. I can supply my sketches but they are to my thinking of how a single handed, purpose built, junk rig boat should be laid out. For one thing she was to be unsinkable as in Roger Taylor’s thinking. An aluminum or fiberglass light pole was to be the mast which was to be set just aft of the watertight structural bulkhead. The forward of which would be completely filled with removable foam in case repair work was ever necessary. The same treatment was to be given the aft area below the cockpit behind another water tight bulkhead.
Every day that I walk into my shop and see her I long to finish her. I am in love with her lines and simple beauty. I know full well that I do not have the time to complete her conversion and hope to find someone who will take her and complete what I have started and then ask me to come for a sail.
She sits on a beautiful dual axle trailer whose only fault is a rusty fender. The trailer alone is worth about $2500. At today’s (7Nov2017) spot lead price her keel is worth $1148. She does not come with an engine or rigging or sails, just a bare empty hull awaiting interior and rig. She does come with a completed junk sail plan. Photos can be seen in the Seafarer 23 album here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/junkrig/photos/albums/756197792 If you have $500 and are interested please contact me at 904 318-2024 or taozou.kf26j@gmail.com She is located in St Augustine Florida.
Glen