‘Minnow’, My New (Second-hand) Boat

‘Minnow’, originally ‘Enuf’, built by Derek Clark, is due to be delivered to my place on Monday, 19^th August. She’s travelling by road and ferry from Norway. For the past few years she's been under the ownership of Robert Biegler. Robert has informed me that she leaks, and that the ingress would appear to be somewhere in the region of vent box where the mast is stepped. He has not found the exact location. That will be my priority, to discover where water comes into the boat and to prevent if from doing so.

Apart from that, I have no fixed ideas about how I shall renovate or modify ‘Minnow’. In the past, a few members of the Yahoo Paradox Builders Group have been critical of any changes to Matt Layden’s Paradox. I too, believed she was fit for purpose. Matt spent years ‘perfecting’ her. He wanted a boat for shallow water cruising in the Bahamas, but before reaching the islands, he had to sail her across the Gulf Stream, and although he designed her primarily for beach cruising, he also made her safe for sailing offshore.

I built the Paradox ‘Faith’, and I know for a fact that she was fit for purpose. However, now that I am to have ‘Minnow’, a Paradox that was not strictly built according to plan, I would not rule out making other changes. I believe she has a higher cabin top than the original, and the structure of it is different. Derek added a washboard to make it easier for entering the cabin and to make it more convenient for reaching a transom mounted outboard. Derek modified parts of the interior; for example, he widened the opening in number two bulkhead for the stowage of a Porta Potti up forward.

At this point I am open to the possibility of changing aspects of the boat for achieving a better windward performance, particularly when the wind is Force 5 and above. Because the existing lugsail loses length of luff when furled, the performance of the boat drops to the extent that one has to free off considerably to maintain way. That begs the question or questions how to improve the boat’s windward performance in stronger winds. A dilemma has to be overcome. By increasing the length of the luff, inevitably the centre of effort is raised, which in turn makes the boat less stable. The solution could be a reefing wing sail, which, like a junk sail, tends to heel a boat less than a Bermudan or Gaff sail. However, the fore and aft position of the centre of effort must match the original, unless a forward lifting plate can be incorporated into the hull.

Because things are interrelated, changing one part will inevitably necessitate changing other parts for maintaining the underlying status quo.