windermere repair
Windermere, a 37-foot classic yawl, was designed by the New York firm, Sparkman and Stephens, and built in 1966 by Grampian Yachts for Murray Koffler, famous for his Canadian pharmacies. After two more owners in between, the boat came into my hands in the early eighties. I commissioned a major refit of the interior of the boat in the mid 1980’s by Steve McNaughton, master carpenter, articulated at Camper Nicholson Boat Yard in Southampton, England. He is a highly skilled craftsman, blessed with a cheerful disposition that made him a joy to be around! It was great working and planning things with him.
One of his favorite expressions when he sometimes reflected on the amount of work that needed to be done was, “Nobody said it was going to be easy, Gerry!” Of Windermere, with all his deck crew, he would say, “She’s a busy ship, Gerry. She’s a busy ship!”
And that was because over the years changes had been made, particularly to the running rigging, without older winches etc being removed. If my memory serves me right, there were seven winches on deck, two on the mizzen mast and three or four more on the mainmast. I can think of four winches, at least, that could have been removed. When I first took possession of the boat, the main and mizzen sails tended to give the boat too much rudder, even when using number 1.
I think Windermere was originally designed as a sloop, although Grampian made Classic 37s outfitted as yawls. But you could see in the deck molding the outline of where the hole for the mast would have to be cut if yawl was to be rigged. I measured the distance between the two possible mast positions and that gave me an idea of how far forward the jibstay needed to be. Windermere had probably been converted to a yawl rig at some point after leaving the Grampian shipyard, but the mast remained keeled down in its original location. To move forward would have involved major modifications to the head area etc which were cost prohibitive. The result was that the center of effort was too far aft.
We corrected that by having Klacko Marine Ltd, an Oakville firm, design and install a bowsprit at a cost of $1,600. They did a magnificent job, producing an arch spirit that enhanced the look and functionality of Windermere. It allowed the forestay to move forward almost two feet. The effect on Windermere’s sailing characteristics was incredible! His sail balance immediately improved and the excessive rudder problem was resolved.
The bowsprit also gave us a place to secure two large anchors, ready to go at a moment’s notice by simply removing a stainless steel retaining pin from each anchor. Its design also facilitated access to the ship from the bow. A small seat, added by Steve, just forward of the bowsprit looking aft gave one a wonderful view of the deck. It was exciting sitting there when Windermere was sailing fast with a moderate degree of heel,
But I wouldn’t have liked to sit there when the No. 1 Genoa was raided and had her lee rail flooded. On several occasions in the past I had sat on the windward side of the boat at the helm, with sea water rushing around the mizzen deck and towards where I was sitting! At times like that, we usually start thinking about taking off a little sail!
The main mast was the original, built by Chichester Yachts in England. It was a very solid affair with heavy walls so you never have to fear it breaking. On the other hand, it was very heavy, and one really had to push four or more men to get it to their winter trestles. Stepped down to the keel, it was a measure of the ship’s solidity.
I tracked down the company that made the cockpit cushions for the CS 36′ and persuaded them to make custom designed cushions for Windermere to the same high specifications as CS Yachts. The interior of the cabin ceiling was covered with a “naugatuck” type of material mounted on quarter-inch mahogany plywood, and the “ceilings” along the porthole walls were covered with molded ash (light colored), also mounted on thin mahogany plywood. .
Lee drapes were installed on my berth, located where the two “stacked” pilot berths had been, with fasteners that tied to the handrails above. In bad weather, that was the place to be, huddled up knowing he couldn’t be thrown through the cabin at any time. I should add that we encountered very little bad weather sailing on the Bahamas cruise. We have experienced much worse weather in previous times when sailing Lake Ontario. Trips to the Thousand Islands, across the US coast and back, even sailing during the day had provided exciting times where we wish we had played golf instead of sailing!
Other changes included the removal of the stateroom by extending the bulkhead in the ladder towards the hull on the starboard side of the ship. Climbing onto the bunk had always been a problem for me. Removing it made room for a second deep chest for candles. The cover of the new deeper locker already existed. It originally opened to a wide but shallow shelf for winch handles etc. Without the cabin, the locker was open to the hull.
Forward of the new bulkhead and attached to the aft end of the chart table, a container for charts, light lists, epirb, etc. was installed. Its lid served as a complement to the surface of the card table. In the new bulkhead we installed a small microwave, which proved invaluable on the cruise. All in all, the removal of the quarterdeck berth eliminated a general area of difficult access. Instead, we got an extended chart table, an extra-deep chart storage compartment, a bulkhead-mounted microwave and a second full-size sail chest, accessed from the cabin.
All the old Brooks & Gatehouse instruments and radios were gradually replaced with more modern instruments, including VHF radio, depth sounder, knotmeter and Micrologic Loran. The electrical system, which was extensive, was completely overhauled by Thornton Marine Electric. We install Surrette marine batteries; a starter battery plus a very large, deep and heavy storage battery, stored in a separate compartment in the sole of the cockpit, under the descent ladder on top of the Atomic Four engine.
A major improvement was made after the cruise to the Bahamas, was to replace the Atomic 4 petrol engine with a 30 hp Atomic 4 diesel engine. We were limited to the type of diesel we could use because the engine bay was below the sole of the cab, which meant the engine had to be very low profile. The only engine that fit that restriction was the Atomic 4 Diesel, specially designed to fit in the same space as its gasoline predecessor. The new diesel was purchased from Southern Diesel of Florida for C$6,674 and installed by Cape Marina in Cape Canaveral, Florida for C$1,100.
To power the microwave and fridge, and to charge the batteries, we carried a small generator that we turned on from time to time on deck. It would have been nice to have run it more often than we did, but the noise it made, reverberating like a drum in the hollow deck, was hard to bear.
By all modern comparisons Windermere was a narrow ship. The main cabin was only 10’3″ at its widest point, which was close to the forward bulkhead of the main cabin level with the main mast. Its design was more suited to ocean racing of a bygone era, or doing a ocean cruising, than it was for sailing in comfort. Before her refit, she had two narrow pilot bunks, one on top of the other, on the starboard side of the main cabin. But they weren’t designed for a 6′ person 4″ tall like me. (I found it necessary to cut an opening in the forward bulkhead of the main cabin so I could stretch out my legs, letting my feet find some space in the middle of the weather gear hanging in the locker beyond.)
Windermere was a very seaworthy boat and she held up well in bad weather, thanks to her wonderful design by Sparkman & Stephens, first class boat building by Grampian Yachts of Oakville, ON and the 7500lbs of lead in her keel. I have always considered her a descendant of the famous ocean sailor “Dorade”, winner of the 1931 Transatlantic and Fastnet races. Dorade, like Windermere, was designed by Sparkman & Stephens. She was also outfitted like a Bermuda yawl. Of course, Dorade was much bigger than Windermere. Dorade was 52 inches long and displaced 15 tons versus Windermere’s 37 feet long and 10-ton displacement. But what’s remarkable is that despite Dorade’s significantly larger size, her maximum beam was only 10’3″; exactly the same as Windermere’s!
Living on a small boat for an extended period of time is challenging, primarily due to its space limitations. The ship itself has needs, and I guess you could say those needs take precedence over everything else. The maximum safety of the crew (and the occasional passenger) depends on them. Every ship is different, so please note that my comments apply to Windermere only and are not meant to be generic in any way.
After living aboard and sailing for the better part of a year, I’d say Windermere proved adequate in size, but too small for true comfort. Even though he was 37′ long, excluding the bowsprit, his length at the waterline was more like 27′. The “missing” ten feet went to a thin clipper bow and a long aft counterstrike. Of course, the counter added to the beauty of it, and it also served a practical purpose by substantially increasing the length of the waterline while sailing even at moderate angles of heel. (The speed of a displacement keel boat is limited by its length at the waterline, and the long counter helped improve speed without violating its race rating.)
I guess one could sum it up by saying, “There’s more room in a bigger tub!” But who wants to sail in a bathtub? Windermere was and still is a fast sailboat as long as, of course, she has fifteen knots of wind.