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Greetings,

My work frequently takes me near the harbor at Waukegan on Lake Michigan, so I occasionally drive by Larsen marine to pick up trinkets and to see what boats are sitting in the yard. Tuesday, I came across the little gem that appears in the photos below.

The yardmaster tells me she is a 1971 Menemsha 24 built by Talman Yachts. A thorough search of the internet turned up practically nothing on the Menemsha or Talman Yatchs. There is exactly one Menemsha for sale on the internet, asking $7000, but there are no statistics. I’d be curious to know how much she weighs. Draft is only 2.5 feet with the centerboard up. At twenty four feet of waterline, she is about five feet longer than a Vacationer, which in turn is about five feet longer than a Weekender.

Duckworks sells plans for a Menemsha (plan #57) designed by R. H. Baker. I wonder if it is the same boat?

With her rounded-front cabin sporting oval port-lights peeking over that long sweeping sheer, wooden spars, hand-rails, combings and trim, she looks very much like an oversized Vacationer. The only items missing are the clipper bow, trail-boards, and the gaff rig. The spar on the fore-deck appears to be the boom of her Marconi sloop rig. A sail loft lists the rig dimensions as I=29, J=10, P=25, & E=18, which adds up to a lot of canvas. The wooden mast lies on the saw-horses to port. The cockpit his huge and could easily accommodate a gaggle of scalliwags and a cask of grog.

I really like the counter stern and the turn of the bilge. If only plywood would bend this much … alas, the Menemsha is a Clorox bottle … but one of the best looking Clorox bottles you will ever see.

I just had to stop and snap a few pictures.

Larger versions are available at http://tomsweekender.home.comcast.net/~t...hoice.html

Enjoy …

























































Cheers,
Tom[img][/img]

What a pretty boat!

She is a looker Tom

My understanding is that this Menemsha is the Baker design, but had some modifications for a production run (limited) by Talman Yachts. Changes included accommodations, mostly to suit building method (chopper GRP) and the length of the cabin.

Baker designed this at the end of his career in 1968. Plans are still available, but for wooden construction, though I suspect the GRP plans set could be had, by direct contact with who ever is in control of Baker's plans now.

The minimum information I have in my data base suggest she's a well built boat, but also quite a bit of boat. Her hull lines are reminiscent of a cat boat and she carries the displacement to prove it (this isn't a light weight boat). Her hull volume indicates at least two tons, likely more, with half of this in ballast. That's a lot of boat on a 22' LWL.

Her rig is a moderately low aspect Bermudian sloop, though plans for a cutter are also available, with a cabin top stepped mast (always a troublesome type of mount).

She would look good as a gaff sloop, though I wouldn't burden her with a clipper knee, tailboards or other performance killing "gingerbread" items. The mast would have to be relocated, as would the chain plates and provisions for running backs, as a rig with this much area will develop a lot of power, which should be offset with backstay runners.

My notes don't say for sure, but I'm reasonably confidant she's a centerboard craft, likely weighted around 600 - 800 pounds

This one appears to have had recent paint, but the clean up may be hiding issues.

I would strongly advise any serious consideration of purchase, be preceded with a qualified survey. Bulkhead tabbing and delamination, sole and deck soft spots, stress cracks, hard point locations (chain plates, stemhead fitting, etc.) are all common areas where lack of attention can be easily covered with a fresh coat of paint.

In comparison to a Vacationer, there really isn't much to compare. Vacationer is literally 1/3'rd of this boat in volume, has a fraction of it's sail area, less then half of it's stability and less interior accommodation. I know it seems like a few feet doesn't mean much, but it does. This boat carries an inboard with a straight shaft. Where would you even think of putting a 15 HP inboard in a Vacationer, let alone the transmission and shaft. Both have some similar visual clues, but this is a character boat, as is Vacationer, so similarities are bound to happen.

real pretty....


a.

These boats were built by my father in law - Talman Bigelow, and from what I know of him, they would be very well built, solid and safe. We recently gave away the mould to this hull to a builder in Maine - even the mould looked nice - solid wood! Talman is still alive, but is 88 years old so his recollection of the specifics of his boats are hazy. I do have several pounds of marine fasteners and a few thousands sheets of sand paper from him in my basement though..

I just saw (today is August 12, 2012) a craigslist posting for the original molds for this hull, and another powerboat hull - the present owner in Maine is giving them away FREE. please check out this posting if you might be interested, or pass this along if you know of anyone that might be interested:

http://maine.craigslist.org/zip/3198458936.html

or find contact information at:

http://www.caperosierboatshop.com/

I am not a boat builder, but can really appreciate a nicely designed boat, and this appears to be one. It would be a shame if this boat could not, one day, be put back into production, even if only on a small scale.

Usually when an ad says the molds need to be cleaned up a bit, you can bet there's a fair amount of damage and "issues" with the mold.

what a beautiful boat thanks for the pictures !

I can see why she caught your eye. "The catboat look makes you take notice and the low lines are exquisite". Sorry about that, I went to an art show today and just couldn't help myself.
She is a beautiful boat.