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I was quite surprised when hull #29 turned up for sale on the owner's site. MINX is #30 and was also an unfinished boat. I found her in a back yard in Seattle, untouched, 17 years after the original owner bought her in 77. Funny that the two unbuilt boats should happen to be consecutive.
S/V MINX
Roy Myers
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Roy, that is strange.
Was it a bare hull or with a deck?
Also, I’d be interested in how you did the interior; traditional Hess
layout or something different. We did our own.
Stan…hull #22 Waxwing
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Stan -- MINX was hull and deck, assembled by SLMCO in August of '77. The owner didn't have Sam install the ballast for him. The only two objects inside the hull were the engine and mast bulkheads. It sat that way for 17 years while the owner mulled over the problems of melting 5000 lbs of automobile wheel weights (from a previous unbuilt boat project). By '94 the task had become insurmountable, steel molds were drawn and a foundry lined up. It only took me 4 days...maybe I did a rush job.
I modified the standard interior in ways that are now being copied by the last several new boats. I extended the galley counter 6 inches towards centerline, yielding both a larger double bunk and a double sink in the galley. To starboard, the quarterberth and settee sacrifice 2" each so that the chart table and ice box are 4" larger. Sumio proclaims to have had the same idea as the salon table I built- it slides vertically in the sail track in the mast and swings up under the mast deck. He's expecting to copy the idea on his own boat.
The forepeak is reasonably standard, with the workbench being a bunk that opens the sail bin bulkhead. The starboard hanging lockers are divided in three parts rather than two, one being a set of shelves with a door. The entire forward shower sole and head are glassed in so I can wash them down with a firehose from on deck- DOWN, monster!
She carries a bonneted Jib Top, another idea which has worked out well. This zippered sail may be set three ways: full sail, then the upper part may be tacked to the bowsprit or set on a pennant, raising it for an excellent slot effect with the staysail.
S/V MINX
Roy Myers
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Roy, that sounds interesting. Have you any pics you can post or a
site we can visit?
And I’m not at all sure I understand what your bonneted Jib Top is.
Can you be more disciptive? Sounds like the sail is in two pieces?
Here(I hope)is a site you can see a little bit of our interior.
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=119813&ck=
Stan
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Stan -- I'll attempt to post photos when I can find the time. I just trucked MINX back up to Washington- winter is a very cheap time to haul- it cost 1500 from LA harbor. I'm in the midst of decommissioning her for snow season.
The bonneted Jib Top is indeed in two pieces. A huge zipper holds it all together, with some straps at tack and clew to take the strains. GALATEA had the same thing done to one of her sails. It's an old idea, the very term 'bonnet' being an old English term. I interpret it in this case to refer to the lacing used before the advent of the YKK company. Larry Pardey writes extensively about this in Cost Conscious Cruiser. His UK sailmaker did the traditional work. Elliot Patterson made MINX's sails. According to them, some windsurfer has a patent on the method they used, so I paid a 200 royalty fee. I think I might find a different sailmaker next time.
The Jib Top is the standard BCC roller furled sail, but on hanks. We reduced the sailcloth weight one ounce since it wasn't roller furled. The bonnet (the lower section) could have been made even lighter without sacrifice. It's still a rather heavy sail. The cut angles across the sail from luff to leech, taking about 4 feet of luff and perhaps 6 feet of leech away (higher cut, assuming the need in stronger conditions). The resulting triangle resembles the Yankee somewhat and may be tacked to the bowsprit or on a pennant, up higher. Most of the time it is tacked to the sprit, and serves well on all points of sail. No bags, no wrinkles, no faulty furling lines, no expensive hardware to buy. With a single reef in the main, the staysail, and this low, decent size headsail to drive her, we are quite comfortable in surprisingly poor weather. She will beat into 25 kn of wind with this at 45 degrees off the wind and tromp along in comfort. I've discovered that she will point higher if I hoist the small sail on a pennant, creating a better wing with the staysail. We can squeeze, (pinching) a 35 degree angle to the wind with this technique. But we can't take as much wind with near so much comfort. As Larry points out, the bonneted sail can be dealt with as two pieces if crew isn't up to handling the rather large jib top as a single sail.
S/V MINX
Roy Myers
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