I haven’t touched the boat in about 2 weeks, but I did accomplish three very important tasks this week.
First I dusted off the little guy in time to start fishing (1971 13' Whaler). Had this boat for over 20 years now and I put a new 4S 25hp Suzuki on it last year. It’s been great to bang around in and fish the river with as well as ferrying the family out the Westport "boater's beach" in the summer.
Second and third, and much more relevant to the rebuild, I made the trip to Long Island, specifically to pick up my new fuel tank from the guy who makes them for the new Steigers, but while I was out there I decided to take a trip out to Belport, NY to check out the Steiger factory and see if I could talk with someone there about the new build vs the old. And, if I was lucky, take a bunch of measurements of a new 23 and get some photos as well. Turns out I got everything I needed.
I drove from SE Massachusetts. I debated driving 95 all the way to NY vs taking the ferry out of New London, CT to Orient Point. In the end I took the Ferry and I’m glad I did. It is a really nice way to travel over to LI and well worth the little bit of extra cash for the fare. Passed one of these on my way across the sound too.
The first stop I made was at Sound Marine in Holbrook to pick up the tank. It is 124 gallons vs the original 84 gallon tank. It’s just about the same footprint, but about 2 inches taller since the deck was raised in the early 2000’s. The guys at Sound Marine build it, paint it with epoxy, and populate it with a sending unit and fittings. Pretty much ready to go. Steiger foams these tanks in nowadays.
They were welding up this cool little skiff while I was there as well. Pretty neat little thing.
Next it was off to Belport to check out the factory.
When I got there the owner Al talked with me for a minute then told me to feel free to poke around the 23 they had on the lot and when I was done there to feel free to mosey on back into the yard to check out how they build them now. I spent about 2 hours there gathering all the info I needed as well as just chatting about the history of the boat and building boats in general with a guy named Bill who’d been working there for 20 years. He was a wealth of information.
The biggest takeaways from the visit were the actual dimensions of the new stringer system, of which the mold was sitting out in the yard which I took lots of pictures and dimensions off of. Next was to see how they put them together in the shop, by actual examples at various stages of construction. And from the finished 23 in the yard I got good numbers for deck sole height, bracket mounting, new water line height, and a whole bunch of other little details which I had been wondering about.
They build the new stringers/bulkhead grid on a mold then move it into the boat, tab it in and fill it with foam. The grid is laid up with 3 layers of 2415 WR/mat. To tab it in they use three layers of 24oz biax with mat backing. The final thicknesses are right where my plan is at currently so that was reassuring.
The stringer grid molds out in the yard for the various hulls.
Pics of the stinger/bulkhead mold for the 23. I took tons of measurements.
Some hulls at various stages of completeness.
21 footer with grid tabbed in and foamed. The only wood below the deck sole is the tank coffin base and fish box bottom. The transom is still wood as well. Worth noting is the tabbing of the transom core to the hull. They only tab it in with about 4-5 inches of glass which is close (actually less) to what I did on mine. Bill also made it very clear his opinion on plywood vs foam in the transom.
This one is of a 26 with the cockpit sole just installed. The soles are solid 3/4 inch thick fiberglass now!
And finally the new 23 out in the yard. Got tons of pics but here are a few. The measurements I got off this one are just what I needed.
Note the bilge drain is on the bottom of the hull and not through the transom. Looks like a proactive move to avoid causing a cut through the base of the transom where water might find its way in. Looks like a good idea,
And finally a pic of their new 255 “Nantucket”. Pretty boat.
Time for me to get back to work!
