Mystery boat filter.

August 26, 2012 6:20 AM

Can you identify my mystery sailboat and sail?

I recently purchased a sailboat on Craigslist. It is circa 1970s, not in the greatest shape- a project! It's 14', approximately, with a mass manufactured fiberglass hull. A steel plate near the stern of the boat reads "South Shore Boats, Bellmore NY".

Generally, this boat is similar in concept to Mercury or a very old fashioned Vanguard 420 (old, like, I'm installing new flotation foam and have a daggerboard not a centerboard. Old school tech.)

Google gives me no info on the manufacturer. Does anyone out there know what type of boat I have?

Bonus question: it came with a mystery sail: a small symmetrical triangular sail made of spinnaker material. But no spin rigging on the boat. Also this sail has no grommets, except for a very small one at the head of the sail. It looks like you can only attach sheets by running them through loops in the fabric (the way you would a set of curtains) all the way down the leech and luft of the sail. Gennaker?

All advice pertaining to repairing and maintaiHhning old dinghys welcomes as well.

posted by slateyness to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 answers total)

Pics?
posted by apparently at 6:27 AM on August 26, 2012

Failing pics, more details needed. Hard chines or round bottom, any markings on the mainsail? Round sealed side tanks, or open under decks, closed or open forepeak?
Anything else in the way of description?
Did you buy it on Long Island? South shore of LI makes me thing of BlueJays, like this one, but there were a number of very local single builder classes back in the day.

the cloth thing you describe is not a sail. Possibly a homemade boom cover.
posted by Abinadab at 7:29 AM on August 26, 2012

Here are photos! I can take more if you want closeups on specifics.

No round sealed side tanks, open under-decks w/ rotten styrofoam for flotation that I need to replace.

I purchased it in Grand Isle, Vermont, so nowhere near Long Island.

I will try to take photos of the gennaker-type thing, but a home-made sail cover doesn't quite make sense- this thing is definitely a sail. A home-make spinnaker type sail rigged by dubious logic makes more sense than a sail cover, given the size and shape.
posted by slateyness at 10:39 AM on August 26, 2012

Link fail.

http://s1264.photobucket.com/albums/jj491/jenniferlynn127/
posted by slateyness at 10:39 AM on August 26, 2012

Link says password required.
posted by yoink at 10:42 AM on August 26, 2012

Damn. Sorry. I don't know how to use photo bucket, obviously. Let me try and tweak it.
posted by slateyness at 10:44 AM on August 26, 2012

Ok. Album set to public, shouldn't require password. Sorry to clutter thread w/ tech difficulties.
posted by slateyness at 10:52 AM on August 26, 2012

It reminds me very much of a Lido 14 that I learned to sail in. Google that and see if it leads anywhere..
posted by SLC Mom at 11:05 PM on August 26, 2012

I sailed Lido 14s for a while and while the hull shape is similar, the interior arrangement is completely different (for example, in the Lidos, there are seats that run lengthwise below the gunwales--in your boat it looks like you have to sit up on the gunwale). I suppose it's possible that it's a non-standard Lido 14, but my suspicion is that that will turn out to be barking up the wrong mast.
posted by yoink at 9:53 AM on August 27, 2012

Yoink: I have to agree with you. Longer looking shows that all the Lidos have masts stepped on the foredeck and OP's boat has it stepped at the seat level.

Slatyness, I don't know if it's allowed, but you might want to repost this question in a week.. I think it dropped off the front page before you got the links sorted out.
Good lick.
posted by SLC Mom at 8:23 AM on August 28, 2012

Thanks SLC mom. I'll ask the mods. Right now, the closest thing I think I've found in my outside research is a MFG Pintail, which looks very similar but less beam-y. I'm also going to look for historical societies near Bellmore to see if they have any info on the manufacturer. I'll post back if I learn anything substantive.
posted by slateyness at 6:07 PM on August 28, 2012