READER BOAT: Welsford Penguin Four Seas by Keith Smith


After five or six years of studying boat plans for the perfect boat for my pur- poses, I finally settled on the Penguin design by John Welsford. It had escaped my search for years because it is only 21 feet long, and I thought I needed a boat in the 24-26-foot range. In the fall of 2011, Small Craſt Advisor issue #71 showed up in my mailbox. Included was an article on the Penguin and I wondered why I’d never considered that boat? It turned out it was about as perfect a fit as there can be. My priorities were: first, it needed


to be big enough for my wife Mary, our chocolate lab Yogi, and I, to go cruising in for at least a week and maybe longer in modest comfort. We needed a V-berth in the bow and plenty of headroom. Sec- ond, it needed to be 100% trailersailer. (I have room at home to park it and I don’t like the idea of keeping it in a marina, so we planned to raise the mast every time we used it.) And third, I wanted to build it myself…and it had be attractive to look at—to my eyes at least. I’m not a racer, so I wasn’t concerned about a really fast boat, but it turns out the Penguin is pretty respectable and keeps up with most of the cruising boats in its size range. (I was afraid the gaff rig would not point well, but that hasn’t been the case.) I made a few modifications to the


boat, the biggest being raising the height of the tabernacle about 10 inches so that I could attach the boom to the taberna- cle instead of to the mast. Tat, coupled with adding a boom gallows, allows us to travel down the road with the mainsail attached and furled. I paid a lot of atten- tion to ways we could speed the launch- ing time, and the two of us can launch the boat in about 30 minutes, so it is not a big deal to go for a short daysail. I use a running backstay as my hauling line and a gin pole on the mast foot. Other modifications I made were


adding a samson post and installing the bowsprit on-center instead of at an angle as the plans were drawn. Tat was purely a personal preference. I also elim- inated the motorwell and mounted the outboard on a transom bracket to have more space in the cockpit. Another mod- ification involved widening the coamings in the cockpit to be used as a seat. I also made the front of the cabintop square


16


instead of the beautiful curve that John Welsford had designed. Tis allowed me to add another port light to each side and two in the front of the cabin for more light, and to be able to sit up at night and check that the anchor is not dragging. It doesn’t have that sexy curve, but I like the extra light. I wanted to build as much of the boat


myself as I could. I made all the wooden blocks, deadeyes, cleats, bronze hard- ware, and oval portlight rings. I chose bronze because I like the way it looks, and also because it is easier to work with than stainless steel. Mary made the tanbark sails from a Sailrite kit, and all the cushions and line-organizer bags. Tis winter we hope to make a sail cover,


boom tent, and whole-boat cover. John Welsford really packed a lot of


boat into 21 feet. Starting at the bow is an anchor well in the foredeck that is plenty big enough for an anchor and its rode. It also makes a nice footwell for passengers who want to sit on the fore- deck, and it makes it easier to deploy and retrieve the anchor. Inside, the V-berth is the size of a


queen-sized bed and has four-inch cush- ions. I think we sleep better on the boat than we do at home; there’s plenty of room for the two of us, all our clothes fit in the side shelves, and there is a ton of space under. Aſt of the V-berth there are two bulk- heads that form the galley to port, and


SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84