MAGGIE B - THE PROJECT SO FAR

When Frank Blair announced in November 2005 that he intended to launch his new schooner into the frozen waters of Lunenburg in the middle of January there were those who thought he was crazy, but to someone who flew countless missions over hostile territory at the controls of Phantom jet during the Viet Nam war it probably didn't feel that outrageous.

It might also have been his way of laying claim to the boat and taking over as her skipper. Anyway the Covey Island Boatworks crew who had built the MAGGIE B gamely went along with the audacious plan and battled their way through the preparation programme - sometimes digging their way through the ice and snow even to get aboard her at the start of the working day.

She first set out on sea-trials on 22nd Feb in temperatures of minus 15°C, ice-hammers at the ready, and by 27th March Frank together with John and Dorian Steele - owners of the yard - left those icy waters bound for Bermuda.

With that 'mission impossible' behind him the rest of Frank's declared mission seemed a lot more credible so it shouldn't have been any surprise to us, the office-bound team, to have news that MAGGIE B had recently berthed in Tasmania - just over a year after she had first nosed her way out of Lunenburg harbour.

The stalwart efforts of that build crew made it possible for MAGGIE B to stretch her wings in public at the Antigua Classic Regatta in April 2006. I joined the boat there for a few days of magnificent sailing during which she showed her pace by winning several trophies in real style - a proud moment for all of us.

Frank and I had first discussed the project in 2002. Knowing his connection with Down-East schooner traditions it was with some trepidation that I sent him a few sketches of a boat whose only connection with the schooners of the past was that the aft mast was taller than the fore. To my surprise though he mailed back to say that he was keen to develop the ideas to see where they might take us.

Faithful to those first sketches we worked up a boat that would be of fairly heavy displacement but would be easily driven thanks to a long waterline length. Wetted surface drag would be reduced by keeping hull draft to a minimum (2.00 m, 6'10") - clearly an important attribute in a cruising yacht - while windward performance would be enhanced by use of a fairly high aspect centreboard, taking her draft to 4.00 m (13'1") when deployed.

The advantages of shallow draft must be paid for as righting moment for a given ballast mass is clearly diminished as draft is reduced, so MAGGIE's 15 tonne external ballast keel on a total displacement of 34 tonnes yields a ballast ratio of 43% - which is on the high side for a boat of this size.

Keeping rig weight down is an obvious way to increase the power of any boat so we opted for carbon spars built by GMT Composites. The choice of gaff rig from the outset was driven mainly by the desire to keep the spars simple (just one cap shroud each side of each mast). MAGGIE B carries a substantial spread of upwind sail (214 sq m 2310 sq ft) but it is reassuring to know that both the spar centre of gravity and windage reduce as sail is shortened. Under bare poles the rig is reduced to a height of only 20.6 m (67'7").

In designing this boat - which is not even close to anything else out there - I had an invaluable leg up from Hampshire naval architect Theo Rye. Theo's passion for historic yachts extends to having a great database on most yachts of distinction over the ages. He was able to help me give substance to the ideas that I was taking out of the air to make sure we didn't try anything too many miles away from what had proven to work in the past.

Building work on the MAGGIE B started in June 2004 when Covey Island Boatworks took delivery of an unlikely pile of reclaimed Douglas Fir - torn from an old US Navy warehouse said to be from somewhere in Upstate New York. The stuff converted into some fine laminate for MAGGIE's framing. Frank was keen to use reclaimed stock if possible and throughout the project the use of any timber from none-sustainable sources was avoided. John and Dorian chose to use a species known as Silverbali as a substitute for teak which, although not quite the 'real thing' did the job adequately.

Backbone, hull planking and sheer clamps were also from Douglas Fir but the deck was a cocktail of materials essentially aimed at avoiding the use of plywood - which was replaced by high-density Corecell foam sandwiched between glass/epoxy laminates. This was laid down on a substructure of for-and-aft Fir planking on laminated deck beams. The external wooden deck is epoxy-bonded on to the glass, fastenings (into deck beams) being removed after cure.

To combat the relatively low crush strength of the Douglas Fir it was decided to mount all deck fittings on 6 mm 'C'-plates of glass/epoxy laminate which were cut 20 mm bigger than the fitting. The plates were themselves bonded to the planking with polysulphide mastic so that horizontal loads applied to the fitting would pass via the plates to the deck. The intention was eradicate the chances of movement that might lead to leaks and subsequent degradation of the deck structure.

As designers we were happy to be free to design a boat from first principles rather than one that was required to have the feeling of a 'replica'. We do not feel that replica building is generally compatible with glued construction technology that was a pre-requisite for the building of MAGGIE B. The incompatibility stems from the need to be absolutely confident in the watertight integrity of a boat built using glued technology.

A 'modern' boat is usually finished in paint all over so that if there is any movement of timber at the surface that might allow the ingress of water it is immediately visible and can be treated accordingly. In the case if a traditional boat fitted (often) with wooden bulwark stanchions protruding from a bare wooden covering board it is impossible to detect small leaks due to the movement of unprotected timber and even less easy to trace the source of leaks that are visible from the inside. The resulting humidity - hidden somewhere in the laminate - can go unnoticed for months or even years, and even if a problem is identified it will not be easy to dismantle small areas of deck structure to treat or replace parts.

By contrast a leaking seam in the deck of a plank-on-frame traditionally built boat will immediately result in a damp bed - right under the source of the leak. The repair could be as simple as locally raking out a deck seam, hardening the caulking and repaying the seam. In the worst case a deck showing signs of rot can be replaced in a day or two's work.

In MAGGIE B's case we were free to adapt the design to suit glued construction technology and agreed with the yard to end the external wooden deck cladding about 200 mm from the deck edge replacing it with a painted scupper - the white painted finish being extended around bulwark stanchions and up to the underside of the bulwark capping. If any damage is sustained at some time in the future (say by an impact to the bulwark) it should be immediately possible to see if anything has moved and to repair the surface before any moisture gets into the deck.

In choosing to build a new custom boat an owner knows from the start that the project will be very much more challenging in every way than buying a series-produced one from an industrial manufacturer. To start with it he or she is buying a boat 'site unseen'. There's no boat show boat to visit and so the space - both on deck and below - will have to be imagined.

Then there's the problem of estimating - or even more daunting - fixing the cost. This is difficult enough even if a full set of drawings and specifications has been drawn up in advance - which is rarely the case in practice. In MAGGIE B's case a fixed price was established for the basic hull and deck structure as this part is necessarily defined before any construction begins. Beyond that the satisfactory progression of the contract is heavily dependent on the good will of both owner and yard. The yard should have an interest in making sure the owner goes away happy as, apart from inspecting a product from the yard, a previous customer is about the only source of reference available to an owner contemplating a build at that yard.

One thing's for sure and that's that building a good custom boat requires that everyone concerned bends a good deal with the wind. There's the contract and then there's reality. There's a constant need for owner, builder and (yes) designer to accept that Pragmatism Rules. No place for Prima-Donnas or Hot-heads or big egos in this domain !

Even if the ultimate outcome of the build is positive all round it will not have been achieved without a good deal of blood, sweat and tears. The owner will be kept awake at night - half by anguish, half by excitement, but the end result should be ten times more exciting than the relatively anodyne experience of buying a boat from a salesman - whose involvement will probably end once the sale is made.

Knowing Frank and reading his on-line account of life on MAGGIE B http://schoonermaggieb.net/ don't think he could ever have done 'anodyne',

NIGEL IRENS Ashburton, England May 2007

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