by fred douglass » Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:14 pm
Wonderful to hear about you guys and your interest in the old Poitin. I got to know the boat really well, racing on three or four of them, three in R.I. and one on Cape Cod. Since I went ahead and bought a Pointin' 29 from Nick Gregory ("Pamela"), I have never owned a 24, but learned quite a bit about them from Bob Evelyn. Sally [RIP:-(] was the first to tell me that Rod Johnstone lived "right across the street" down in Essex and more or less copied the Poitin. Made the J-24 a bit narrower and 500 lbs. lighter. Also really got in on the marketing angle and forced Bob to "move up" to Pointin' Star, the premier 29 when the J-24s took off. THEN Johnstone essentially copied THAT Evelyn design which, of course, became the J-30! Nick Gregory corroborated this also. Bob Evelyn's boats profited immensely from having Airex cored hulls, as opposed to balsa. Look up David Pascoe, a Florida-based marine surveyor, if you want the scoop on balsa. Seemed not enough builders remember Heyedahl's ridiculous "Kon Tiki", eh?
In any case, Bob Evelyn told me that the only design element he wished he'd changed on the 24's was the "hips". Obviously put in there as reserve stability, they nonetheless exert a tad too much parasitic drag for his taste. Whit Batchelder, who built Cherry Pi (and I dunno how many other 24's), chided Bob for not "aerating his resin". Cherry Pi also has balsa blocks in lieu of other core material. It also may well have been Batchelder who made several of the modified 24's with the "popped-up" coach roof. They're very distinctive. Incredibly, I actually saw one of these "headroom" 24's from a train, while riding back from NYC to Providence! Right alongside a building in eastern Connecticut, about 20 yards from the tracks! Can't miss a Poitin! This popped deck may well ALSO have eliminated the odd and clumsy hatch arrangement on the Poitin.
Speaking of the latter, I actually modified a Poitin (bound for Ohio, I think) after it was sold to a gent while sitting high and dry in Mashpee (Cape Cod). I took some Airex, made a huge "bracket" which came from the sides of the hull, across under the companionway and up either side of the hatch opening. Cutting out that transverse "bar" in the decking and heavy glassing PLUS a thick aluminum fascia "bracket" finished the job. As far as I could tell, the mod didn't introduce any flexing or weakness and it ABSOLUTELY made going down below a much more pleasant chore! I strongly recommend this move. You could even do what I did and add that thick (buffable) aluminum "horseshoe" to supplement the Airex and glass bracket.
I raced on John Hatfield's Samaki out of Megansett (North Falmouth). John actually put a BMW inboard in it. Later, John had pranged the keel horrendously on Seal Rocks (Buzzards Bay) and he "solved" the bent result by going into the NACA foil book and microballooning a truly FAT keel section. Two strikes against it. Later, I saw it for sale in Soundings. The guy who had bought it had lavished huge bucks on it. Since Samaki had an Etchells (?) mast and was essentially a 3/4 rig, it had runners. This new owner had put industrial-strength runners in :-0. Kinda humorous. Otherwise, he HAD done a beautiful job cosmetically, but really swore he knew nothing about the bent and slathered keel! One of the nicest Poitins I sailed was "Point Blank" out of Swampscot. There are still a few lurking around western RI. A couple I raced on had a brutal device which was essentially a "universally adjustable" jib-lead. Not nice to sit on! :-)
When you're working on your Poitins, pay particular attention to the bulkheads. Sometimes these need new glass. It would also be a brute, but doable, to grind out and fair in those "hips". They're unnecessary and S-L-O-W-W-W-W-W-W. I'm truly warped in that I love the smell of resin in the morning.......have grinder, will travel!
Also, if you're racing, get North* (!) to cut your main pretty deep draft----the boats need driving power in winds below 12 knots. I have actually beaten some J-24s in Narragansett Bay, but it took a lot of wild-ass tactical gymnastics. Poitins just a smidge slower in light-to-moderate air (the weight, plus ?). Come into their own above 18 kts. Be sure to have main AND jib cunninghams.
Good luck guys.
Fred Douglass
P. O. Box 96
Cataumet, MA 02534
(508) 564-4297
*As I always say: "If you wanna win, go North, young man!"