Gulf Coast E 32-2

[Finesse]

Hey guys. Glad to know you're out there. I saw on your home page a paragraph about "Joe", the hurricane boat. Well, it is now named "Finesse" and has been brought back from the dead again. Surviving "Ivan" a second hurricane. More major hull damage. This time it was completely redone. Added gussets and stringers. Now has open transom because damage to rear was too extensive. All new hardware. New 3dl's. Dry sailed. And, I'm proud to say, thoroughly kicking but on Pensacola Bay. Maybe too much so. We were PYC's boat of the year in '11. Now they want to drop all the 32-2's from 105 to 99, and drop us an additional 3sec due to our "modifications". Even though no shapes of the boat were altered. Anyway, thought you might want to know that there is another on of you guys out here tearin' it up. Will send pix if anyone's interested.
Scott R

[admin]

Oh man, DEFINITELY send in some pix. I was looking for that boat for a long time. Very cool that you have resurrected her!!! Sounds like your PHRF rating may suffer a bit though ;-) Still 96, is not bad...that's what my boat rated here on the Ches Bay for the entire 6 years I had it.

I could've sworn one of the old Great Lakes boats was named "Finesse," but maybe I'm just losing it...actually, there's no doubt about that, but still "FInesse" rings a bell or two.

Cheers, Scott, and thanks for the note.

[Finesse]

Wow, good catch on the name. That was Alan McMillan's boat. A Serena 40 something, then a Bene 40.7. He is the brother of Neil that rebuilt "Joe". Moved back to Pensacola and bought the 32 from Neil after Hurr Ivan. Then spent a few months putting her back together. Did a great job!. Have some pix soon.

[Finesse]

Pix: Part I

[Finesse]

Pix: Part II
Jealous yet? LOL

[muchmsw]

Finesse;

What an absolutely gorgeous re-build!

Hells yes, I'm jealous. I've just finished re-doing the decks of the old "Zingarella"
with KiwiGrip and I thought she looked sharp... But Wow! Hat's off...

Thanks for posting the pics.

Steve

[stegerd]

A six second hit plus three for a great job at boat repair in one year is rough. But someone has to be boat of the year and I doubt that all previous winners were always wacked the following year. New sails, dry sailed, faired hull. Clearly a serious program and getting the most out of the boat.
I would be curious to know what type of boat came in second or even third and if they were always in the mix and tough to beat. If so, should they be hit as well? When you move a whole class by six seconds, all boats that were shown to be competative with the Evelyn in your area for the last several years should be considered to move as well.

[Finesse]

Thanks for the kind remarks. The other well sailed boats are a Bene 36.7, Soverel 33, J/111, & a Tripp 33. Just got word today that the Gulf Coast mast head, inboard, original boom length E32's will remain at 105. We will take a 3sec hit because we have moved the fuel tank to just forward of the keel, and the cockpit floor up to make it single level (no seats) making our crew work "more efficient". Go figure. We tried to explain that our crewwork is very inefficient. LOL. The GYA did do a great job of figuring all the factors that go into rating adjustments. Anyway, is what it is. We have 30 days to appeal. But I think the owner has tired of fighting it. Just ready to get back on the water. Thanks again for the nice comments. Got a great owner.

[Wild Thing]

Very nice job!

A couple questions...

What was the motivation to modify the cockpit floor and make it level, how did you achieve that (raise the forward portion or drop the aft part? I can't tell from the photos...)

What was used to replace the hatch slides; I need to replace my old wooden ones this year...

Thanks

[Finesse]

Moved the forward part up to meet the aft. moved the traveler up onto the deck. took out the drains due to the open transom. not exactly sure why they raised it. I came along after the second hurricane rebuild. they added two aluminum posts under the cockpit. vertical from the underside of the sole down to the hull. I find out why this was done. We use one piece of dark plexiglass held in with a piece of starboard on each side for the companion way.

[Pterobyte]

Moved the forward part up to meet the aft. moved the traveler up onto the deck. took out the drains due to the open transom. not exactly sure why they raised it.

I suspect they raised the front part so they could get rid of the drains.

I would prefer to drop the whole floor and widen the aft cockpit, it has always seemed to high and narrow to me. I think the floor height was to preserve space below deck for the aft bunks which are totally useless imho..

[Finesse]

Yea, I can see the aft bunk reasoning. I agree, seemed kind of useless. I'll see the guy who did the mod's this weekend. I'll ask him about the redesign. So much of had to do with the hurricane damage and what they had to work with.

[Wild Thing]

We use one piece of dark plexiglass held in with a piece of starboard on each side for the companion way.

Sorry, I was referring to the two rails that the companionway hatch slides in on both sides of the deck... MIne are teak and have already been repaired a few times, I'd like to replace the wood with a plastic composite of some kind... Is Starboard available in that size; needs to be 2" x 1.5" x 60" long approx.

[Finesse]

ah, ours is some type of black composite. I'll find out Saturday exactly what it is.

[Pterobyte]

I have used Starboard on two boats for these. I used 1" thick and cut it about 2 1/2" Then with a table saw I cut a grove for the hatch. The hard part was matching the curve of the deck. I used the old part as a guide. To attach it it I found that lag bolts from the inside worked best.

One more neat thing I did was to fab some hand rails from the Starboard. I hung these inside right under where the hatch rails are. I used the same bolts through both pieces. These handles really help below deck and also help comply with Cat 5 equipment requirements.