06 Nov 21:
We took our 1953 Alcort Salfish WINNIE to the beach for a photo shoot for the upcoming Jan/Feb 2022 issue of WoodenBoat. The utility trailer HUEY was used for transport, our first time to use the trailer for a long haul, so we also learned a few things there. Being only 11 feet 7 inches long WINNIE fits fine, and the Dynamic Dolly is narrow enough to fit on the 5x10 bed.
Plenty of room for WINNIE's blades.
What follow are a lot of detail shots that could be of interest to other Sailfish owners. First photo, we like to rig the Sailfish spars high, so that there is plenty of clearance from the boom when tacking. Usually having the gooseneck set back 22 inches is a good start, then tie the halyard such as to kick the back of the boom up a bit.
1953 was the first year for ALcorts new Rudder Releasing Mechanism, it was used until late 1971. The bronze hardware was made at nearby Wilcox and Crittenden. The rectangular spring plate on top sits on the horizontal hinge plate acts as a springboard to release tension and let the vertical hinge plate fly free of the keel latch plate when and obstacle is hit by the rudder. The wing nut and carriage bolt adjusts tension on the spring plate. On the wooden Alcorts, the bolt goes through the transom, while on the fiberglass Alcorts the bolt is aft of the transom. A locking hinge pin holds the upper part of the vertical hinge plate in place, and the small keeper chain is supposed to keep the pin from disappearing. Origanally the keeper was secured to the deck, but we move the anchor spot for the keeper to the rudder so that it dowsn't fall off on the highway somewhere enroute.
The first gen rudder blade is called the Elephant Ear, it is barely suitable for a Sailfish.
The bronze spar interlocking hardware is hard to find.
Early Alcort masts were solid wood, then in the mid 50s Alcort started making the lower 1/3 of the mast from aluminum tube. It looks too aluminumy so we wrap ours in Pro Gaff tape.
The circular bronze bushing reduces wear on the blade from the tiller straps.
For transport we tape the deck hardware down, hoping to prevent any screws or wing nuts from vibrating loose at 21st Century highway speeds.
Skipper Skippervising. Learning Lesson today was to bring a beach chair for the Skipper.
The original wooden Sailfish daggerboard measures 31 inches and offers marginal performance. We sail with a 39 inch "Spoon Tip" dagger board that increases the odds of successful tacks.
Here is the vertical hinge plate released from the keel latch plate. Wing nut tension adjusts how easy or hard it is for the beveled bottom of the vertical hinge plate to escape from the cup on the latch plate. A common complaint with this mechanism on the wooden Alcorts is that the rudder releases unexpectedly, and the culprits are one of several things, 1) wing nut too loose, 2) vertical hinge plate bevel tip worn, or 3) keel latch plate cup worn. For the fiberglass Alcorts the common culprit is that the carriage bolt wanders port and starboard, and the resulting play lets the hinge pop out. Alcort mostly fixed that issue by adding a nylon tube around the carriage bolt that helped nestle it into the recess that is molded into the fiberglass transom.
The early 1950s Alcort Sailfish had a simple bow handle. In late 1953 a new bow handle design came with a tab that dropped over the bow stem, plus a keel strip that continued from the tab and ran under the forward keel about 16 inches. Some boats came with rub strips, some did not, we cut these from oak and added them, they offer a small advantage for hand grip to stay on the boat and/or reboard after capsize.
The 31 inch beam and low freeboard make for a wet and wild ride!
There are no halyard blocks on the wooden alcorts, just the cleat. In many vintage Alcort photos we see the excess halyard wrapped around the halyard and mast, we find that tedious and potentially dangerous when it is time to downrig quickly.
The wooden mast is tapered down starting about 2 feet from the top, and has a sheave for the halyard. It looks fantastic.
The early sails were cloth, with sewn on cloth logos. Yar!
It was too cool, choppy, and lee shore today for fun sailing, but we did splash some water on WINNIE's bow. She'll be back to the James River soon.
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