Messing About with Murray: Two Bows

27 Nov 23:

We hear amazing scuttlebutt from our friend Murray, he's been a few places during his family travels and manages to take a camera with him. Recently he asked if he'd told us about the "two bow" boats, and here is his story, led off with a note about "two transoms."

From Murray:

The Two Bow boats of the Grenadines, West Indies

Is Excusez-Moi a Two Transom? Is it easier to build a boat with two transoms? Or with two bows?

What did we do before plywood?

Were the Two Bows descended from whale boats seen on the whaling ships visiting the Grenadine

Islands for provisions and crew?

Were the British Royal Navy Whalers, used for training sailors, adopted from the American whale boats?

And why were whalers double enders (or “Two Bows”? Did the poor whales sometimes pull whale

boats backwards?

https://doryshop.com/stories/2021/08/31/calanova,-no-monkey-and-iron-duke/

These 27 ft ketch rigged whalers were a common sight in Plymouth, UK, sailed and rowed by Navy

recruits and Sea Scouts after WWII.

I first saw the Two Bows in Grenada, West Indies in 1974. They were small fishing boats for one or two

people. What interested me was that they were using square sails, supported by two vertical spars

which were supported by the rowlock sockets, I think. Sail shape was adjusted by moving the masts into

different sockets along the gunwhale. Looked like they could sail on a beam wind or downwind. Not

sure they could sail to windward, though they did have deep garboard strakes for lateral resistance.

We thank Murray for sharing, and if you have a Sea Story to share, drop us a line at lewis.kent gmail

Cheers

Clark and Skipper

Viper 15 LILLIAN 20 April 21 Murray Day Sail

 20 Apr 21:

Well there's Webb who circles the globe, repeatedly, and then there is Murray, who mucks about in skinny water more eloquently than anyone we know. He dropped by recently for a visit in his highly Murrayfied Viper 15 named LILLIAN.

Murray doing donuts in the shoal water.

Murray arrives in style, daggerboard up and rudder retracted.

We first met Murray when he acquired this Laser M sail from us. He modified it with straps and velcro on the luff so that it can be raised and lowered with a halyard. The sail is sleeved and can still be used as such. The lower mast comes from a Sunfish and the upper mast is bamboo.

The "Bamboom", Murray style. 

The rudder was modified with a line uphaul and bungee downhaul.

Padded seating for 2, plus a portable pad.

Murray made the uphaul cleat from dogwood, and added a grip stop on the tiller extension so a wet hand won't loose grip. These small details are indicative of a Sailor who knows his way around small craft.

Murray had lunch on the dock then took Clark out for sail, I even got to work the tiller for a bit. LILLIAN is a very forgiving boat, she is a good weight and well balanced for carrying through tacks, and very stable, a great set up for a raid boat.

Murray swapped back to the tiller so he could raise the rudder for beaching and moved his ballast (me) forward. We didn't point it out earlier, but Murray added reef points to his loose footed rig and a boom vang. 

LILLIAN maneuvered confidently in close quarters, she has a little bit of a keel that helps her track straight even when the daggerboard is up.

We bugged Murray to come visit again, at our new homeport. He is excited about our new sailing spot and we hope to see him very soon.

Modified Viper Sailboat

28 Apr 19:

Our friend Murray saild over in his modified Viper sailboat. He wanted a smaller rig for heavy wind days so he made a new mast step location to fly a single Laser M Radial sail. The mast is made of a Sunfish mast and a piece of bamboo, the boom is also bamboo.

Murray used webbing and velcro for "mast hoops," it worked great. He didn't want to struggle with trying to step a tall mast with a sleeved sail flapping around.

Murray The Sailor and Sailboat Restorer

Our friend Murray came by to pick up the Highlander trailer, he will use it under his "new" project boat, a Viper 15 named "Lillian." Murray has one of the coolest trucks we have ever come across.

From SBR 4: Jun 2014 -

From SBR 4: Jun 2014 -

ODay Widgeon Sailboat

Our friend Murray sailing his ODay Widgeon.

From SBR 4: Jun 2014 -

Murray takes Kent for a paddle sail.