Jon,
I'd love to see some more pictures of your boat, especially below deck.
Sorry for the delay in following up…
My boat is actually Hull #1… If you've read the Allied history of the boats, she was originally launched as BOOMERANG, and had a very impressive racing record in the early 70's on the LI Sound/Southern New England circuit. Every once in awhile, I run into someone who recalls racing against her. Wish I knew a bit about the original owner, she was apparently very well sailed…
When I found her, she was being sailed out of Peconic Bay on Eastern Long Island. Always had a good feeling about the boat, and somewhat of a kinship with Brit Chance. Like me, he grew up sailing on Barnegat Bay, and I came to know his sister - the very successful racing sailor Jan Chance O'Malley - from racing against her in Lightnings and E-Scows thru high school and college… So, my attachment to the boat has always had somewhat of an emotional/"feel good" component to it, which is a nice thing, and only continues to grow with time…
She remains the first and only keelboat I've ever owned. I had originally assumed she would be more of a 'starter boat' for me, that I'd eventually move up to something bigger. But the more I sailed her, the more I came to appreciate what a sweet boat she is. And, given the amount of good memories and sweat equity I've put into her by now, I'd have a difficult time ever getting rid of her. I've often thought that if I ever did step up to a bigger boat, I'd want to 'keep her in the family', so to speak - probably by trucking her out to San Francisco or Lake Tahoe, where she could be sailed by my brother and my nephews…
By now, my boat bears very little resemblance to the original Chance 30-30. I wound up completely gutting the interior, and building in much more tankage (105 gals of water, 50 of fuel, 18 holding) Sorry, but I've never gotten around to taking many pics of the interior. I've spent the last few weeks unloading her from my cruise this summer, so right now she's back in 'workshop mode', but I'll see what I can come up with once she gets tidied up a bit, again… These are the only ones I have handy at the moment, of the fore cabin, and my stand-up nav station, part of which slides back over the quarter berth when not in use… The third is of my signal flag cabinet, what can I say, I've always had a thing for flags…
My major modification was fitting a new keel… All the weight I've added to the boat wound up sinking her enough that I started to have a real problem getting in and out of my lagoon here on Barnegat Bay with her original draft
I also found I sometimes got some pretty impressive weather helm with the original 'shark fin' keel, which of course could produce a destructive amount of leverage in a hard grounding. The stringers/floors at the aft end of my keel showed some damage from previous groundings, and when I eventually had a serious 'event' of my own, I decided it was time to swap it out for a shoal draft 'Beavertail' that Mars Metals was making for Tartan Yachts… With the superb guidance of our very own Jeff H, I moved the CE of the new keel a bit, and the boat is better balanced as a result…
I also rebuilt the rudder, upgrading the original 1 1/4" bronze rudder stock to one of 1 5/8" Nitronic 50, and rudder bearings from Tides Marine. I also got rid of the skeg, and built the leading edge out about 15%, creating a balanced spade, which has turned out to be a huge improvement…
I wanted to upgrade the rig for sailing offshore, so added an inner forestay and running backs. With inline shrouds and single lowers, that deck-stepped mast is vulnerable to pumping beating into a chop with only the baby stay to prevent it… You might want to check your baby stay chainplate, I found I needed a bit of additional support at the bulkhead. I replaced and upgraded all the chainplates when I re-rigged everything with Dyform and Sta-Loks…
The original Palmer gas engine is long gone, putting in a Perkins M-30 was one of my first projects...
Hey All - Longtime lurker, first time poster. I'm a Chance 30-30 owner as well. Going through a refit now.
Jon - Actually have seen some photos of your boat on the forums as well - looks amazing and like you've done quite a bit of work to her. Question for you: I noticed you have a dodger. Did you raise your boom to get that extra clearance?
Thanks in advance
The placement of mainsheet on the 30-30 is a bit problematic. I hated the original position at the bridge deck/companionway, which of course pretty much eliminates the possibility of fitting a dodger. I originally moved the traveler to mid-cockpit, just forward of the cockpit seat lockers. That's probably the best spot for it, but I felt it cluttered the cockpit too much for my taste, so I eventually took the traveler all the way aft, behind the tiller. I like it, but it takes a bit of getting used to, and you really have to take care when jibing. But for me, it's the best compromise overall, and really makes the boat like sailing a dinghy, the mainsheet always within easy reach…
My windshield/dodger is pretty low-profile, I never had to raise the boom to accommodate it. I did, however, wind up raising the boom a couple of inches when I replaced the original gooseneck fitting, but probably no more than 2-3 inches, no big deal…
That's all for now, but feel free if you guys have any more questions, I'll try to follow up… These are really wonderful boats, in my opinion, seems a pity there aren't more of them out there… Then again, one of the things I've always enjoyed about mine, is that I so often get the question, "what kind of boat is
that?"
)
