[Jeff_H]

I am reasonably familiar with the Galilee. When I first moved to Maryland, an aquaintance was looking to buy one new and so we went down to the factory in Mayo and looked at them being built and later sailed on one that belonged to a friend of my acquaintance. They were OK boats. Neither extremely well built but seeming to be reasonably solid.

In terms of sailing ability, when we first went out there was pretty light conditions and the boat seemed a little short of sail area for her weight. Things picked up as the daysail progressed and in moderate conditions she sailed quite well. I thought she was a handful in a stronger breeze and having trouble completing tacks reliably in a chop. I had concluded that some of the observed performance flaws comes from the Galilee''s extremely beamy hullform. Still these do make a nice daysailor.

Regards
Jeff

 

[Jeff_H]

My accessment has not changed in 11 years. I have not sailed one and barely even seen one since. In a slight coincidence, I had an intern architect who worked for me whose uncle built the Galilee. The molds still existed and at one point Jonah (that really was his name) was thinking of building one for himself.

The only thing I would say is that it was a ideosyncratic design and has some interesting and perhaps appealing features and some odd less understandable features.

There are a lot of neat daysailors out there many of which are simply better boats in a very general sense. There does not seem to be a following for these boats.To buy a used Galilee today, the price would need to be very cheap, and her design well suited to where and how you plan to sail.

Jeff

 

[Jeff_H]

Nice job cleaning her up. If you are able to weld, it would be pretty easy to fabricate and weld the swivel plates onto the rudder post and to build a new blade for the rudder out of glass over wood. You can see what it should look like in the picture in Post 36 of this thread.

Jeff

 

[Jeff_H]

The breeze out here in Boothbay is simply stellar today, and I am feeling the need to get out on the water quickly! Summer is fleeting here . . . but I do also think my stitched-up rudder might not prove up to the job . . .

When I bought my current boat she was in Boothbay Harbour. (She belonged to Byron Borst at the time.) Boothbay is an exceptionally lovely place. I truly loved being there while we were surveying the boat.

If you are seriously jonesing for a sail, you might carry a long oar and some line to lash it to the top of the rudder post. With that you should be able use the oar to steer your way back home should your temporary rudder fail.

If you are capable of fabricating and welding Stainless steel, then it might make sense to weld an entirely new new rudder post assembly including the post itself.

Jeff