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| New addition to the family is this 10 year old wooden Wayfarer, hull number 8017. Built from a Wayland Marine kit by Shaun Mueller formerly of Aberdeen, but now living in Ellensburg, WA. Shaun had it for sale and Renee and I bought it because we had a woodie before when we lived in Brussels and fell in love with the design. |
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| We never thought we would find a Wayfarer again in the US, much less a woodie and within 2 hours drive of our home! We are very fortunate indeed! Photos below taken at the Muellers home in Ellensburg, WA, about two hours over the pass on I-90, on the way to Ephrata. |
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| Wayfarers are very beamy boats, almost 6" of beam, very stable and go fast. Our first Wayfarer W275 "Possum" was purchased from Moore's of Wroxham in Norwich, UK and we sailed it on the Oosterschelde in The Netherlands before having it shipped back to the states when we moved home. It followed us from Denver to Cincinnati to Milwaukee before we sold her to Tom and Diane Erickson of Gardner, MA. Tom and Diane still sail W275 regularly in the Wayfarer cruises, etc. in the Northeast. |
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| To the uninitiated, I'm sure it doesn't look like much, but to those who have sailed, raced or camp-cruised on a Wayfarer, it's quite a thrill just to see one of these wooden Wayfarers again, much less actually own a new one. New wooden Wayfarers are available from Porter Boats in the UK, they cost about $15,000 to $17,000 newly finished and complete, less shipping and VAT. |
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The mast and boom are from an old Geary design, I presume a Geary 18. |
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The mast is over 24' tall, the normal Wayfarer mast is about 22 to 23 feet tall. |
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| Above - steel centerboard, also from the Geary boat, but not legal for a racing Wayfarer. Wayfarers have wood or fiberglass centerboards, depending on the hull construction and version of the boat. |
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| Above - the jib and main. The main measures out about 6" taller than a Wayfarer sail and about 1" longer at the foot. Leech is about the same as the Wayfarer. The jib is smaller than the correct Wayfarer genoa. |
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Sail attached to mast and boom with bronze slides. |
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Above - classic Wayfarer hull. |
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The bilge needs mucking out. |
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| With the bilge cleaned up, it appears it will need drying our as well. The black water stains on the mahogany will require scraping the varnish off, drying out the wood and maybe some replacement of the worst pieces. |
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A close-up of the steel centerboard. |
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| Above and below - with the bilge cleaned up, some frame damage is apparent in the aft end - typical of a Wayfarer that rests on trailer bunks instead of being supported along its entire length on the keel. W275, our previous Wayfarer had the same problem, it's easy to fix, so that's what I spend Sunday doing. |
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| Above - here's the problem: With the trailer bunks pushing upward on the hull just inboard of the bilge keels, the frame is forced upward, pulling away from the top of the keel, forcing the keelson up, cracking of the epoxy joint between the bottom of the frame and the keel. The left side of the frame is pulling away from the hull and the glue joint and screws are failing, causing the frame to crack just to the left of the keel. |
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| I'll get her dried out, cleaned up, bits fixed and varnished before long. This is just too much fun!! |
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| Above - the forward roller supports the keel, that's good; but the rear end of the keel is unsupported causing the frame to be pulled away from the keelson and cracking. |
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