It's going to be a high performance sport version of the venerable pocket cruiser, the Potter 19, with a retractable sprit and a modern "Sport Boat" sail plan. Compared to the classic Potter 19, It's got a much heavier keel for increased stability range, a larger sailplan for more speed, and a bowsprit so it can fly a large asymm on a furler. Sail handling will all be from the cockpit.
I've sailed a Potter 19 for 15 years, in some very challengeing conditions. It's a great hull, ahead of its time, but the sailplan and foils are from the 1970's. The hull has the potential to be super fast, (as i proved 10 years ago when i became the first person to fly an asymmetric on it.) So I decided to bring the rest of the boat into the 21st Century, and incorporate 30 years of progress and innovation into a trusty old friend.
I hired Jim Antrim, a well respected naval architect in the San Francisco Bay area, to do the engineering for a new Potter 19, using the existing basic hull design, but incorporating my ideas on what the keel and rig should be like. I designed a new rig, deck layout, and sailplan. Jim Antrim figured out how to build the new keel to properly balance and complement the new sailplan. Jim also is doing the engineering to beef up the hull to handle larger loads. I hired Selden Mast to do the final engineering on the mast and rigging. Ken Lang,owner of International Marine, the Potter builder, designed the changes to the interior layout.
The Potter factory will start constructing the hull, deck and interior this week, and putting in all the wiring and what not. I'll be going down to the factory in southern CA after Xmas to "supervise" the production crew. I''ll be there to make sure they put the new hardware exactly where it belongs and make sure all the leads are fair and true.... and trouble shoot it as problems appear. It's not possible to get it perfect on paper the first time, so I'll have to actually lay it out on the deck and mark the positions for them. With a full crew, we should be able to install the whole deck layout in 4-5 hours. I'm sure I'll be the bottleneck.
I'll also be watching as they add the new structural bracing in the hull and talking with the architect if we run into any problems during assembly,install the chain plates for the rig in the right places and install some of the deck hardware and retractable bowsprit according to my sailplan and design. I'll probably supervise the fairing of the keel personally , because the production crew hasn't ever faired a keel before and I have. But other than that, they'll do all the work and I'll be there to make decisions when decisions need to be made.
I'll probably be a nervous wreck by time we're done
The mast will arrive in january, so I'll be on my own installing it and fitting the new standing rigging. Selden will send it with swaged fittings on one end, and Norseman terminals on the other. I'll probably me a nervous wreck by the time I'm done with that too.
Fair winds,
Judy B