I recently heard from Zeevonk’s new owner. Recall that Zeevonk spent some 15 years doing naturist tours in the Carribbean.
I understand that much of what made her perform well will be removed and replaced with more elderly solutions. It will have vertical windows, swing boards instead of vertical, self tacking jib and main track on top of the sunshade. I’m sure that I have spoken at length about all these vices and do not need to repeat myself.
Dried out on the hard.
As one who has for some time taken an interest in Zeevonk and the business her original owners pursued in the Caribbean, when Zeevonk came up for sale I took the liberty of saving the advertisements for her, complete with pictures, and having reviewed these I offer the following comments:
“Vertical windows” in my view have completely the wrong orientation for most of the locations aboard Z; as for their engineered characteristics Kurt would know more about that than I, so I’ll say no more.
“Swing boards instead of vertical,” on the other hand, would in my view clearly pose an issue with moving the centre of lateral resistance forward or aft with every adjustment, profoundly affecting whether the helm was weather or lee at any given time; the dagger boards at the very least do not add this wrinkle.
“Self tacking jib and main track on top of the sunshade…” Yuck! Is the new owner contemplating tacking so frequently that he’s willing to forgo the inevitable loss of sail shape maintainability to try and accommodate them?
Undertaking the proposed modifications would involve the following penalties, as a minimum: first, there would be the capital cost of propely engineering the design changes and implementing them; second, if the intent is to enter into some manner of business analogous to that run by Z’s original owners, any loss of ability to sail at original speed, as I strongly suspect there will be, will engender ongoing greater difficulties with meeting any schedule strictures imposed by the travel arrangements of the guests, unless one more frequently resorts to the use of auxiliary engines, which would not only raise ambient sound levels aboard but increase fuel and maintenance costs, eating into profits.
Finally, if my fears are realized, there will be the grave question as to the physical possibility or even, perhaps, the fiscal sense of undoing the changes; the costs would likely be unwarranted, leaving Z’s fate uncertain depending on whether she were still found suitable for another’s purposes. Indeed in that case the best option might be to sell Z and purchase a newer and hopefully improved design of vessel more suited to the original intent.
More time anchored and more engine use.