Rebuilding the 23 ft Stonehorse "Anna"

2009-03-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

This 23 ft S.S Crocker Stone Horse "Anna" was rebuilt in part time and launched in the spring of 2004. She has been a delight to sail. She can accommodate four or five adults for a day sail but accommodations are cozy and best for one or two people. "Anna" was sold in the summer of 2008. The new owner installed a sardine wood stove built by Navigator Stove Works. It fits perfectly where the cabinet used to be forward of the sink. I should have done it myself.

During the time of the rebuild I was mainly working as a yacht joiner for a local company that builds custom offshore sailboats. I stripped everything off the boat, all hardware, exterior joinery, rigging, removed the rusted inboard motor and gutted most of the interior. The following is most of the work that was done:

1. The hull and cockpit was painted with Awlgrip by a friend who did the painting at the same company I worked at.

2. Built a new Douglas fir boom, bowsprit and hollow mast. The mast tang work is 1/8" thick silicon bronze and patterned after H-28 plans. The boomkin is Sitka spruce.

3. The interior was finished with Alaskan yellow cedar with Honduras mahogany for trim and cabinetry. Counter tops are rock maple. The interior was finished with a semi-gloss varnish.

4. All new teak hatches.

5. All new silicon bronze hardware. Much cast at the local foundry to patterns I made.

6. New rudder built of Yellow cedar with white oak cheek plates and a laminated ash tiller. The socket for the tiller was lined with copper and the end of the tiller was armoured with silicon bronze. It is quickly removable with a simple retaining cord. The rudder was hung with three bronze pintles and gudgeons.

7. New standing and running rigging.

8. One deck repair to the core was done and then a 1/2" teak deck was layed, bedded in a two part polysulfide.

9 An ash sweep was made which was my favorite way to move the boat into the marina or short distances.

Here is Anna before restoration

Here is the v-berth. A bucket head is located under a lift-up lid to port. With no electrics, oil lamps, alcohol stove and an outboard motor Anna was simple as can be. I really enjoyed evenings with a book, Hudson Bay blanket and the glow from the oil lamps. I also really enjoyed getting all I could out of her under sail as she sailed well.

The galley is a simple affair with an alcohol Origo stove and sink.

The cabin sole was 3/8" Honduras mahogany with maple inlay epoxy glued to BS 1088 plywood. Epoxy sealed and varnished with a semi-gloss varnish.

The port settee and quarter berth. The flip up lid for the bucket head just forward of the settee bulkhead can be seen.

The fore deck and hatch

Anchor roller

Mast detail

I also built a nesting 6' 8" pram dingy that I could store on the fore deck of "Anna". The dingy was in essence a shorter version of the Nutshell pram that I built by eye. I really only stowed the dingy on the deck in the marina as it was still in the way for handling the sails, but it proved to tow very well and stayed dry in a chop.

The dingy unbolts with four 3/8" bronze bolts at the bulkheads.

Morning fog after night at anchor

Motoring in fog with dinghy on the deck

Sailing with the dingy on deck. I hardly ever did this but in a pinch it could be done.

The drifter was used a lot as the winds can be rather light around Sidney in the summer.

The small awning set up. I sewed this out of some left over sunbrella canvas I had from making the other various covers. It ended up being very useful and especially as it could be set up while sailing or motoring to give some shelter from the sun or rain.

A week in Port Townsend. A favorite place to visit.

Sailing back across the Straight of Juan de Fuca from Pt Townsend. The day before there had been high winds and this day it had subsided to a strong breeze. Double reefed main'sl and stay'sl. Lumpy seas but as you can see the decks are practically dry. By now you can see I have painted the covering boards and small toe rail. It was near impossile to keep that toe rail varnish in good shape and painting it was the best thing I did. The sweep is in it's usual place and could be quickly put to use. I used it a lot.

Sailing back from Port Townsend with a load of Silver Bali deck planking for building the Falmouth Cutter "Astrid".

Self Steering rigged up. Not perfect but allowed me to go and do other things as long as I kept a look out. A line is attached to the main sheet with a rolling hitch and is led through a block that can be seen hitched to the base of the boom gallows with a nylon strop. The line is then led to the tiller and attached with a clove hitch...a "slippery" clove hitch (is that a real knot name?) as I can quickly undo it if necessary. A shock cord is run from the tiller to the other side of the boat.

Rebuilding a 23ft Stone Horse Cutter

Rebuilding the 23 ft Stonehorse "Anna"