Elly Werkman (Holland)

Hello Seahawk Sailors,

Nice to meet you! What a great site is this to look for information about Seahawk boats.
I am the lucky new owner of a Seahawk. I dont know the number. The previous owner Henk called the boot ‘Tijdloos’ (Timeless).

I just bougt the boat and sailed a couple of times with her. And she sails just fine! I have to modifie some things but i am verry pleased with her. I think I am going to call her “Sunny”. But maybe the boat had been called “Banjer” Does anybody recognises the boat?

I sail in the NORD of the Netherlands: Paterswoldsemeer near Groningen.
My Dream is to go to the Waddensea and sail around the Islands. And maybe trailer and go to the Mediterrian Sea.

I want to sail the boat singlehanded. Has anyone put a rolling jib on the bow of the boat?
And has anyone an idea to have a step in front to get easily on board?
Hereby some pictures.

Lots of love and Sailing,

Greetings, Elly

 

Hi Elly,

Welcome to the SeaHawk forum.

Elly wrote

I am the lucky new owner of a Seahawk. I dont know the number. The previous owner Henk called the boot ‘Tijdloos’ (Timeless).

I just bought the boat and sailed a couple of times with her. And she sails just fine! I have to modifie some things but i am very pleased with her. I think I am going to call her “Sunny”. But maybe the boat had been called “Banjer” Does anybody recognises the boat?

It is very hard to tell from your pictures as they are rather small and don't show the parts of the boat where the unique features are. Have you seen the Banjer page on the site? Does your cabin door look similar? Does it have the same portholes? Both features are almost certainly unique and done by a previous owner and not part of the original build.

However, I do notice that your foresail has a similar dark line on it to that seen on Banjer on that page and it appears to have the same black painted window framing, so it is very likely it is the same boat.

My Dream is to go to the Waddensea and sail around the Islands. And maybe trailer and go to the Mediterranean Sea.

You may have seen that another Dutch owner got to Lake Como, Italy, with her SeaHawk. I also have photographs sent by an Englishman who sailed off France in the Mediterranean.

I want to sail the boat singlehanded. Has anyone put a rolling jib on the bow of the boat?
And has anyone an idea to have a step in front to get easily on board?

Many later boats came with a furling genoa as standard. (Your foresail is larger than standard, but not as large as the genoa that would have been supplied new on a Reedcraft built boat.) Others have fitted them to Reedcraft built boats. Possibly the best topic on the forum is Jib Furling but there are others that mention furling. It's worth using the Forum's search facility, or the main "Site Search" facility.

I know you want a furling jib for other reasons, but if you want to maximise performance when sailing single-handed, take a look at these images:




and compare it with your image of "Sunny" under sail. I think there are three reasons for the difference:
1. The boat has an electric outboard. The heavy battery is located under the cabin step as far forward as possible without compromising cabin space.
2. The boat does not use an anchor. As she sails on the Norfolk Broads, she uses a heavy mud weight instead and this is stowed in the bow locker, as far forward as possible.
3. An extra long tiller is used to allow the helm to site as far forward in the cockpit as possible.

These three factors means the boat is trimmed level when under sail, bringing the transom virtually clear of the water and so much reducing drag.

While I recognise that most people will require a petrol outboard, I would still recommend storing heavy fuel cans as far forward as possible. Also consider adding weight to the bows. It won't add much to the overall weight of the boat but it will dramatically affect the trim. For example, take much more water with you than you need for a mug of coffee and store it in the bows!

Incidentally, notice where the jib cleats are mounted. I'll explain the reason why I think they are mounted in the ideal place another time!

Fair winds!

Hello Greg,

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, the boat was in a previous life "Banjer".
Your suggestions to get the balance good are very helpfull. I will study this. First now I have to work.
Greetings, Elly

Hi Elly and Greg
There don’t seem to be any photos on the jib furling page so here are some of ours.  You need the spreader to keep the sail away from the mast when its rotating.  It wasn’t supplied with the kit so we improvised with a stainless steel ashtray (now getting a bit rusty).  The yellow rope is cleated on to stop the jib unfurling.  It’s worth noting that Seahawks sail quite well without a jib unless you are tacking.
all best
Victoria


Sent from my iPad

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image3.jpeg (96K) <https://forum.seahawk17.org.uk/attachment/4025026/2/image3.jpeg>

Hi Elly,

GregSeaHawk wrote

Incidentally, notice where the jib cleats are mounted. I'll explain the reason why I think they are mounted in the ideal place another time!

I now realise I already give the answer on the site here:
https://www.seahawk17.org.uk/boat-description-rigging.php#jibsheets
I like the original Reedcraft arrangement as, when sailing with crew, the cleat is perfectly aligned for someone sitting close to the cabin on the lee side. When solo, and sailing with my extending tiller, I can also easily pull the jib sheet across the open cabin door without having to lean forward.

Here are two photos that show the difference the longer tiller makes to the helm's position. The first was taken in 2004 when my boat had the original sails and standard tiller, the second in 2010 with new sails and long tiller.



When looking at these two pictures what I realise is that while the longer tiller certainly makes it easier to control the jib sheets, my belief that it also helps trim the boat is false. Can it really all be down to the mud weight in the bows and light electric outboard?

I now need to look at a lot of other photos of SeaHawks under sail and try to work out what might make the difference in trim - and it's time for others on the forum to provide theories on what makes the difference!

Hi Victoria,

Marsh Marigold wrote

There don’t seem to be any photos on the jib furling page so here are some of ours.  You need the spreader to keep the sail away from the mast when its rotating.  It wasn’t supplied with the kit so we improvised with a stainless steel ashtray (now getting a bit rusty).  The yellow rope is cleated on to stop the jib unfurling.

Actually, you did post some of those photographs on the Jib Furling topic on the forum, but they were sent as attachments so don't display as normal images.

However, reading to the end of that topic I see that I had begun to work on a specific Jib Furling page for the main part of the site - and sure enough the page is sitting on my computer, with some incomplete text but not yet uploaded to the site or added to the menu system.

I was hoping to get some images of Brian's system, so that I could provide descriptions and images of sytems simply designed for stowing the fore sail and those designed for reefing.

Hopefully, this will prompt Brian, or someone else, to provide photos of their reefing system!

Hello Greg and Victoria,

Thank you for your suggesties. In the winter I will make the adjustments. The frist thing I have to do however is to get the boat at home so I can work on it.

I have a trailer but I have to adjust it and I am trying to figure out how to do it. My technical boat english and english metric skills are not so good but i will try to translate it.
This is my trailer: frist I going to get the rust of........