Free Standing Carbon Fiber Masts

Free Standing Masts on the Great Ketch inevitably becomes a topic of conversation at my marina because it is the only boat in the marina with free standing masts. Great Ketch may very well be the only cat ketch boat with free standing masts on the entire lake of Oneida.


I recently was contacted by someone interested in learning about Cat Ketches because he was interested in purchasing one. His interest was with a 38 foot Herreshoff Cat Ketch made in 1983.
We spoke and emailed a few times a shared questions and answers, and it was soon after our last phone call that a day later I discovered a recorded interview with Eric Sponberg, who designed the free standing carbon fiber masts for the Herreshoff cat ketch boats built by John Newton of Cat Ketch Yachts. The web site where I located the Eric Sponberg interview is at http://proboatradio.com/2012/05/17/free-standing-rigs/ the proboatradio.com site.

For those looking for details about free standing masts and those designed by Eric Sponberg, I recommend visiting his home page web site http://www.sponbergyachtdesign.com/.

The two most regarded benefits of free standing masts are safety and better sail shape.

2012 Winter Work: Aft Hatch & Boom Rigging

This post pertains to the work I performed on a few projects I performed on Great Ketch during the 2011-2012 winter months of December, January, February, and March.

Hatch Recondition:

The picture on the left displays the reconditioned hatches. The aft hatch was reconditioned during the winter of 2012 and bow hatch was reconditioned during the winter of 2011. Both hatches originally had .5 Lexan, which were severely crazed. The Lexan lens were replaced with smoke acrylic. The new dark gray acrylic lens with new varnish will help bring a classy traditional look back. The teak was redone with 5 coats of varnish after applying MASepoxy.





Boom Rigging:

Car with plastic endcaps

The bearings in the Ronstan traveling cars, which run on a track on the boom, fell out. The cars are used to control the outhaul adjustments and the reefing adjustments. After many years of use, the plastic end caps have lost their integrity to hold form and split apart; afterwards the bearings soon spilled onto the deck of the boat.

Because Ronstan no longer sells the plastic end caps, new caps had to be fabricated from a two part solution plastic mix solution in order to make a cast. In making the new end caps, the old caps were glued together to make a mold. The mold was used to pour liquid plastic to make new end caps. This process allowed for many new plastic end caps to be made as spares; a mini warehouse of plastic end caps. Rather than having to spend $350 per new car, as Ronstan suggested, the fabrication of new end caps were less than $50. New bearings were aquired from a Sailrite.

Close up of the plastic end caps

All plastic caps were lightly sanded, cleaned, primed, and painted with gloss black topside boot stripe paint -- as shown on the picture right.

Block attached to SS padeye

Another improvement made to the rigging on the boom was to fabricate a custom pad-eye that allowed the pad-eye to be located closer to the high point of the radius that is located between the car and the mast. By moving the pad-eye closer to the zenith, the lines running between the car and the pad-eye travel in a straight line. The booms are half wish-boom, they have an arc from mast to end of boom.

All blocks on cars, and brackets on booms were removed and cleaned.

KiwiGrip Gives Great Ketch a Refreshing Look

During the late Spring this past year, I applied a new anti skid top on Great Ketch's deck and cockpit. After sanding and cleaning the prepared area, I applied the anti skid known as KiwiGrip using their special roller applicator, which allows one to control the depth of texture.

KiwiGrip hardens quickly and more so as the outside temperature rises, so I made sure to apply KiwiGrip section at a time in order to remove the outside masking tape while the Kiwi was still pliable. Also by working one section at a time, I was able to practice different pressures on the roller to see what kind of effect the various pressures made. The deck was given a more texture than the seats of the cockpit; using a smooth roller to apply KiwiGrip the cockpit seats were merely "painted."

Great Ketch is a free standing masts boat; therefore, it was important that the tracking on the deck was heavy. How can one grab onto a shroud while walking the deck where none exist?


In the picture provided with this post, one may note the hatches are in very good condition. This past winter, I completed the brightwork on the aft most hatch, and replaced the crazed lens with new dark grey .5 inch acrylic. The companionway hatch is this year's winter project.

For more information regarding KiwiGrip, please go to http://www.kiwigrip.com/

Defender Defends Great Reputation.

The marine store "Defender" has provided great customer service recently when I received a few defective products made by Lewmar. I had purchased seven (7) fly screens for Great Ketch, and 4 of the screens had broken clips.

I contacted Defender customer support via their email on a Saturday -- after discovering the broken items -- and received an auto acknowledgment response. By Monday, I was sending them pictures of the defective Lewmar fly screens, and the very next day had received new screens.

I found Defender's customer service to be superb. Defender was quick to acknowledge a customer, provide a process to track and expedite a resolution, and ensure that their customer was satisfied.

Not many companies put much into the customer satisfaction aspect of doing business because, in my opinion, it is easier to get the number on the books when the product is sold and out the door rather than address the non billable aspects of running a company.

I have a very busy schedule so when I take the time to write an accolade for a company, it means they deserve it.

For those curious to see more, visit www.defender.com

I do not work for Defender, nor have any relatives who are employed by them -- merely a happy customer.

New Herreshoff CKY Link Added

A new link has been added to the resource link section of this blog.

The material at the link are the original promotional material of all the Herreshoff Cat Ketch boats made by the Cat Ketch Yacht (CKC) Corporation except the Herreshoff Cat Ketch 33.
Not sure why the 33 promotional material does not exist. Based on my research, I have been given the impression that the 33 was custom made during the later year of the business of CKC. Moreover, CKC changed its name to Cat Ketch Yachts (CKY) when the business relocated from Florida to Texas.

There were 100 31' Cat Ketch boats produced, and 5 33' made. The location of hull 2 is in Texas, hull 4 and 5 are in Florida, and hull 3, which is the one I own, in New York. The owners of the four CK 33' do not know where hull number 1 is located. Hull number 5 is in pristine condition, hull 2 and hull 3 good condition undergoing improvement, and hull 4 needs much tending.

Herreshoff: How Do You Say The Name?

Tomato or Tomato (two-mate-toe) or (ta-ma-ta) - think Hakuna Matada - are two ways to say the same thing, yet when it comes to one of the great boat builders of American boat building, the attention to the pronunciation of the Herreshoff name is one that raises eyebrows.

When I am asked what kind of boat I own, I often reply, "I have a Herreshoff Cat Ketch 33," mindful to clearly articulate "Hair is Off." It is often upon such response that I receive the courteous correction from my inquirer. "Oh, you have a Her is Shove, nice boat."

Rather than debate the erroneous correction, I note the fact that the inquisitor is aware of the name in general and the respectability of the brand, and after all, I also pronounced the Herreshoff name incorrectly upon my first reading of the name. I can still hear the sound from my mouth as I think back to the beginning, "harschof," and very pirate like sound when saying it quickly - - without any movement of the lips of course.

My research of the Herreshoff family business, led me to discover a story by Halsey Herreshoff regarding the correct sounding of his name.

Halsey's late uncle, Clarence Herreshoff, corrected others of the sounding of his name. Say Herreshoff.

I'll still say "Hair is Off" when asked about my boat, and will absorb the polite inaccurate corrections from others. If given the opportunity, I'll share Clarence's guidance. I owe that respect to those who contributed to the advancement of sailing and nautical adventures.

So what's in a name? and what's in the way it is said?


I raise my eyebrows and speak: Ah, that's all thars to sayee bou it.

What's in a Name?

A boat's name says much about the owner. Walk along the docks of any pier and read the names on boats: Knot Easy, Second Wind, Endeavor, Yachts of Fun, are some examples. For those among us who are not so enthusiastic for a walk, or fear taking a long walk on a short pier, I refer the reader to Boat Names.

Unfortunately, the birthing or "relabeling" of boat names are sometimes made in haste. Perhaps scented mood struck the owner to which the unflattering name floated itself upon her stern; "Passing Wind." Yet, with all the naming of boats, one can change a boat's name when one desires. "Passing Wind" boats can be renamed "Passing Waves," or "Passing On," or "Passing By," or "Passing Gas ---Powered Boats." Ironically, the naming of a boat passes from owner to owner, usually.

And here my interest in the name of "Great Ketch." The Herreshoff boat is a fine looking boat; traditional lines with masts that stand majestically. As two columns of a castle rising above the horizon the stand free masts rise from the base of the hull upward toward the sky, high above the waters; with greatness looking upon the waters toward its next destination. Understanding the great aspect is easy once one looks upon the Herreshoff designed boat.

What about "Ketch?" Well, a ketch is a certain type of boat where the placement of the masts matters: "Great Ketch" is a boat with two masts. I also thought that my finding her on the hard and my acquisition of her was indeed a great catch. Great Ketch has had two previous sets of owners, and has retained her original name from her beginning.

Recently, I was in contact with one of the first original owners -- the power of the Internet. I shall call her K for respect of her privacy. K told me that one of the owner partners loved baseball; hence, the name "Great Ketch." I am glad the name wasn't something like "Strike Three", or "You're Out"-- although not original, somewhat belittle all the same.

The name of the cat ketch remains "Great Ketch." The name of the hailing port has been changed from Port Arthur, Texas to Bristol, Rhode Island. The boat builder, John Newton had the boat yard in Texas; whereas, the boat designer, Halsey Herreshoff, had a residence in Bristol, RI. For the curious, there is the Herreshoff Museum located in Bristol.

By the way, can you imagine a distress call?

"Mayday Mayday, this is "Blowing Hard," we need assistance immediately. We are taking water. We are at latitude 40.166561, longitude 72.993164 Another ship, "Passing Wind" crashed in

0.166561,-72.993164

to us and .. blah blah blah,, gulp gulp,,, spit cough,, passin,,,, ,,,,,"