Eventide 24 Build Questions

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gary davis
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Joined: Thu October 17th, 2013, 10:44 pm
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Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by gary davis »

I am considering building Eventide 24 and have been studying the plans I received on the CD from John. I would appreciate any feedback on the following comments.

I live in Montana USA and sailing occurs on large lakes and reservoirs. Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean are a long day’s drive to the west. The boat will live on a trailer. For ease in trailering and set-up, I have decided to use the gunter rig. I also intend to build the “old style” doghouse because I like the looks of it better than the newer version(s).

I would like to hang the rudder on the transom and extend the keel to the rudder skeg. Is it then necessary to install a bowsprit and/or a larger jib to balance the sail plan?

I’m considering the double plank hull option. Would you advise against switching from diagonal/fore-aft planking as designed to double diagonal with fiberglass sheathing?

I’m sure other questions will arise in the near future. Stay tuned.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Gary Davis
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Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by Eventide Owners Group »

Hello John,
Thanks for your e mail promting me to look at this page.

sadly people seem shy of the Forum. Every now and a gain a subject gets picked up, but often I find unanswered queries. I try to let other answer if I can, otherwise it can get a little one sided if I am the only one giving feedback.

However I do step in and in this case I can answer direct. (and post it on the forum for anyone else to see and comment on!)

The gunter rig was dropped as it was not very efficient, but with more ballast and the deeper keels, the boat will be better, though not so clever to windward as a Bermudan rig maybe. Hollow spars and a good sail maker to set up the sails will help.

Do whatever you wish with the cabin top, the later ones carried theirs further forward to get more head room inside, but even allowing for the hull and raised topsides being increased by the 5 inches recommended, head room will still be under 5' 6". You would have to go up to a 26ft version to get headroom without it looking like a shed on top!

Rudder on the transom is a good suggestion for any Eventide, and carrying the keel further back will take most of the weather helm out. See the Owners tips pages of the site for more on this, you could also rake the bilge keels aft and maybe cut the main smaller, all would help if you did not want the bowsprit. (Personally I would not be without mine! Great place to stow the anchor out of the way and the outboard rollers keep mooring buoys away from the bow too.) I have my roller reefing genoa on the outer end and it works well for me, but I do have a full main sail and the bilge keels are standard. The main keel does come back close to the rudder, but there is a small gap that could have been filler, 9" long at the heel of the rudder and about 1' 6" under the hull...

The double diagonal build was normally done in the 1960's in overseas places they could not obtain 1/2 " or 12mm ply, it did made for a heavier hull. Today we would plank the first layer diagonal and then epoxy the next layer to follow the sheer, 2 layers 10mm thick, so you end up with a 3/4 inch thick, or slightly less if you used 6- 8mm thick, a wood epoxy composite. Very strong!

Good luck with the project!

Regards,
John
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Nigel Vaughan
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Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by Nigel Vaughan »

Hello Gary,

I am delighted to hear that you are thinking of building a new Eventide, because I am half way through building one at the moment. Most people think it is madness to be spending lots of money and time on building a wooden boat designed in 1960, with all the other options available. But I own an old Eventide (built to the original plans), loved it and found that no modern production boats exhibited all the qualities of the good old Eventide.

Like you, I have been making difficult choices between the original plans, as drawn by Maurice Griffiths, and the new plans that incorporate many post-original "improvements". I put "improvements" in inverted commas because some of the changes were definite improvements against almost any sensible criteria whereas other "improvements" were, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. I won't itemise here which features I took from the original drawings and which from the newer ones, but we have been building to an amalgam of the two. That in itself has been problematic and, in hindsight, I should have employed a yacht designer to produce new drawings on a CAD system that represented exactly the boat I wanted, rather than making it up as I go along. Although this would have cost me some thousands of pounds, it would have saved a number of expensive areas of re-work.

The question of how best to construct the hull in this day and age is difficult. The original default was marine ply, but some were double skin planked and my old one was, unusually, strip-planked in pitch pine (I know of one other Eventide that was as well). I decided to build using modern cedar strip, glassed inside and out, on a conventional frame (keel, keelson, inner and outer stems, frames (moulds initially), floors, etc. I have a beautiful, strong hull as a result, but it has cost me a great deal more, in man hours, than I expected. I think the efficient, cost-effective way to build these days would be to have a designer convert the structure to the modern "egg box" style, where transversal bulkheads and longitudinal members are cut out of ply, using CNC machines from CAD drawings. Many modern wooden boat examples use this technique: Roger Dongray's Gollant Gaffer & Gollant Yawl, Andrew Wolstenholme Kite and many others. The expense of converting the Eventide design for this modern construction approach, amalgamating the best attributes of the original and newer drawings, would, in retrospect, have paid off.

As for the skin - plywood versus cedar strip versus double skin planking - I'm really not sure, but I think plywood, glass sheathed, is probably most cost effective.

My project is going ok, though. The hull is complete and we are well on with bulkheads and deck beams and carlins. Would be delighted to exchange more views with you. You can email me at nigelvaughan54 at aol.co.uk.
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Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by Eventide Owners Group »

Great to see a constructive, in all senses of the word!, reply!

We want to see more of your Eventide Nigel! What about an article to add to the Builders and restorers pages! Your build will be a bit of both, as you are recycling the rig and gear from the early Eventide! not sure about putting your full mail address on here nigel, the spammers will pick it up, so i am going to edit out the @ and replace it with at! A human can work it out and you should get the response. However anyone registered on this forum can contact anyone else on it without revealing any mail details, simply by using the pm system (personal mail).

good luck with the Eventides both of you. And I agree wholeheartedly about the 'improvements'. the cabin top is not to everyones taste, but I love it! Having been deeply involved with Maurice and all the design modifications I incorporated all of them into my build! Do not regret any of them!!

Having also owned and sailed an Eventide 24 for 10 years, I too could not find any other design to match it, so that's why I built Fiddler's Green! 25 year on nearly, she has taken me everywhere I have wanted to go with absolute safety and comfort, we would not swap her!

Regards,
john
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gary davis
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Joined: Thu October 17th, 2013, 10:44 pm
Location: Montana

Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by gary davis »

Thanks Nigel and John. With respect to Nigel's comment about hiring a NA to redraw the design incorporating the modifications/improvements, my plan is to first loft the hull with the modifications and see how things go from there. I definitely will need professional help with possibly modifying the gunter sail plan with the prospect of adding a bowsprit and increasing the size of the jib. What have other E24 owners done with the size of their jibs with a bowsprit?

I'll probably stick with the original backbone/framing/floor layout. I wanted a design that used mostly real wood rather than plywood so some type of diagonal planking is likely the path forward for me. I have ready access to cedar and Douglas-fir here in Montana and they seem to make the most sense to me.

I would like to see how you are coming with your boat Nigel. Please let me know if you post something to the site.

Off to cut down some black locust (backbone and floors and . . . .) trees with my son.

Thanks again.

Gary
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Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by Eventide Owners Group »

Hello Gary

most who opt for the cutter rig with a 3 ft or so bowsprit, opt for roller reefing and fit a genoa just slightly larger than the 166 square ft on the drawings. I had a 200 square foot genoa on my Eventide 24 and whith the deeper keel and extra ballast I fitted, (It had been the silly first 560lb keel, I doubled that!), she sailed really well, and still drew less than 1 metre!

I had a staysail on old fashioned wykham martin roller gear I could use as well. Set on the stem head to 3/4 up the mast. Did not add much to the speed but more bits of sting to play with!

hope you are going to plant some more trees for the grandchildren to build their boats from!

Good luck,
John
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Nigel Vaughan
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Re: Eventide 24 Build Questions

Post by Nigel Vaughan »

John - yes I will provide an article and some pictures for your restorers and builders page.

I keep meaning to get around to it!

Nigel
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