Wood is Good

 I bought Myrrh!

This custom Jesperson 30 is one of my favorite boats of all time.  While she has been well under most people’s radar, I’ve loved this little plywood box for many years, and we have some history together.  Unbelievably, I randomly mentioned her earlier in this blog as an inspiration for my bench backs.  This Fall I was doing a little doom-scrolling on Facebook and she popped up on my feed.  The next day, I was off to Quartermaster with Dennis Clark at my side to check her out.  It was a very easy decision to write the check.  

There is a beautiful history behind Myrrh.  She has been called the mini Madrona with her light cruising interior.  She won the 98 Swiftsure Overall, and went on to win her class on the Round Van Isle twice.  Eric Jesperson built her in Sidney, BC, fresh back from his bronze medal in the Star with Ross MacDonald in Barcelona.  His father, Bent Jesperson, built these amazing boats up there at the Jesperson Boatyard.  The double-chined hull is plywood, but the deck, doghouse, and bulkheads are 3mm plywood laminated on either side of PVC foam.  She weighs 5500#, has a decent bulb keel, and a nice rudder.  Given enough wind, she will get on the step and rip.  

photo: Jan Anderson

While the Melges has been up at Betts Boats, I've shifted my focus to breathing life back into this lovely craft.  Here is a partial list of some of the fixes and upgrades.

• The Yanmar 2gm underwent a top-end rebuild.  I pulled the motor, replaced a cracked piston, surfaced the head, and did a valve job with Terry and the great team at Autosport.  In the process, I replaced the thermostat, added new zincs, and cleaned out the waterways, as well as upgrading the PCB tube, and replacing the air, and fuel filters.  I also bought a new lift pump, which is ready when needed.
• To get the Espar D1L heater going like new, I replaced the fuel tank, filter, and metering pump.  I also added a new glow plug.  It is critical to keep air out of supply lines, and small tubes work best for the tiny pump.  If there is air in the Diesel, or Kerosene line, this thing, with its 1980s electronics, just won't go.
• On the rigging front, I increased the purchase on the runners to 3:1, added proper jib inhaulers, and reworked the backstay to lead forward to the main trimmer's position.  The mainsheet, and vang also got upgrades and now function much better.  It's fair to say that I got plenty of splicing practice.
• A few of the light fixtures were not functional, so those got swapped out with new ones featuring LED bulbs.
• The plug on the ST1000+ Tiller Pilot was shot.  Luckily I found a replacement in the handful of parts that came with the boat and swapped that out.  These Tiller Pilots are so great for deliveries, and I'm curious their impact for sailing solo.
• Next up was the toilet.  A new Jabsco pump did the trick.
• The rudder tube, which had been compromised by a previous owner at some point, got sleeved with a custom carbon shell that I laid up.  There is still a little binding in the bearings under load, so at some point, dropping the rudder is on the todo list.

Over the last months, we put a fun group together, and signed up for the South Sound Series, old sails and all.  Heading into the last race, we are sitting in a strong second, only being beaten by John Bailey's Sir Isaac.  It seems crazy that we have to keep a 50 footer behind us basically boat for boat.   Regardless, we are having a good showing against the rest of the pack (Olson 30, Antrim 27, J/88, another Hobie 33, etc).  

There is still plenty of stuff on the job list, but if you see her, you will understand why I signed up to be her curator, at least for a little while.