Marianita

Marianita was built over a few years in my shop, a former two-car garage. She is glued-lapstrake using 3/8″ marine grade plywood for the hull with two layers of 1/4″ sheathed in Dynel for the decks and cabin top. Her small cockpit (seats four, sails two) allows for a spacious interior with comfortable seating on the settee berths. Twin pivoting bilgeboards are built into the berth structure so the middle of the cabin is unobstructed with no centerboard trunk to work around. With a filler piece the two berths become one big roughly queen-sized bunk, her 6′-8″ beam is carried close the the waterline allowing a six foot-plus sailor room the sleep athwartships if an anchorage proves a bit rolly. As a gaff-rigged yawl she is a singlehander’s delight. Drop the jib, ease the main, sheet the mizzen in hard and she’ll lay quietly 20-30 degrees off the wind while the skipper goes about whatever ship’s business needs doing. “Boards up” she draws about 18″ allowing for anchoring well inside most the other boats when in harbor, handy when trying to escape inclement weather. The downside to that lovely yawl rig is a lot of rigging, too much for day sailing off a trailer. As a result Marianita lives in the water year-round, sailing out of Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island where she can frequently be seen dodging the Washington State Ferries and BI Rowing Club while heading out to enjoy a late afternoon sail on Elliot Bay.