Joy was purchased back in 2016, as a stock Chesapeake Light Craft Skerry open hull rowing/sailboat, built by an unknown craftsman. The last owner entered her in the first leg to the Race To Alaska and had to be rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard, which must have smarted a bit, being a member of the US Coast Guard himself.
I immediately refurbished the boat, and built a new balanced lug rig for her, with all carbon spars, and a new RSS sail, with much assistance from Michael Storer.
She was used for a number of years on adventures around Port Townsend. And for much of that time, I kept wondering how to turn her into a little cruiser that I could sleep on safely. Being a tender boat, sleeping up on a board across the thwarts was not desirable. And tenting the entire open boat would be challenging. I thought she could use some more positive buoyancy chambers if pushed beyond her design parameters for cruising in our cold PNW waters. I also desired more comfortable seating, for spending many hours on the boat, with my over 50 body.
I came up with a plan that addressed all my desires, tested some placements on the boat with clamped-in boards out on the water, and then set to it. I gutted the boat and built the new interior in two and half months of work.
She now has:
1. Fore and aft decks, with sealed buoyancy chambers and a deck coaming
2. An offset daggerboard, which allows for sleeping on the floor
3. A boom tent that wraps around the coaming
4. Side thwart storage boxes, with a removable thwart/stool that is moved to sit on in the stern when sailing
5. Gear bag and anchor storage organizing dividers forward
6. New NACA foil kick-up rudder and a slightly higher aspect NACA daggerboard