Martha Jane Graham
Cheers' Shirley Valentine, building,
sailing and cruising
Text (c) TJ Fatchen.
Photos (c) G Cheers, TJFatchen 1997-2001 |
 |
The Martha Jane design derived
from a search for a trailerable Black Skimmer,
without the very tall mast, overlength and weight. Nevertheless,
at 23'6" x 6', and a 7" draft, she fills the midrange gap in the Advanced
Sharpies, between the AS19 and AS29, as a shoal-draft true sharpie,
waterballasted and the pointy bits missing for trailerability, and the
balanced lug to set a lot of area down low,
Phil Bolger & Friends Inc
recently ran a redesign to improve her self-righting qualities, with sponsons,
additional ballast and a higher cabin in various combinations. Shirley
Valentine was built with a cabin slightly higher than original plans,
and has been rebuilt with the designed sponsons and the additional ballast.
Graham Cheers, who trails this boat over half of Australia (doiwn the Murray
River, to the Murray Lakes, up to Cairns, lives in NSW etc etc) says the
rebuild is "like having a brand new boat", and the additional ballast and
sponsons have really lifted both her performance and utility. More
later!
The text isn't complete for
this page so a selection of photos is presented just to keep you happy!
The Martha Jane is the boat the Tadpole family were about to build when
the AS29 popped up and couldn't be refused. At 23'6", and waterballasted,
she's eminently trailerable. There's been a redesign to improve her
stability, which has resulted in an even better boat than she was to begin
with. We'll try to put stuff on this page over the next few weeks.
|
 One
reef. |
 One
reef. |
 SquareBoat,
SquareBrolly (cruising) on the winery landing, Finniss River. |
 Sandbanked
at the Murray Mouth, Feb 2001 |
 Cruising:
entering a reed berth at Narrung |
 Cruising:
the morning after in the reed berth at Narrung,
under the 150-year old Point Malcolm lighthouse. |
 Spacious
cabin... |
 And
there are building shots to come, not to mention the rebuilding with sponsons
and more ballast |
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