Our Future
Projects

LAST MODIFIED

Sunday, 19-Mar-2023 12:50:28 EDT

  • The latest information follows this paragraph and the old stuff is at the bottom of the page.

  • Lots Of Little Projects:

    We had a 16 from Montana during the winter. It got lots of stuff done including furling (Harken using a wire luff) new jib, oars, gallows and more. He plans on taking her on the great circle route soon.

    The new boat business has been busy. We will get a new Horizon in June and we are also scheduled for a 23 Pilot next summer. The backlog is still 18 months for new boats.

    We have been working on some cool applications for the Android phones and tablets. If you have an Android, stop by and I will install them on your device. They are all GPS and pertain to sailing and they are free.

  • We Are Building A New Boat:

    The Com-Pac 16 Long Boat is going to be popular. It's going to have a variety of motors from diesels to oars. Not to mention sails. It may be even more popular than the original boat. The Com-Pac 16 were great boats, but they only did one thing and that's sail. The Long Boat and Skiff are going to be multi-useful doing many different things. Fishing, exercise machine and sailing are only a few. Maybe doing them all in one outing. We are taking orders.

    • Ron McCarten's Sail Modification:

      We have had lots of interest in Ron's sail modification below. Some people are talking bowsprit and a genoa to go with one of Ron's mainsails. Ron said he would be glad to answer any questions Sun Cat owners might have about the modification. His email address is: rmccarten@suddenlink.net.

    • Ron McCarten's Sail Modification:

      Some Sun Cat Owners are not that wild about a gaff sail. Ron decided to do some research and he purchased a new sail that's the same size as a reefed gaff sail. His wife doesn't like to heel and he wanted to see the gaff gone. The results look pretty good and he plans on doing sea trials as soon as the weather gets good. Good looking sail Ron.

    • Frank Durant's Mini Trawler:

      Some us need to build things with our hands. Frank is doing a great job with his mini trawler. The house is built on an O'Day Daysailor hull and deck. We did some modifications several years ago on the same brand of boat and they turned out well. The boat is stiff and very seaworthy. I think Frank is going to use a 9.9 motor and he says the cushions are on the way. Keep up the good work Frank.

    • Lets Install A Diesel:

      Maybe the best boat I ever sailed was a diesel Com-Pac 23D. I have one now that I call "My Boat". The most inexpensive way to own a 23 diesel is to have us build one for you. We take a standard outboard model and do a conversion. Maybe the best engine for the boat is a Yanmar 1GM10. Other small engines will also work well. The boat loves the engine over the ballast and inside the boat. The boat sails better with an engine in that location. You get the iron off the transom and that really helps performance. The boat below has an engine that needed some major repairs and that made the used engine even cheaper to buy. Com-Pac provides most of the parts and pieces needed for the conversion.

    • Why Should We Build A Com-Pac 16 Utility?:

      I remember all those years in the Marine Corps when we were aboard ship somewhere in the World and we needed to go ashore. I was normally on an aircraft carrier and they are big and couldn't get to a dock for liberty call. We anchored off and had to take a small boat ashore if we wanted to get off the ship. After months at seas, everyone wanted to get of the big boat for a while. Those little boats were called Liberty Launches. They were wood, painted gray and they were heavy. They had diesels and they felt like a rock even in rough seas. Sometimes if you wanted to get back to the big ship, we had to repair the boats when and where they broke. I liked those Liberty Launches.

      The Com-Pac 16 Utility is going feel like a Liberty Launch. The newest configuration is going to move the Center Console to the Option list and a standard feature is going to be a six-foot long seat setup long-ways in the middle of the boat. We will have more storage with the long seat. The boat is going to look a little like the boat on the front of the Jamestown Distributors Catalog below.

    • A Diesel For A Com-Pac 16 Utility:

      The big question is can we pull water skiers with this boat? The answer is maybe. The little 1GM10 is only 160 pounds and it is sitting over the ballast. This boat might have a cover for the engine that's also a seat and we might keep the rudder and tiller as is. We might keep our center console we purchased for this boat for another boat. We were thinking that if we put the larger 15hp diesel in this boat, would it work? I think the answer is maybe.

    • A Center Console For A Com-Pac 16:

      Older Com-Pac 16s are available at low prices. Why not make something different out of the parts and pieces. We did our research and development on a 17 foot Cat Boat. It turned out really well. The main reason to recycle old sailboats into something more useful is cost. New boats are made from materials at today�s prices and the old boats were built when the prices were much lower. The market for a center console 16-foot boat that has a maximum speed of only 5 1/2 knots may be limited. That should be balanced by the built-in stability that the boat has in its stub keel. We have an outboard version being built in GA and a diesel version being built in NC. The diesel version might have a mast to go along with the diesel. Is that cool or what? The diesel is under the console in the third picture. We plan on doing the same thing with the 16.

    • Getting The Mast Up On A Legacy:

      I needed to take a boat to a show and I decided on a Legacy. I didn't remember that a Legacy mast was taller than our standard 16 mast. I needed to lift the mast several times to make adjustments. Picking up the mast wasn't fun and I decided I could use a mast raising system. I designed a quick one that uses a yoke and the trailer winch to lift the mast. The yoke stays in place while trailering and sailing. It works well, but I bet Gerry at Com-Pac could design a better one. I suggested he do so and sell it as an aftermarket installation. You can't leave the boom connected with the new system, but I don't think many people do that anyway.

    • Cheap Fishing Machine:

      We have been making some progress in all this heat. 97 degrees is hot and we have had too many days that hot this summer. Anyway, our converted sailboat is almost finished. It still needs to be painted and a bimini made for those hot summer days next year. I think we will do the paint job this winter. A black hull with a tan deck is on my list of things to do. We should be testing the boat in the water in August. We will take pictures.

      Some of our older CP-16s with the wood cored decks are too expensive to restore. We are currently doing one of those boats as a center console like the boat below. It will have the console and we think a 9.9hp with remote controls. We will show pictures as we progress.