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The Cabot 36: Classic Blue Water Sailor

A site to celebrate this great Canadian passage maker.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Cabot 36 Weather Helm ???

Hi Guys,

It's me again, with a question.

I've heard some rumors from the guys at YachtSmiths, that the Cabot 36 has a bit of a weather helm. And, I've been told that at least one owner has moved the forestay out onto a small bowsprit which either corrected this situation, or at least improved it. I'd love to know how far the forestay was moved up, and whether this balanced the helm, or simply reduced the weather helm.

One of the decisions I'm faced with, in the addition of the pilothouse, is do I trim a bit off the bottom of the main sail. The pilothouse is two feet taller than the cabin top. Based on the original drawings, I would still have clearance below to boom, as it was originally drawn, though not a whole lot. If the boat does, in fact have a weather helm, trimming say a foot off the bottom of the main, may not be a bad thing.

Any thoughts or comments ???

Thanks,
Mike

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Cabot 38 Pilothouse

Hi Guys,



I figured it's about time to introduce myself !!! My name is Mike Filimon, and I have been working with YachtSmiths to develope the Cabot 38 Pilothouse. The one under construction is mine, and will hopefully become a successful design for YachtSmiths. I will be putting layout #1 into my boat.

The interior drawings you see on the CabotYachts web site are the result a continuing process of revising my revisions, until I think I have it right !!! And since they were posted I have made some small revisions to layout #1, based on observations I made at the Newport boat show this Sept.

I had originally drawn the fore and aft dimension of the galley the same as it is on a Cabot 36, including that portion of the counter which extends aft, under the bridge deck. But, I will not be able to extend this counter the same way, under the pilothouse, so I extended the foreward counter a bit. The galley on the Cabot 36 is large, and looking at boats in the same size range at Newport, we found smaller galleys that were adequate. Because making room on this boat for the pilothouse does require some compromises, I have reduced that galley by 4 inches, to a fore and aft length of 5 feet 4 inches. This is still pretty generous compared to modern boats in the same size range, especially because many of them now have an L shaped galley, with access to a quarter cabin through the galley. I still like the traditional U shaped galley, (though in this layout, I had to compromise and make it more of a J shape)

Forward of the galley, opposite that table, will be a small settee, unfortunately not long enough to serve as a berth, but comfortable seating. (On my own Cabot 38 PH, a portion of this space, just foreward of the galley, will be used for a cabin heater)

I have also switched the hanging locker and bureau. The hanging locker is now on the port side, in the 15 inch space, and the bureau is on the starboard in the 20 inch space. I found that hanging lockers of this size were adaquate, and this seemed a better way to use these two spaces.

I'm pretty sure I have it very close to the way it will be built, but we'll see what happens after my trip to the Annapolis Sailboat Show this weekend, and my trip to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in three weeks, when I'm spending a week with YachtSmiths, to mock up the interior and see how it all fits !!!

In the mean time, I would love to hear from you guys with any comments, or suggestions you might have. I'm sure those of you who have experience aboard a Cabot 36, and even building them can be a valuable resource in this process. Just, please don't call be any nasty names for messing with what we all know is a GREAT boat !!!

Thanks,
Mike