Mystery Cabots

About 25% of the original boats are ghosting along out there as "Mysteries" to the owners association - or those of us who come to this blog now and then.

Since I began researching the Cabot, I've been fascinated by the stories that come in about boats and cruising adventures. The first one to spark my interest was, of course, George Kephart's. (His is posted on the website.

I'm hoping Cabot owners will keep their eyes out for these mystery boats, and have an owner's list (see website) to double check in case the boat you find is one we haven't! Here's a list of hull numbers that either remain entirely off the radar, or from whom we have not heard reports in ages (likely since the original owner.):

10, 11, 17, 21, 23, 35, 49, 56, 57, 58

These two digits would follow the initial ZBD360 that start all the boat hull numbers, stamped on the outside of the transom.

Here's the kind of story that makes me want to track these down. Arthur Morris writes in 2006, about Hull #37:

"I was looking through some old papers the other day and found some hull numbers that my teen age son had copied down back in the 1980’s. One of the hull numbers was ZMD 360 37177 and the boat’s name was “HIGHLAND HEART”. After I saw the name I remembered the boat. It had been owned by a member of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (not the original owner), who had sold it to an Air Force Officer and was based at the Shearwater Yacht Club. The last time I heard of the boat it had sailed to Florida, but I do not know the present owner or location. The boat was the only CABOT 36 that I know of that had a wooden pilot house built over the companionway and part of the cockpit. I was on the boat a number of times and the rest of the boat was the same as the normal CABOT 36."

In the summer of 07, Roy Mc Keen adds to this:

"James Mac Donald of Baddeck N.S. first bought the hull and lead keel from Cabotcraft and planned to finish the boat with wood deck to his design. James is an accomplished shipwright, having served his time with Walter Pinauds yard but we did not know how the displacement, trim,sailing characteristics etc would be altered by the conversion so we removed the Cabot logo from the bow. James completed the boat by adding our interior liner, deck and liner and then converting the aft deck to a pilot house configuration. His plan was to head north to Newfoundland andLabrador so the addition was useful for cruising that area. She is the only boat with a pilot bouse and when commissioned had tanbark sails."

But where is this boat now? Wouldn't it be great to have a picture of her to see how she turned out?

Here's a challenge for you. Check the owner's list and see if there are enough details on a particular "mystery" boat to launch you on an Internet search to find the owner.