16-foot Scow-Style Boat-What is It?

[philwsailz]

14-foot or 15-foot Scow-Style Boat-What is It?

Bought this locally tonight. Free-standing unstayed 1-part aluminum mast like a Laser. Slip-on sail like Laser too. Mahogany removable centerboard and rudder like Sunfish. Aluminum tiller like Starcraft Skylark.

Vinyl logo on the diagonal across the bow says "EXPRESS MACH V"

To me it looks like an AMF by the logo and stripe but internet search comes up empty.

Anyone know the builder? Pics or links?

I will know more when I get the title but digging now to see what I can find.

 

[finding41]

Nice garage! Neat looking boat too. Hope you plan to get wet.

 

[philwsailz]

Nice garage! Neat looking boat too. Hope you plan to get wet.

Bought it to fix up for my 8-month-old. I'll have a couple of years of fun with splash and spray before he starts manning the helm. Get to re-learn how to tip one over and right it again.

The sail is in great shape. Boat was outside and dirty but it will clean up. Don't tell the wife but it looks fast!

 

[Ray Bowles]

Fast? I think it'll look more like a stone that someone skiped across the water. I doubt dad will be inclined to release control for a very long time. Enjoy.
Ray

 

[RichH]

If this boat is one single layup of 'plastic' (not 'true fiberglass') and built like it was done in a rotary vacuum mold and it has NO deck to hull joint .... Then my best guess is that its an 'early' Johnson "J Sailor", predecessor to the Johnson J Scow, which evolved into the MC Scow. If it is a J Sailor, its a rare boat.

Johnson Boat Works, (White Bear Boat Works) the original and most prolific scow designer/builder had many of such prototype boats being built in the 50s through the late 60s, until the scow classes became fixed ... the 16 footers: M16, the MC, and the pointy nosed X boat. J. O. Johnson was the original (1896) designer and builder of 'sailing scows'.

One of JOJohnson's earliest (1897) scow designs, the 38 ft. "Minnezitka":

 

[philwsailz]

If this boat is one single layup of 'plastic' (not 'true fiberglass') and built like it was done in a rotary vacuum mold and it has NO deck to hull joint .... Then my best guess is that its an 'early' Johnson "J Sailor", predecessor to the Johnson J Scow, which evolved into the MC Scow. If it is a J Sailor, its a rare boat.

Johnson Boat Works, (White Bear Boat Works) the original and most prolific scow designer/builder had many of such prototype boats being built in the 50s through the late 60s, until the scow classes became fixed ... the 16 footers: M16, the MC, and the pointy nosed X boat. J. O. Johnson was the original (1896) designer and builder of 'sailing scows'.

One of JOJohnson's earliest (1897) scow designs, the 38 ft. "Minnezitka":

It is two-part, deck and hull with a joint defined by a down-turned lip around the perimeter of the deck. The boat feels light. Yet definitely gel over glass. Hi load areas like the keel trunk appear thick, yet with a well-crafted precise look; not thick as in sloppy.

I will try to get more images. And try to decibel the HIN on the transom. Also the title hopefully will shed some light but that is speculative on my part; this is Oklahoma after all...

 

[philwsailz]

Here are a few more images. As I study the rig further, it is not a simple Sunfish setup! cunningham, boom vang, mid-boom sheeting... I might have to invest in a more simple lateen rig for junior to start with.

Details:

Stepping it off, my "foot-is-a-foot" tells me it is a 14' boat or 15' boat but not a 16.

Definitely a planing hull, slightly blunt at the front, with a small start of a keel, but the exit at the transom is ruler flat. Flat going well forward too. Beefy loooking keel trunk, seems well built in a precision sort of way. The deck to cockpit transition is a small radius bend to a 90 degree cockpit wall; not a graceful arch like on a Melges.

There is an access/inspection port just aft of the spray rails. Foam has beem pumped into the bow and it appears factory. Not a ton of it though.

Mainsheet is trimmed with a harken mainsheet setup; not a simple tug rope as found on other small boats. The rudder is hung in castings, and they seem well designed.

The drain plug is missing, and it appears to just have been some simple arrangement that was shoved into a drilled hole. I will be ordering a proper screw-in drain assembly and a new cockpit auto-bailer today.

I hate to tell you guys what I gave for the boat, but I didn't haggle with the seller. 'Gave him asking price. I am pleased with the purchase.

Here are the pics. Any guesses or insight, please feel free to share!

 

[kloudie1]

Going to be entertaining to sail, Phil.. that is a neat looking boat.. I wouldn't change the rig.. ! Kinda interesting/distinctive that it has a vee entry instead of the normal scow taper..

 

[philwsailz]

Going to be entertaining to sail, Phil.. that is a neat looking boat.. I wouldn't change the rig.. ! Kinda interesting/distinctive that it has a vee entry instead of the normal scow taper..

Oh, I will keep the rig for me and for when he gets older for sure! This one looks like a lot of fun. I am just thinking a Sunfish rig can be dropped on for starting out. Much simpler for a youngster to master.

That or just get him a sunfish and dad can run circles around junior in the scow....

I thnk this will be a fun one to have when the Hobie 18 is too much a pain to put in the water, yet we want to get wet; something the Catalina 27 simply will not do....

 

[kloudie1]

I know your hull is not the plastic/Styrofoam stuff.. but I wonder if they might be related??
This post from Sailnet back in 2009..

We bought one in November and I have not been able to find one single reference to this sailboat on the web. Not a photo. Not even on Snark forums.

She's fun to sail. She's basically styrofoam encased in what is becoming brittle plastic. Not sure how many more seasons she's got left.

She's from the 70's and I bought her from her original owners son.

14' long
maybe 4' beam, possibly 4.5'
She closely resembles a scow, like a plastic Melges MC but 14', but not as pretty, and looks nothing at all like the other snarks I have found online.

Hank on main sail, no jib.

She takes off like a shot with a breeze and the quickest way to get her on her side with her mast touching the water is to clamp down her main sheet Trust me on this one, I have proven it. heheh

 

[philwsailz]

I know your hull is not the plastic/Styrofoam stuff.. but I wonder if they might be related??
This post from Sailnet back in 2009..

We bought one in November and I have not been able to find one single reference to this sailboat on the web. Not a photo. Not even on Snark forums.

She's fun to sail. She's basically styrofoam encased in what is becoming brittle plastic. Not sure how many more seasons she's got left.

She's from the 70's and I bought her from her original owners son.

14' long
maybe 4' beam, possibly 4.5'
She closely resembles a scow, like a plastic Melges MC but 14', but not as pretty, and looks nothing at all like the other snarks I have found online.

Hank on main sail, no jib.

She takes off like a shot with a breeze and the quickest way to get her on her side with her mast touching the water is to clamp down her main sheet Trust me on this one, I have proven it. heheh

I found that last night and thought the same thing.... They might be related. Best image I can find comparable is an MC, but this has an unstayed rig like a laser. there are no pad-eye patches, or I would think someone adapted this rig to the hull. It is not homemade; there is a HIN molded in. Strange days indeed.


FOR THE RECORD, I am still shopping for a similar freak, specifically a Starcraft Skylark. I had almost bought one two years ago or so, and there has been one more pop up locally recently but that is a boat I want to buy. Twin aluminum retractable daggers, cathedral hull, quick little boat. If someone here was bailing on one, I might be interested.

 

[JohnShannon]

Meyer boats Super Snark Mach 5 ?? Just a guess

 

[philwsailz]

This is driving me nuts.... I gotta get to work.

From a distance, if one were to ask me now what it is, I would tell them someone took a Butterfly, an MC Scow, a Sunfish, and a Laser and threw them in a bag and shook. This boat fell out.

Scow hull, (Butterfly, MC) borrowing a little pointy nose, mahogany underwater appendages, (Sunfish) with no standing rigging and a sail that slides on mast with a sock, (Laser).

 

[Nodak7]

This is driving me nuts.... I gotta get to work.

From a distance, if one were to ask me now what it is, I would tell them someone took a Butterfly, an MC Scow, a Sunfish, and a Laser and threw them in a bag and shook. This boat fell out.

Scow hull, (Butterfly, MC) borrowing a little pointy nose, mahogany underwater appendages, (Sunfish) with no standing rigging and a sail that slides on mast with a sock, (Laser).

Phil, this looks like a small step up from the Sailboards I used to sail. Lots of similarities. Sleeved sail, drop in dagger board and all. What kind of boom does it have? I would guess that it was meant for someone that was looking to begin moving up from standing on their board to sitting in them. Actually the newer design windsurfers have that same scow bow. Have fun looks like it will be a blast to sail. Get your wetsuit and life jacket ready.....you will be climbing aboard many times until you get the hang of it.

 

[FourPoints]

I have a 14' skylark back in Indiana that hasn't been used in 4-5 years. it's stored inside but the ~25 foot mast won't fit so it's on the side of the building. The hull to deck joint leaks like a sive to the point the boat is not useable anymore until it is ripped apart and repaired, 30 minutes of sailing and the only thing keeping it afloat is the foam inside the hull.

I sailed it heavily growing up, LOTS of fun!

Not sure I'd really want to part with it though, I have plans to restore it back to health, some day... I'd like to think that when I have kids, I'd teach them to sail on it... Maybe we could work out a 5 year lease or something, you fix it and get to use it for the next 5 years?

 

[philwsailz]

Here is the logo on the battened main:

 

[RECESS]

Not sure if this will help you but this is me out on our 16' Johnson Scow they produced a bunch of them for the Atlanta Olympics.

I cannot tell you what you have but I can tell you the slight V at the bow does not match the Johnson Scow I own.



Edit to add, This is an internet photo but this is the front of a Johnson Scow that is the same type as mine. It slopes up to the deck with no V.

 

[Flyboy69]

I have a 15' Mistral that I cannot find 1 single thing on the internet on. They're famous for windsurfers but the boats have not been in production for about 20 years. It has similar lines to yours but very low profiled. I'm terrified of capsizing incase I lose the rudder or daggerboard to Davy Jones. Very fun and very fast tho!

 

[GeorgiaBII]

I have a 15' Mistral that I cannot find 1 single thing on the internet on. They're famous for windsurfers but the boats have not been in production for about 20 years. It has similar lines to yours but very low profiled. I'm terrified of capsizing incase I lose the rudder or daggerboard to Davy Jones. Very fun and very fast tho!

Tie lines with floats to the items... then if they go over you can recover them.

 

[philwsailz]

I have a 15' Mistral that I cannot find 1 single thing on the internet on. They're famous for windsurfers but the boats have not been in production for about 20 years. It has similar lines to yours but very low profiled. I'm terrified of capsizing incase I lose the rudder or daggerboard to Davy Jones. Very fun and very fast tho!

Interesting. I might buy that. Looking at the registration, (not the title) it appears to have been built 1980 if I believe what I see. That is all I can make out though. No make or model is still legible.

Title is in the mail to me so it might shed some light?????