27' Custom Dory Schooner (1977) - IPSUT

1977 Custom Built Dory Schooner.

This special boat would be perfect for adventurous kayakers wanting to continue exploring under sail, or dingy sailers wanting to camp comfortably. Sleeping for two.

21 feet on the water, 28′ overall, built in 1977 on Guemes Island by Steve Johnson according to the seller. She’s a Swampscott dory with a fully battened balanced lug schooner rig, otherwise recognized as “junk rigged”. She’s double planked on her flat dory bottom, draws 12″ with the 400lb steel centerboard up, and draws about 2.5 feet with the centerboard down. The rudder is also a steel kick up design, vertical shaft, and allows for going dry on a flat beach or shallow estuary.

Cedar planking, steam bent oak frames, sawn fir frames, fastened with copper and browse, unstayed spruce masts, 400 lb steel centerboard, swing up rudder, 1100 traveler long shaft Torqeeto electric motor in a well.

Displaces 3300 lb without the rigging. Two anchors with weighted rode, plus line.

She sails like a dream, beats to weather in 25 MPH gusts, even with three reefs tucked in.
The “junk rig” allows for simple reefing or shaking out sail. She sails like a dream…she is easily balance between her two sails and underwater profile, and will hold a self steered broad reach, and closer to the wind. She really feels like a small ship…

Center cockpit is roomy, could be tented over for spacious camping, and she has two companion ways into the two bunks in the cabin. Steering is done with your feet in a self bailing cockpit aft of the main mast.
She is in great shape, having had good owners all her life. She gets regular maintenance to include pine tar/turps/ linseed oil inside her hull, Deks Olya oil finish on all bright work, and Total Boat paint on top sides and deck. For
the last 8 years she has lived at the head of 55 mile long Lake Chelan at Stehekin Washington, and has enjoyed cold fresh water delivered from 57 glaciers. Antiquing bottom paint has been maintained but not necessary in our cold and clear water.
Along with a model 1100 Torqeeto electric motor, she has a ” yuloh”.
She can be sculpted at 1 mph on a calm day. Also fun to crank on the electric motor hiding in the well adjacent to the after end of the centerboard case…crank on 100 watts of power from the motor, and make it look like your yuloh has super power.
That motor doesnt have enough juice to buck bad weather or make up for poor decision, but it’s a real delight in calm with such an easily driven hull shape, it’s reassuring when making critical maneuvers under normal sailing, such as rounding up on a buoy in high consequence tight quarters, and will generally help you become or remain an honest sailor. No noise or fumes, and turned on the GPS will often tell us we are making 5.5 mph, or more. ( mph because “lake Chelan”…)
The junk sails were quality products from Port Townsend, and still have plenty of life yet despite some hand stitched repairs, and some staining caused by a previous owner. As “junk rigged” sails, they are perfectly flat, attaining their camber in use by the cedar battens, and replacement sails will either be easily homemade or economically produced professionally. I can’t say enough about how much I admire this rig on this boat. The Swampscott dory with a schooner rig is a close match to one depicted in Chappelle’s American Small Sailing Craft, with I think was the inspiration of this masterpiece constructed by this Steve Johnson guy, who clearly was a highly skilled boatbuilder.

I hope to pass her on to an adventurer who will use her on the inside passage, on the Great Lakes, or Intercoastal waterway, or through the Bahamas, the Caribbean , or…..just in the San Juan Islands near Guemes Island where she is thought to have been built.

Thanks for considering.
Cheers, bob