Boatsmith Visits Reuel Parker Schooner Project

I posted some photos a while back on an unusual situation. Kenny Brandon commissioned Reuel Parker and Parker Marine Enterprises to build a 50' centerboard "sharpie-batoue" schooner. Having talked with both Kenny and Reuel I still don't fully understand what really happened. The short version is that Kenny worked with Reuel and crew and they built this boat in 1992. When the boat was launched and sailable Kenny took the boat from Port Saint Lucie to Crescent City on the Saint Johns River and parked it. The boat had no interior and needed lots of work to be called complete. She was sailable but Reuel says that the rig was somewhat expiremental and still needs some work to realize it's potential. The sails are basicaly new. The mian problem with the rig appears to be with the gooseneck/boom setup. They were concieved as an interpertation of sprits and Having seen them I would agree that some more conventional gooseneck/boom setup would work much better. The motor and transmission have very low hours~70. The interior has benn dabbled at some over the years but for all intents and purposes is not there. The main cabin bulkheads are stuctural were installed at the time of the original build but the smaller parts and trim all need to be fabricated and installed. The boat is layed out, as are most of Parker's larger designs , with two seperate cabins. The forward cabin has a fore peak and a stateroom and a head and shower. The aft cabin is taken up by space for a dinnette, galley, large pilot berth and saloon . There are also two hull ports for underwater viewing in this cabin. Outside the paint has essentialy gone away. There are some minor blisters near the port stern where Kenny made a repair after the davits were hit by another boat. Other than that the exterior survaces look pretty good under the failing paint. This boat won't appeal to everyone but I believe it is a real opportunnity for the right person. After having said all of this , I would highly reccomend that someone with serious interest only prceed aftre a haulout and a thorough survey. The boat is I believe restorable to fine yacht status, but it is a fifty foot schooner and if nothing major needs rebuilding is will still require a substantial investment of resources, time and money. If we continue to sell boats and stay busy I would consider this a good project for our shop to undertake, again after doing a complete out of the water survey. Fair winds, David