Doug Peterson 34

[brett]

Good day

I recently purchesed a Doug Peterson 33 cruising sloop. She was built here in Cape Town 18 years ago of strip plank Iroko and laminated mahogany and teak frames.She has ply decks and the entire yacht is laminated with epoxy glass(layup unknown) I have now finished a major respray, antifoul etc. She seems to be unusual for petersons designs in that she has a transom hung rudder, skeg and his moderate racing/cruiser keel. She points really well and also because of the rudder. skeg arrangement does not suffer the downwind jibe problems of the more well known peterson 33 built all over the world in polyester.

I am however struggeling to find another example of this design as nowhere on the net can one be seen, Doug Peterson himself seems to rather ellusive.

Does anyone know of another 33 like mine or perhaps how to contact designer Doug Peterson

Brett

[BJSmith]

Brett:

I own a custom wooden Doug Peterson 33. It was built in Costa Mesa California in 1976. It has a skeg and aft hung rudder.The forward deck is flush with the cabin behind the mast.Frames are laminated oak and mahogany. Construction is one inch thick mahogany, bronze edge nailed and glued then coated in west system epoxy. The deck is 3/4 inch marine ply covered with dynel. I have owned her since 1987 and have lived aboard ever since. Sailed Mexico, crossed the Pacific in 1990 and spent the last 16 years slowly wandering in the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia and now currently wandering through Miconesia. I'm based on Saipan at the moment with plans to sail west in Jan 2007. I have put 36,000 miles on her to date.

I last contacted Doug Petersen when his office was in San Diego Cal. in 1989. Not sure where he lives now.

I attempted to buy line drawings from him so as to have the boat measured and registered in Canada. He was reluctant to provide plans as he was aware the design was bootlegged in various parts of the world. I provided photos and had to prove the boat was constructed. It turned out that it was his original design built for a singlehander in southern California..

Since leaving North America, I found there are 2 Peterson 33's in Victoria, Canada. In 1992,I was in Opua Bay of Islands, New Zealand and found one there. It is named "Touchwood" owned by an attorney named Tony Ray.

I heard via other cruisers there was a 33 that was circumnavigated by an Irishman sometime in the mid 1980"s.

Regards,

Brian Smith yacht "SOOKE"

[sailor645]

I just saw Doug Peterson last night; send me an email and I'll pass it along to him.

[Roger Shepley]

There was what sounds like the same bost published in Wooden Boat magazine a number of years ago for home construction.

I would be very intersted in any photos of the actual boat

email rshepley@dyerbrown.com.

I could probably dig out the article if someone really cared

[keithw]

I am the owner of "Touch Wood", the boat earlier referred to as being resident in NZ. She is still in NZ, being given what my surveyor calls a "birthday", prior potentially to another trip North to Vanuatu or Tonga etc. She's been mine for over 10 years now.

The plans (I have a basic set), call her a "fast cruiser", 32' 10" - skeg, transom-hung rudder etc as described above. The design is dated 1973, but the lines are surprisingly close to a double-ender below the waterline - despite the big transom etc. Narrow at 9'3" beam and the rig would have benefited from external chainplates to get better general-purpose sheeting angles. Originally she was built with a fush-desck to just behind the mast, but just before i boughgt her she was given an extended coachroof which gives her a small head to port and fwd of the mast and a comfortable fwd "cabin"which is just one big berth. Aft is a portside quarter berth and I have recently pulled out all the lockers outboard of the main-cabin berths to make them big enough for me to roll over and stretch. havent solved the storage issues which arise yet, tho.

I can post some photos and further details in the near future.

She sails beautifully upwind and doesn't do anything bad going downwind but she's not a planing design! She is all Kauri - ribs, stoingers , floors, double-diagonal and glass(epoxy) coated. Brick outhouse in strength but believed to float higher than her lines! The rivet-heads thru ribs and floors were hammered without any hammer marks on the wood - thats good work.

I am currently finishing a replacement of the ten 19mm/3-quarter inch Aluminium Bronze keelbolts (AB2 in old-speak)...plus splining the keel-stub etc. Good for another 25 years.

[BJSmith]

Keithw:

Good to hear "Touch Wood" is still in NZ and cruising.

I would be interested in your procedure for replacing and rebedding the keel bolts as that is on my project list for next year.

Difference is my boat has 13@ 3/4 inch SS keel bolts set very deep into 4,750 lbs of lead..

Also interested in updated photos of how your boat looks after the revisions to the cabin.

[keithw]

Hi -

In essence, I extended a hole saw and drilled down outside each bolt, replaced them and filled the space around the new bolts with epoxy. You shd carefully review using S/S - no way wd I do so. Mine are an Ali - Bronze with 5% iron and about the same amount of nickel. Even the new S/s alloys are subject to crevice corrosion and I wd not touch S/S for u/water fastenings. The fwd keelbolt was difficult - I had to draw it out from below. I used washers and spacers under the top nuts to draw the others up into the boat after getting the bottom nuts off. Obv, I only drilled down till I met the lead.

I filled the pockets (or "galleries" ) with lead and all is now sealed, double-bias cloth covered, faired etc.

Let me know if thats enough info - the orig response was much fuller but I cant face re-typing all that just at this moment..

best regds, keith

[brett]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the great replys. My girl was built as per keith's boat, the coach roof extending forwd of the mast.

The galley is to port and the Quarterberth is stb aft. Port aft is of course a huge locker with the lid/ seat in cockpit.

Nav st is immediatly forward of the stb berth.

saloon has plenty of stowage port and a berth to stb that I use for stowage. Lots of teak, Solid teak floorboards.

Good full length teak handrails to ceilings. Nice folding teak table. 160 litres s/s water tanks port and stb.

The strip plank is iroko on mahogany frames bright with epoxy coating inside. Forward of the saloon, (Laminated teak mast post is main bulkhead teak veneer. Through cabin door to heads (port toilet and basin All good and working)

stb side of heads is hanging locker and shelving.

Through to cabin (one large Bunk) Just right.

She was built in Cape Town 18 years ago by a moslem shipwright, and is incredibly sound and well built.

She has large stowage lockers aft of the cockpit and a very well made wind vane.

Mine has s/s keel bolts in perfect condition. As a boatbuilder I have used both H S and S /S keel bolts as per the designer spec.

I sail mine single handed around Cape Town and have set my walk on mooring at False Bay yacht Club up for this.

I Have a nice new Dodger from Quantum which really sets her lines off . Other then upgrading electronics for the future and maybe Akona to the decks I wouldent change anything about my boat or swop or sell her for another.

10 kts downwind with Geneker seems to be tops. I sometimes set the Jib at the same time as genoa for fun I looks cool but I am not sure about gains.

I have a plan to immigrate to N Z in 2009 ( Opua Bay of Islands) and will sail east from Cape Town to N Z while my wife and daughter will fly.

Regards

Brettundefined

[BJSmith]

Keith:

Thanks for the information on the keel bolts. Your info is good and similar to what I plan to do. I think I will have a problem with the foreward keelbolt too, thanks for that the info on what you had to do to remove it.

Keep sailing. I just went through some old photos and logs of the 3 trips to Opua and points south. I have many fond memories of cruising New Zealand. After reading the logs, I had forgotten just how challenging the passages from Toga and Fiji can be! Seems like at 30 degrees south latitude everythig hits the fan!

Brian.

[BJSmith]

Hello Brett:

Wow, sailing from Cape Town to Opua what a fine goal!

You have the right boat for that passage.

Opua is a good place to check in to NZ as one of the Customs guy is a yachtie

(I forgot his name)and understands what it means to make landfall after a tough passage.

I enjoyed NZ and the people. Seems like I was forever getting invitations to dinner.

Yes, max of 10 knots downwind is about right... I only got to feel that speed once on a big swell off the coast of Baja, Mexico.

Most of the time in the Pacific while sailing off the wind I always seem to be trying to slow the boat down!

[keithw]

An update on "Touch Wood": I have accepted a contract in Kuwait (strictly none military!) which could keep me here for four years. So I am considering having Touch Wood shipped up here. I know 4 or 5 years in this temperature won't be good for the boat, but have just had the decks stripped and re-covered with double-bias glass and the whole vessel repainted. (The original plywod decks had not been "clashed" with hardwood where there were cut-outs - such as around the anchor-well - and water had penetrated: then testing showed the top 2 layers of the plywood could be peeled off, so we did all round the deck and installed clashings and replaced the removed plies with the same thickness of glass). So she is in fine condition and if ever she could withstand the heat, it's now. The worry here is the intense heat (6 hours a day over 45 Centigrade for several weeks a year, with actual highs about 50 - and thats not the direct surface temp) - potentially causing softening and/or permanently weakening the epoxy. I will keep her covered with a big overall cover. We almost never have excess humidity and rain tho intense when it comes is very limited and is dried off very fast.

I will have the mast cut and a custom sleeve built and pre-installed to that the mast stays within the 40 feet length of the flatrack container base the vessel will be shipped on.

Any comments on wooden boats in the Persian Gulf? or experience of problems in traversing the Red Sea which is equivalent? Wooden dhows here are still built and renovated but fibreglass is used for most new craft. I dont yet know how long wooden ones are expected to last. (or glass ones, either!).

Sorry I have posted no photos but when i get back to NZ to see family I will try to remember to do so.

HAs anyone tried racing? There is an ill-matched group of boats here racing under IRC - would like to know what she would rate. Anyone any ideas?

best wishes to all, keith

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by keithw

The worry here is the intense heat (6 hours a day over 45 Centigrade for several weeks a year, with actual highs about 50 - and thats not the direct surface temp) - potentially causing softening and/or permanently weakening the epoxy. I will keep her covered with a big overall cover.

Any comments on wooden boats in the Persian Gulf? or experience of problems in traversing the Red Sea which is equivalent? Wooden dhows here are still built and renovated but fibreglass is used for most new craft. I dont yet know how long wooden ones are expected to last. (or glass ones, either!).

keith

Hello Kieth ,

There are weeks of intense heat and sunlight during the summer months In S.E. Asia when the temperatures on a teak deck would be so high that you could not walk on them in bare feet.

When I did a course with the Wooden Boat School in Maine - New England - we saw a number of wooden boats that were close to 100 years old - the longevity was put down to paint in the right places and planned maintenance.

Many people now opt for decks that are painted with the light colours to reflect the heat .

I helped a friend in Hong Kong remove all his rotted ply decks - replaced the ply using epoxy from Ciba and then glassed, then painted with anti-skid - pale cream.

Keep in touch from the gulf - some good sailing there !

Regards

Richard

[RJT]

Hi Keith, Just a quick intro.

I am the proud new owner of Brett's Peterson 33 Custom Wood Cutter, moored at the False Bay Yacht Club in Simonstown, near Cape Town in South Africa. She has just been relaunched as South East Cloud, the original name that she was launched with 21 years ago. I took ownership during May and the last 4 months have been spent refurbishing, modernising and fitting electronic instruments. The process is close to complete.

Today was due to be our Opening Cruise but weather has got in the way and it will be held on Sunday 2 September 2007.

Warm regards

Richard Thomson

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by RJT

Hi Keith, Just a quick intro.

Today was due to be our Opening Cruise but weather has got in the way and it will be held on Sunday 2 September 2007.

Warm regards

Richard Thomson

Richard,

First welcome - wish you and your boat good sailing !!

Another Richard

[bernardosimoes]

Hello!

I bougth a peterson 33 built in South Africa a couple of months ago, it was built by Fred Scholtz marine, in 1980 and launched to the water in Durban. I have some informations about him, that the previous owner had collected.If you want i can email you that.

Currently i start to race the boat in the weekend club races, and managed to be in the midle of the pack, in light winds, that i think is not the strongest performence weather for it. I hope for more stronger winds to show is value, principaly in the upwind legs. In the few times i cruised in it with 25+Knots it held up pretty well with the main full up and a number 4 genoa, when other larger boat were allready reefing.

By the way the boat is in Portugal, where i live, and has come here sailing, i also know that it has made some Atlantic trips from South Africa to Brasil and USA.

It would be great to hear from you.

Fair Winds!!

Bernardo Simoes