Sailor Roman Pastenkos shares his boat with us in this post. Some pics and a little background about the boat.
He asked boat architect John Marples if the Seaclipper 34 design could be modified to be shorter by a couple feet. John was able to accommodate his request and Roman built it.
Roman writes:
I built a John Marples Seaclipper 34 – modified to 32 ft. I did not want want the aft cabin so John shortened it and added more rocker to the main hull.
Tacks faster without dragging the rear. Fun fast boat to this day. I love it . If anyone asks about his designs I would be happy to talk to them about the boat and building process.
I’d sailed monohull sailboats for a number of years while studying trimarans. After a sail to the virgin Islands on my Morgan 34 I decided to build a tri.
I was interested in Lock Crowthers Buccaneer 34 and Jim Browns Searunner 31. I needed a demountable tri easy to take apart and transport when needed. The Seaclippers tapered box cross beams slide through the hull and bolt to main strength bulkheads and drop into the float mounts. Very easy assembly. Every few years I bring it home and do a refinish.
The Marples Seaclipper 34 looked good with standing headroom and excellent interior accommodations. . The build looked fairly easy with strength where needed. I did not want the aft cabin it looked claustrophobic. Marples shortened the design to 32′ and as a result the aft section had less stern drag with fast tacking.
The boat sails very very well. It ghosts along in light air with 170 4oz genny or reaches with a spinnaker. Centerboard down it will reach well to windward with miter cut 160 genny. The hulls are easily driven . The BMW D-7 diesel inboard will push it effortlessly in a flat calm to 7 knots. She carries aprox 650 square feet of sail in most reasonable conditions. Dry weight is 4879 lbs.
After many years of sailing the boat is in great solid shape thanks to many coats of epoxy inside and out along with copious layers of glass cloth. The only changes made this year are replacing the winches with self tailing winches for primary and secondary winches, a solid boom strut, multi part main sheet tackle and a Wincher electric winch handle to haul up the sails.
I keep the boat in the Hudson River most of the time and 1 month on Long Island sound. Long Island sound is beautiful and with a boat that sails well in light air that is fun.
Best trip to date was Montauk L.I., to Block Island, to Marthas Vineyard, to Nantucket. It was a great trip because I had my 2 bilge rat daughters with me who luv the boat and sailing,a brand new over the stern rail barbecue grill that was wind proof. Add to the mix the best weather, and last but not least a new Dave Bierig light air jib. Coors light. Can’t ask for more.
— Roman
