The Cape Dory 28 Sailboat

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I bought Renacer, my Cape Dory 28 sailboat 4 and a half years ago. She is hull number 237 built in 1979. She is my second sailboat. I spent 3 three years researching salboats of all kinds while building up a profile of what it was I actually wanted to do with a sailboat. Finding a boat that met my particular needs was the easy part. Figuring out how I would actually use the boat was the difficult bit. These were the things I thought were important:

1. Around 30 feet in length. I am a firm believer in having the smallest boat that fits one’s needs. Longer than that and the costs go up dramatically. Cost of gear, slip fees, more complicated systems, etc. Bigger boats have heavier anchors, larger sails made of heavier cloth and larger, heavier lines. As a senior citizen faced with the slow decline of physical strength smaller is definitely better. Around 30 feet means enough storage and tankerage for a couple interested in local coastal cruising for a weekend. Even longer if ports are only a few days away which describes Caribbean cruising.
2. Shoal draft keel. Florida waters are thin. Renacer draws just 4 feet.
3. Full keel. Renacer tracks beautifully with a full keel. (OK technically a cutaway full keel) A full keel is best in a grounding situation as it protects the propeller and rudder.
4. Lead ballasted keel. Iron rusts. Lead is inert. Renacer’s lead keel is inert and encapsulated.
5. Tiller steering. Simple and easier to maintain than a wheel. Direct feedback to the helmsman. Tiller steering is impossible to find in boats much over 30 feet due to mechanical forces. Tiller steering is the backup emergency system for wheel steering so why not start with the simplest system first?
6. Lines led aft, Mack pack lazy jack system for raising/lowering the main sail, roller furling for the jib, club footed jib for self tacking, all for single handed sailing. Renacer didn’t have these at first. I added them.
7. Standing headroom in the cabin. Nothing denotes comfort more than being able to stand up when below deck..
8. Teak interior. Indoors on a rainy day a wooden cabin is a warm inviting place to be. Renacer’s cabin is lovely and equiped with TV, Stereo, Icebox, Stove, and Reading lamps.
9. Non pressurized alcohol stove. Safer than propane and easy to use. Renacer has a two burner Origo stove.
10. Diesel engine. Fuel efficient, reliable, and easy to maintain. Renacer has a solid Yanmar 2GM20F diesel engine.

A number of boats meet these criteria. Renacer met all of these requirement plus one more. She has to be beautiful. So much so that at the end of the weekend when you leave the dock you have to turn around just to see her one more time before you drive away and think to yourself “That’s my boat!”