Fast forward a couple of years and I am now working for a small boat building company in Santa Ana, Ca. Here I am the shop foreman and running a crew of up to 12 people. While working at this company I built two 55' Bruce Roberts sailboats to completion and three Westail 43's also to completion. I also built a number of partially finished Westsails and BR 55's and repaired a broken Peterson 44'.

Magi a Bruce Roberts 30' Hull

In the background a Roberts 55'

      During an earlier bout of boat mania I made a hull mold for a Roberts 30'. While working in Santa Ana the owner allowed me to store my mold at his location. Eventually I had a hull made to my exact specifications by our laminating crew.

    The lamination schedule and scantlings for the entire boat were heavy duty. So heavy in fact that the construction weight for the boat was about 2,000 lbs more than the designed displacement of 9,600 pounds. Thanks to Bruce Roberts the design produced a boat capable of handling the extra weight with aplomb and Magi proved to be a very capable sailer.

    Lined with aromatic cedar and made from solid white oak this is a hope chest that I made for my eldest niece's wedding

     The deck for Magi was made in a mold for a Columbia 52'. I had access to the mold and had designed the boat around this combination. Raising the sheer 6" on the hull made it possible to have a large nearly flush deck.

     The hull to deck joint was a one foot wide lamination on the outside and an 8" wide lamination on the inside. Doesn't leak that way and makes the hull and deck essentially one piece.

     The hull and deck are mated, the interior is roughed in and some of the deck hardware is installed. There are two lazerette hatches because the lazerette is huge. No foot well gives a massive amount of deck space for lounging. All exterior wood is teak. Yet to be added are the cockpit coamings and toerails. The toerails are bolted to the stantion bases ala Hal Roth's "Whisper". The gray area at the bottom of the keel is the faired in 3,500 pound block of lead ballast. I cast the lead in a one time concrete mold. *Note: Be very careful if you attempt this on your own. Remember at this time I was very experienced in all phases of fiberglass sailboat construction.

     Since the boat was to be rigged as a chinese junk the mast would pass through the deck just forward of the dorade boxes. The anchor well forward, the dorades and the turtle all add to ventilation. There are also two more 4" vents incorporated into the hollow cockit coamings.

     All together there are five full perimenter bulkheads bonded to the hull and deck. The final arrangement was altered somewhat from what is shown. All main bulkheads are 3/4" Luan ply, all furniture is 1/2" Luan ply.

     The culmination of a 20 year dream. Magi with a bone in her teeth sails from Moorea in a 15 knot southeasterly trade wind.