[Leica] "Cognac" [was Re: Wooden boat lifespan]

[r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard Taylor)]

Larry - I think we talked about this before, but Cognac looks remarkably 
like the Stone Horse I usually sail on.  Yet, I can't remember if she is 
also a Sam Crocker design. Is she?  

Regards, 

Dick



On Aug 17, 2010, at 5:37 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> Dick writes:
> 
> A friend just asked me offline if "Freedom" was really that old.  She is,
> and was recently restored, viz:
> 
> 
> http://www.woodenyachts.com/media/PDFs/EBrochure.pdf
> 
> 
> http://www.woodenyachts.com/Media/PressLibrary/IYRS_RQ_SUM09.pdf
> 
> 
> - - - - -
> 
> Wooden boats CAN last a long time if they are properly maintained. The
> Charles Morgan, the whaler on display at Mystic Seaport is 100 years old 
> and
> the Constitution, on display in Boston is over 200 years old. Of course 
> both
> have had a ton of money poured into them. Typically, though, most wooden
> boats live only 30 years or so before the cost of keeping them seaworthy
> adds up to more than the boat is worth. Most of the great clipper ships of
> the 1800s lasted only about ten years. They were sailed hard to make as 
> much
> profit as possible then were scrapped or converted into barges. The lower
> portion of New York's Manhattan had its waterfront extended by grounding
> these old hulks, filling them with rocks and sand. Occasionally 
> construction
> projects along the waterfront dig into the remains of these old ships while
> excavating the basements. My old wooden boat, Cognac, was 30 years old when
> we bought her and it lasted another ten years before the man we sold her to
> let her smash on the rocks in a bad storm. It probably would have lived
> another 20 years, not as long as the Morgan or the Freedom, but as long as
> my Leica M3.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/9_+Cognac+just+after+launch.jpg.html
> 
> 
> Larry Z
> 
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