L-36.com

The Beautiful L.36






(Published in Pacific Yachting in April '04 issue) The L 36 was designed by Bill Lapworth of Los Angeles in the 1950s and at that time was radically different from most ocean going sail boats for instead of the wine glass configuration of the hull and keel, this hull has a relatively flat bottom with the keel bolted onto it. Because of this, many thought it might break up in heavy seas but when it won all the honors in its first Trans-Pac race from Los Angeles, it was established as a fast and safe deep sea vessel. It was really the first semi-light displacement ocean going vessel of its time. The L 36 was introduced to British Columbia because Pat Leslie was planning to build a new boat and knew Bill Lapworth and so went down to California to visit him. Pat was very interested in having an L36 and so spent 5 days in the boat yard, where they were being built, studying their construction. He got the plans and permission from Lapworth to build it for himself and friends in Vancouver as long as they did not get sold in California. He and a couple of other air line pilots built them in J.T.Taylor's boat yard. His was the first one finished and he immediately entered it in the Swiftsure Race. He came second but said that a couple of years later its rating was changed and had he had that corrected rating he would have come first. Ches Rickard's boat, the Winsome III, was the second one built in Vancouver and it won the Swiftsure race three times in a row, a remarkable record. Another Air line pilot, Jim Innis was also one of the early L36 builders and did very well with it in the first Victoria Maui race. At one time, when Bill Lapworth was in Vancouver he was approached by Hamish Davidson (of Davidson Dinghies) who asked if he could have permission for the L36 to be used as a mould to make fiberglass models. However Lapworth would not allow this as he was now involved in producing the fiberglass Cal boats. I do not know exactly how many L 36 boats were built in Vancouver but believe most of them were constructed in J.T.Tayor's boat yard on the Fraser river.



At one time, to my personal knowledge, there were 13 in the RVYC. They are: with the owners' name in brackets: BENORA(Harry Herlihy), DIOMEDIA (David Warner), FAME(Ken Thomson), JESTER (Stu. Watts), LONG GONE(Jim Innis), MERIDEA(Bill Burgess, NYON (Derek Simpson), PANIOLO(Gordon Westgate), PUFFIN(John West), SANDERLING(Art Meakin), SERAPIS(Alex Forsythe), TRICIA(Pat Leslie), WINSOME iii(Ches Rickard). All but mine have now left the club and are scattered throughout the world

The Paniolo

The Paniolo, an L36 hull, was built by J.T. Taylor's boat yard in 1960 for Joe Sledge. Joe Sledge was the ranch manager of the large Douglas Lake ranch, owned by Mr. Woodward and it was built with the intention of going off shore. Several safety modifications and additions were made to the usual L36 plans. For example, three extra stainless steel ribs were added, to which the shrouds were attached, so any stress from the mast was transferred via the steel ribs to the opposite shroud and not to the hull itself. Also a bridge deck was placed in the cockpit which gave more room to get at the motor but also prevented any following sea that might flood the cockpit from getting into the cabin. The decks, cabin top, and below-water part of the hull, as well as the keel and rudder, were covered with a coating of Celastic which was a product made in Germany. It is a canvas like material which when soaked in an activator-hardening solution adheres to wood, like fiberglass. It also was the only L36 that I knew of that had an aluminum mast. The other L 36 boats had Atomic 4 gas engines whereas this one had a Lister air cooled diesel. Mr. Sledge's plans to go off shore did not materialize and he reluctantly decided to sell the Paniolo. I bought the Paniolo in partnership with Patrick Oswald in May 1965. Patrick and I joined the RVYC and moved the Paniolo from West Vancouver to the RVYC in Coal Harbor. I think that must have been the longest trip the boat had taken, to date. The boat had not been completed and many renovations were necessary.

We hired Peter Rook, who at one time had worked building the L36 boats at Taylor's boat works. He was a carpenter and shipwright. He, along with an assistant, worked for three months on the boat installing the head, the galley and the ice box along with hand rails and much cabinet work in the cabin. We replaced the wood burning stove with a Dickenson Oil stove.

On Feb 1 1967 I bought Patrick Oswald's shares in the Paniolo and became the sole owner.

The Main and Genoa sheets were of 3/8" hemp material and were very rough on the hands. On a very stormy and freezing cold day in 1967, I was returning from an Easter Cruise at Manana, near Ladysmith. Half way across the gulf, the Genoa sheet broke. There was my wife and our four small children aboard with me. In order to sail home I had to crawl along the deck to the mast to release the halyard and then to the pulpit to pull down the genoa. There were large waves and my legs were wrapped around the pulpit to hold on and with each up and down of the bow my feet would go into the sea. I finally was able to tie on the anchor rope to replace the genoa sheet and after I hoisted the genoa again we were able to continue sailing. It was dark as we finally went under the First Narrows Bridge. The next day, I replaced all the sheets with new Dacron lines.

For a motor, the boat had a 7 H.P., hand-crank start, direct drive, air-cooled Lister diesel and there was no fuel tank except the attached 1 Gal. tank This would barely propel the boat at 3 knots in calm seas but would get us in and away from the dock. So we were pretty well forced to sail everywhere and some of our annual trips to Desolation Sound and to the American Gulf Islands meant quite long sailing days. The motor was very noisy and club members could tell when we were coming into dock, before seeing us. In spite of all its short comings, it was reliable, would always start and we kept it. In 1976 I replaced it with a 22 H.P. Yanmar diesel with a 2.2/1 reduction gear and a 24 Gal. fuel tank. Since then, we have been able to keep up to most boats our size, when under motor. However, that old Lister Diesel instilled in us the habit of sailing whenever we can, and to use the motor as little as possible In 1981, myself and my daughter were returning across the gulf from Silva Bay in an Easterly wind which rose to gale force proportion. This was not predicted by the weather forecasters. It was a rough crossing and conditions were such that I did not want to go up forward on deck to change the foresail and so when we got back it was badly torn. Rather than get it repaired I decided to get a furling jib system installed. This has made our cruising easier.

Paniolo's Specifications.

L.O.A. = 36'2". L.W.L.= 28'. Beam = 9'6". Draft = 5"6". Lead ballast in Keel = 4460 lbs. Frames = 1 1/4" white oak on 12" diameters. The planking = 1 1/4" Mahogany . Each strake is curved to fit into the one below, called a roll and cove system. The strakes were then glued and screwed to each other with bronze screws.

The Boom is 17' long with a roller furling goose neck. The Mast is 46'6" and is of aluminum made by Proctor of England, The Genoa was 411 sq. ft. of 4 oz weight, made by Jeckyl of England but has been replaced by a furling Genoa made by Hood sails on a "Seafurl" furler. The main sail by Jeckyl was of 5 oz weight and was 311 Sq. Ft. Its hoist = 39.5', Foot = 17' But this was recut and refashioned by Dave Miller of Hood sails. We have a 625 Sq. Ft. Spinnaker-Drifter-Reacher sail, made by Macken Sails.. The designed spinnaker for the L 36 is approximately 833 Sq.Ft.. The height from the deck to the bottom of the keel is 8'8". The registered number of tons is 10.1. It has a dodger made by Terry McGowan that protects the cockpit.

The lower fore part of the keel is solid lead and the bottom of the keel has a thick bronze metal plate. If one happened to go aground or hit a submerged rock, as I must admit I have done, this only caused a slight dent in the lead. The keel and the hull were protected.

It is hoped the Paniolo will continue to give me years of continued sailing pleasure. I





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