Sparkle Plenty is an ongoing production
Issue 77 : Mar/Apr 2011
In marriage, politics, and business, a matchmaker is someone who puts people together, knowing the synergy or resulting match will make them productive as well as happy. One of Good Old Boat editor Karen Larson’s secret weapons is the finely honed skill of a matchmaker. To prove it, here’s an email I received from her introducing me to the subject of this story.
“Gary,” Karen wrote, after an enjoyable get-together at the Annapolis Boat Show, “Tory Salvia’s boat is a 1980 Mariner 36, Sparkle Plenty. I have a feeling that she does indeed sparkle plenty. In addition to being a lovely boat with great lines, I think this article has a wonderful people angle as well. Tory has done a very brave entrepreneurial thing with TheSailingChannel.tv. I think the two of you have much in common and will enjoy the interview and the sailing that goes along with telling the tale.”
Talk about laying out the red carpet. And was she right? You bet. Tory is indeed a unique 21st-century entrepreneur as well as a skilled sailor and nautical storyteller. He welcomed me, replete with cameras and tape recorder, aboard Sparkle Plenty for a fun-filled three-day Chesapeake Bay cruise.
Tory and his wife, Betty Sue, keep their boat at Leatherbury Point Marina in Shady Side, Maryland, a beautiful, well-protected sailor’s haven on the Western Shore about a 25-minute drive from Annapolis. Tory and I were joined much of the time by Tory’s sailing friend Bob Spann in his elegant 28-foot Alerion. The three of us talked of boats and boat design (especially about the Mariner 36), the weather (we sailed in everything from flat calms to blustery 20- to 25-knot winds, even a flat-out 40-knot thunderboomer on the final leg) and, of course, the concept of bringing good old boats like Sparkle Plenty back to life through plenty of elbow grease and electronic, mechanical, and canvas upgrades. Tory and Bob were wonderful cruising companions, making it hard to concentrate on getting this story rather than just messin’ about.
Reassuringly solid
The first impression you get when boarding a Mariner 36 is that things are solid underfoot. Solid like an aircraft carrier. Tipping the scales at 17,000 pounds with an 11 1/2 -foot beam, Sparkle Plenty can take anything the wind gods dish out, especially with in-mast furling in addition to the usual roller-furling jib. Light-air performance, Tory admits, is not her strong suit, but in normal winds she moves with grace and aplomb and in heavy winds she roars like a freight train, a very comfortable and elegant one.
She has wide decks, a modern fin-keeled underbody, and beautiful New Hampshire craftsmanship in the interior joinery work. She is blessed with plenty of drawers, nooks, and crannies for storage. Designed by naval architect Peter Canning, her layout is fairly conventional with a V-berth and filler up forward, followed by a hanging locker and clothes drawers, the head on the port side, and a sink on the starboard side. The main saloon has an L-shaped settee to port and straight settee to starboard. The U-shaped galley is great for bluewater cooking and opposite is a — believe it or not — small nav room where the skipper can work to make sure the blue water stays on the outside of the boat.
“This boat has good bones,” Tory said when we started talking about his many renovation projects to bring the 30-year-old boat up to snuff. “When I purchased her, I had laid out three separate budgets. One was to look for and survey the boat. Two, to make the actual purchase and, three, to bring her up-to-date with replaced or improved systems. I did a lot of the work myself, but I was also not afraid to bring in an expert when necessary. The people I worked with were terrific, not afraid to share their knowledge, and they all made the process a learning experience.”
Tory feels that’s something you don’t get with a new boat: an up-close and thorough knowledge of systems, details, and procedures. Increasingly, he says, most new boats are built from the inside out with little thought of how to get at wiring, fuel, plumbing, electrical, and other critical components. The modifications he made to Sparkle Plenty (probably more than he had originally planned) have given him useful knowledge on which to draw if something ceases to work properly.
Of all the projects Tory accomplished, one he had not planned on ensued after he found a small patch of flaking bottom paint. It was the tip of the proverbial iceberg and ultimately required the bottom to be stripped from stem to stern, new glass laid on, a new barrier coat and, finally, new hard-surface bottom paint. Apparently, the problem was due to a previous bottom job done wrong — resin failed to harden properly, leading to water penetration and voids in the hull. Luckily, the Mariner’s hull is very thick.
On the positive side, Sparkle Plenty’s previous owners had taken good care of her. Still, after 20-plus years, she was ready for a major refit.
An inside job
Repairing the bottom required that the rig be pulled so the vessel could go into a large temperature-controlled barn. With the rig down, Tory decided it was time for a rehab. The vintage 1980 Hood Stoway was one of the fi rst in-mast furling systems on the market. Tory was fortunate to find a local rigger who, as a young man, had helped construct these masts at the Hood plant in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The result was a like-new rig sporting fresh Awlgrip paint, along with new standing and running rigging and a new Furlex headsail furler. The rigger even mated a new Seldén line-drive winch to the mast so Tory could reef and furl the mainsail from the cockpit.
While the hull and rig were being refurbished, Tory turned to the interior and its four leaky Bowmar portlights and two small hatches located in the main saloon and navigation cabin. With guidance and help from a friend who possessed excellent carpentry skills and the necessary tools, Tory removed the portlights and hatches, refinished them, and replaced the foggy Lexan with new, gray-tinted Lexan. He also removed the water-rotted teak plywood and replaced it with epoxy-coated marine ply covered with white Formica. Once the refurbished ports and hatches were re-installed, all the leaking stopped.
Next, he pulled down the yellowing vinyl headliner and rebedded all the deck fittings. Eventually, he would remove more than 100 pieces of oiled teak trim for refinishing with five coats of satin varnish, add a solid white headliner, and refinish the cabinetry and bulkheads of the galley and saloon with gloss varnish.
A diesel deal
Shortly after the rig went back up, Tory got the opportunity to replace Sparkle Plenty’s aging 33-hp Universal diesel. A friend with a Pedrick 41 wanted to install a larger power plant and offered his old 44-hp Universal, with only 600 hours, to Tory for just $1,100 (under the condition that Tory help him get the old engine out). The 44-hp got a new Tefl on clutch plate, shaft, Cutless bearing, retuned three-bladed prop, and dripless shaft seal. Tory was able to sell the old engine for $900, so it was a pretty sweet deal.
But, like many boat projects, the engine replacement set off a new chain of dominoes. Once the 33-hp was out, Tory did a complete rehab of the engine compartment with new insulation and paint. Much of Sparkle Plenty’s electrical wiring in the engine compartment needed to be replaced. Tory decided to rewire the entire boat, this time with the wiring running “high and dry” along an existing wiring channel along the port side.
He hired a marine electrician who agreed to let Tory work as his helper. Over the winter months, they rewired all the boat’s AC and about half the DC. Once the new Universal was in place, they installed a wiring harness, 130-amp alternator, separate regulator, and a 2,500-watt/130-amp inverter-charger — all connected to a computerized controller monitoring the four Trojan golf-cart house batteries and a high-cranking starter battery.
Over the years, Tory has completed many other projects. Major ones include a new chart plotter and sailing instruments, new propane locker, rehabbed teak cockpit grate, rebuilt traveler cars and strengthened bridge-deck mainsail traveler, davits, deck wash-down system, new faucets for galley and head sinks, several new through-hulls, new head, sanitation hoses, and holding tank.
Rare breed
Only 84 Mariner 36s were produced between 1979 and 1983. When Tory sees another one, it’s an occasion for
celebration. He says it’s a real “sleeper boat” but one he’s proud to own, certainly one visitors ooh and aah over. A number of boats called Mariners were built in the Far East but, Tory says, these were birds of a different feather.
A televisionary
Shortly after purchasing Sparkle Plenty, Tory, who had more than 30 years’ experience in media production, realized that television and video were not far from being delivered on a mass-consumption basis via the Web. It had been a hollow promise for many years, but a culmination of time and technology, as he puts it, made it clear the Web would soon be ready for TV and video. And Tory would be ready for it with TheSailingChannel.tv (TSC).
Like many of the Web’s success stories, this one would take years of work before it could be declared a winner. Tory was ready to invest a lot of time, energy, sweat, and tears in making TSC a reality for him and his viewers. He kept his day job for a while, but his enthusiasm for sailing and his skills as a storyteller eventually turned TheSailingChannel.tv into a full-time and profitable job. In his own mind, Tory never had a doubt. A less driven person would never have made it.
Tory’s behind-the-scenes support team was there every step of the way. Betty Sue had been instrumental in keeping his earlier TV/fi lm/video-production company cooking and she helps out with TSC as well. Sons Peter, 32, and Jon, 29, are also accomplished video editors in their own right. Both work as video producer/editors in Washington, DC, and work with Tory on productions for TSC.
TheSailingChannel.tv is a potpourri of sailing television programming — videos on making the ICW trip, building a steel sailboat, cruising the Virgins, heavy-weather storm tactics, cruising with notables like Lin and Larry Pardey, and dozens of other topics. There is a PBS series called Adventures In Sailing that Tory co-produces with WPBT2 in Miami (that Tory says put TSC “on the map”). What’s great about TheSailingChannel.tv is you can order DVDs or, for much less money, simply download a video in QuickTime or Windows Media formats.
Also on the website is a short “music video” of the Good Old Boat crew singalong at the 2010 Annapolis boat show, with the matchmaker, er, editor, singing along enthusiastically.
Gary Miller is a cinematographer/producer/writer/editor whose real fun comes from sailing with his wife, Ann, in their restored 35-foot Pearson centerboarder named Viridian, out of City Island, New York. See Gary’s work at www.wordsandpixels.com.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
