This Rhodes Bounty II finds a safe home
Issue 56 : Sept/Oct 2007
Dear Bob, A fine sea breeze is whistling down the companionway as I write this. The sun is setting but it’ll be in the 70s overnight. And the “basement” is dry. I’ve just read “Remembering Sparrow,” in the May 2007 issue. I’ve read it twice and am still amazed to see pictures of Sparrow in this great magazine. Bob, I can tell you where and how she is. The short answer is that she again floats at the docks in St. Marys, Georgia. Sparrow is being well taken care of and is the envy of all my dockmates. Let me bring you up to date on our story so far.
A few years ago (2003), I decided to fulfill a 25-year-old dream. I went looking for a boat that could take me around the world and that I could sail solo comfortably. I was thinking of an older IMOCA 40 or something all plastic and already proven. I even went to Plymouth, England, to see the Transat boats. Then a local sailboat dealer pointed me to an old boat parked in their yard under a ragged blue tarp. I was told she hadn’t been touched since her owner died in a plane crash six months before.
I went aboard and puttered for an hour or so. I don’t know what Tim intended to do with her, but I found her in an advanced state of disassembly. She was a big jigsaw puzzle with a lot of pieces missing. Dust and dirt were everywhere. Tangles of old copper wire hung in cabinets and the engine bay. What little plumbing remained from the head and engine were useless. Her engine and rudder lay on the ground, the latter was cracked and warped. She had boards over some of the windows; birds had built a nest behind the settee. In her favor, though, she did have a fine new teak deck and a deep blue hull. There was too much wood, and she was too old and slow-looking for me, but I said I’d think about it.
I researched Phillip Rhodes and the Bountys. I found some pictures and stories of these classic boats with narrow hulls, long overhangs, and deep full keels. On the stands, Sparrow was easy to look at, but there was so much work to be done to get her back into the water.
I visited her again. There was no name on her, but “Sparrow” was carved into the wooden sill of the companionway. She sure was a beauty outside and the wood inside just needed some cleaning . . .
After another visit aboard, I was ready and willing to do whatever it took to get Sparrow sailing again. This was not a sudden change of heart really; I finally understood what I had been looking for all along. It took me a couple of months to convince the folks at the boatyard that she was going to be mine. They loved Tim and the old gal and wanted to make sure she went to a dedicated owner.
Then began four years of blood, sweat, and toil. Oh, and money. Lots of money. A lady like Sparrow demands the best of everything. All of the stainless has been polished and much of the bronze has been re-chromed or polished. I designed and installed simple AC, DC, and instrument wiring. She has been plumbed to suit my simple tastes. Sparrow’s interior remains the same at the ends, but I’ve built a new settee and galley in the main cabin. A friend rebuilt the Perkins 4-108 and Walther gearbox and helped me install them. She has a new plywood and fiberglass rudder, steered by a tiller instead of the wheel. Too many things have been done to list in this letter; I’ll have to bring her up there and let you see her for yourself.
On January 24, 2007, she was relaunched. She sits quietly at the dock in St. Marys awaiting a few more parts and rig tuning. In answer to the question you posed in the May issue, she’s a fine live-aboard and no, not a party boat. Maybe this time her owner will be charmed. Neither you nor Tim were able to complete the dream, our dream, to sail far away on Sparrow. I promise — to you and to Sparrow — that I’ll continue to treat her as well as I can. I love this good old boat called Sparrow.
Sincerely, Kenn Knerr
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