New Boat!

[Art Haberland]

It's not that Southern New Jersey is Spoilt for boats, there are plenty of small sail boats around if you fancy an o'day mariner, a sunfish, or a snipe. There are even a few Barnegat Bay Sloops around (I almost bought one last year) but none of them really do much for me. I wanted a 14 to 17 foot long day sailor I could also do some camping aboard. I always wanted something unique for next years Small Boats Festival in St. Michael's MD.

I found it. I purchased a 1964 All wooden Bell GP14 that has had the same owners since 1970 (the year I was born) and she was originally active in Stone Harbor's Racing Fleet.

The GP14 was never a popular boat in the states, especially with all the Lightning's and Blue Jays running about that were of a similar style, but from a more well down designer. They were also produced locally as opposed GP that was built in England.

Coming out of the Gentleman's barn where she sat for the past 35 years, she really only needs new rigging, paint, and varnish. She is even still sitting on her original trailer. She will be delivered later this week.

Until then, enjoy the pics.













Yes, she really does still have all her original hardware!











I am going to have to arrange some straps in my basement to store the mast in a similar fashion





I think I may need to share this on woodenboat's forum as well. Not many of these boats about and certainly not in such a well kept unrefitted fashion.

[wdscobie]

good to see a classic continuing her life with a new family!

[Art Haberland]

I got Spark home, it was a harrowing experience driving from Quakertown PA to Atlantic City, in the dark, during rush hour. As I did not trust the tiny wheels on the trailer (also built in 1964) I tried to stay off of the highways as much as possible. This meant going through all the smaller towns between Quakertown and into Philadelphia proper towing a small boat with the mast hanging a good 8 feet off of the stern.

The lights on the trailer also did not work. A trip to Harbor Freight for some magnetic lights with 20' harness solved that, I simply strapped them to the stern and plugged them in. For the mast itself, I bought a cheap reflective Vest, cut the front off of it, and ziptied it to the end of the spar. Not only was it orange, but the reflective material was an obnoxious yellow! With the boat as low as she is, the top of the mast was even with the middle of my rear window and only a foot behind it. A single tap from the car behind would have caused a lot of damage.

Now I get to deal with the NJDMV. I have a notarized Bill of Sale for the boat and a Notarized title for the trailer and they will not issue me anything. I need to take the boat to the USCG for an inspection and they want pictures of the trailer from all sides and of the serial number before they will help me. NJ makes transferring Boats and trailers almost impossible. Even a brand new trailer I bought from Lowes required two trips to the DMV.

Anyway, enough venting, pictures!





And just see how obnoxious that "flag" is on the end of the mast!



For those that may be wondering. She is hull number 5942

[lustyslogger]

She is a thing of beauty. I love wooden boats, just don't have the patience or the knowledge to keep them up.

Not to pick on NJ but the state seems to have created the worlds most obnoxious bureaucracy. My son moved there from Florida and it took him months to get his car registered. He moved from there to NH and it was like, Oh, you have a car, ok, here you are, you're good to go.


By the way, are those blocks on the boat Tufnol blocks? I have some of those on the Lusty Slogger, they look good and they work well.

https://rwrope.com/marine-hardware/bloc ... ck-single/

[Art Haberland]

I think they are, I am not sure. I am going to sail her as is (except for the running rigging) for the summer and take her to St. Michaels for the Small Craft Festival to see the reaction.

As for NJ, I am about to dump some laws on them. In Pa, as long as the boat was built before 97 and has no engine, it does not need a title or registration. In NJ, if the boat is used for racing only, it does not need registration or a title.

Spark was a racing boat before migrating to Pa in 1970, so I doubt she ever had a title or was ever registered in either state. The people at my local DMV do not know the law and are being obnoxious about it. I am going to hit up the regional office next week after the holidays

[PAR]

Having grown up in the mid Atlantic area, I can attest to NJ's general poor state of affairs in the DMV. In fact, I'm banned from the Jersey Turnpike, for having broken down on it too many times, usually towing something home.

Good luck with the "racing" thing, but you're not going to get the same benefit in NJ. Unless you can prove you're actively campaigning the boat, it's numbered and has some sponsorship logo's pasted all over it, you're just wishing for an exemption. All you really need is an inspection (trailer and boat) and some paper work, along with the appropriate fees, for a registration and title.

Each state conducts these inspections differently, some have a Fish & Game office, others just a local sheriff deputy stops by, others more complete with measurements taken, title searches, etc. Coastal states are usually better about this than inland, though Jersey seems an exception, unfortunately. Maybe they've improved things in recent decades, but they were always a little anal about these things.

My memory suggest you have to bring the boat and trailer to the local DMV, if it's over 12' in length. There is a racing craft exemption, but this has to be state recognized from a sanctioning body. Other exemptions are as a lifeboat, less than 180 days of in state service (titled out of state), non-motorized and used only on private lakes, etc.

If you don't have a HIN assigned to the boat, you'll have to get one by bringing the boat and any paper work to any New Jersey Marine Services Bureau office, where you'll apply for a title, after the forms and fees are satisfied. With the title in hand, you go to the DMV and get a registration.

[Art Haberland]

I am not looking for an exemption, just trying to explain to the people that are in charge why the boat has never been titled. I need a bigger hammer to get it through their thick skulls.

As for the trailer, I am not sure what their issue is. It was legal in Pa and I have a notarized title for it, but they still want me to jump through hoops. It might have something to do with the fact that the title is from 1970 an the trailer itself is from 1964? It is the boat's original trailer

[wdscobie]

yep ... each state has there issue. and then some are no problem. IMO eastern states seem to believe that all vehicles are stolen and make it a PITA to register and transfer titles.

Colorado doesn't title boats (this can be a PITA when a boat leaves CO). Trailers are titled. I'm currently working with a new Sage owner in another state that purchased one of our prototype S15s ... challenge is proving the trailer is 'real' - this involves lots of paperwork EVEN though the trailer HAS a CO title and is currently registered. all of this for a used trailer worth $1700. the new S15s owner had NO PROBLEM titling and registering the boat (again, that isn't titled but IS in the new home state). makes NO sense.

[lustyslogger]

Here in Tennessee you register the boat but not the trailer. You don't even need a tag for the trailer. As long as you never leave the state this isn't really a problem but not having a tag on the trailer could create some issues in other states.

An interesting issue is if you want to register your trailer if you intend to take it out of state. A friend has a home built trailer for his fishing boat. He wants to take it down to Florida to do some bass fishing so he wanted to register it to avoid any hassles with county police in Georgia or Florida. However, since it was home built he didn't have a bill of sale for the trailer and since his fishing boat was bought in 1968 he no longer had a bill of sale for that either. He has to send a certified letter to the original seller asking for a copy of the bill of sale. Since the original seller was in his 80's at that time in all likelihood he is no longer alive. When his letter is returned by the post office he can take that down to the DMV as proof he attempted to find the owner and then jump through two or three more hoops, have the trailer inspected for safety (knowing this guy you could attach flotation devises to the trailer and sail it to Europe, he is really really anal about that sort of thing).

I took the Lusty Slogger down to Florida with a tagless trailer, was even required to go through an agricultural inspection just inside the Florida line and was never questioned. But somewhere there will be that Bubba Bodine who will give you a hard time about not having a tag.