Readers of the Mainsheet know that I have been in touch with "Dr. John", up in Washington State who now owns #30 and #30. His plan is to "part out" #38 as necessary to put #30 back together in sailing condition. I am grateful for his keeping me informed and I am being as helpful as I can. BTW.... early history of #30 is lacking. Any reader who might have information as to the history of that boat might pass it along to me. It will be greatly appreciated. Here is Dr. John's latest report:
"What I know of the history of Hull 30 is that my mother rented her slip at Shilshole Marina in Seattle to a guy who owned her back in the early to mid 80's. He paid my mom in cash for the first month and was never seen again. Maybe he didn't pay all his creditors. Later she heard that he was a drug dealer and may have left town suddenly or worse. (I recommended that she have the diver that check the hull on her 50 foot Challenger look on the bottom of Shilshole Bay for anyone wrapped in chains). Anyway the boat was abandoned and only partially restored. The mast was gone, the hull and top deck were varnished. The inside was redone but not finished. She had been renamed the "Sozo". My mother then had to impound the boat and auction her to recover the 6-12 months' rent that was owed. Because it was unfinished no one bought it so my mother paid $300 and purchased it herself. Then she had the problem of paying moorage for the boat. After a year or so, I offered to take the boat to the Spokane area to keep it for her and pay the moorage. We had it moved by truck to the south end of Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho and put her in the water at Bay View Marina. My mother had purchased an aluminum mast and had it fitted to the boat so she could sail. The mast was about 1-2 feet too short, however, and the sails didn't fit so she could never tack without luffing. I did refinish the cabin again in the late 80's and had her out on the water off and on. In 1990 I took a job working in the Emergency Department in Pendleton Oregon and we trucked the boat to Kennewick Washington and put her in the Columbia River up above McNary Dam. We motored her down to the McNary Yacht Club at Umatilla where I sailed her on the Columbia River from 1990 to 1992. It was at that time that I had a trailer fabricated for her. In 1992 I moved her to a farm in Elk WA about 45 minutes north of Spokane on Highway 2. She was there until we moved again to Spokane Valley in 1997. She had been under tarps of out in the weather for 6-7 years so after that I found a series of old barns, wheat sheds and shops to keep her in. She went from Spangle WA to Rockford WA south of Spokane, where she stayed until 2004.I inherited Sozo when my mother passed away suddenly in 2001. After that we moved up north and she was in a barn in Kettle Falls WA near lake Roosevelt but was never launched. We moved her again to a barn in Addy sometime around 2008. She now sits about 20-25 miles north east of Hull #38; both are in Addy WA. I plan to build a shop next summer back in Elk Washington and work on her there. I will purchase what remains of hull #38 to refit an original mast, boom and recycle some of the mahogany and brass."
Any readers with additional information, please share it!