My "CP 16" story

[daryl81]

I had been looking for a smaller shoal keel boat to trailer to different lakes around the midwest. My Seaward 24 I rebuilt from a hull and a broken mast is in a slip 15 minutes from the house on a 9000 acre lake. Although very handy, it also requires much time and effort to get ready to travel to a different venue. Last November I read a post on the Trailer Sailor board about a Compac 16 for sale on Beaver Lake Arkansas for $250 with trailer. My sister lives about an hour from the boats location so I had her and her husband run down and look at it. They know nothing about sailboats but were close. When they arrived another buyer had offered $275 for the boat so I had her give the seller $300 and they pulled it home.


A week later I found time to go to Missouri and pick up the boat. It was a 1981 that had been "hardware store" converted to a cutter rig. 2"x 6" treated pine for a bow sprit. Steel cable with cable clamps for a forestay and all the blocks were of the pulley variety. The boat had been left uncovered for at least 10 years and the cockpit was filled with oak leaves and pine needles. Water had stood long enough that the sides of the footwell and the back rests were blistered. The bottom had never been painted and was covered with blisters as well. The interior was empty except for dirt and leaves and the original main sail, original jib and a custom foresail for the cutter rig. I decided to restore it to the fractional sloop rig and knew the staysail could be cut down for a nice genoa. 6 months later and many hours of sanding and painting and the boat looks like this.


I spent all day last Saturday giving the boat its "sea trial" at the local lake and I can't say enough good about it. I have sailed off and on most of my life and have restored four cabin type sailboats in the last 10 years. I took the 16 out in 12-15 mph winds saturday with the resewn original main and the original jib and had a blast. It pointed well and was an extremely easy boat to sail well. I can't possibly thank all of the posters here that I have read over the last several years and I do miss seeing all the great pics that piqued my interest in the Compacs to begin with.
Here is a pic of both my boats side by side. I obviously think the Florida boat builders do something unique!!!!

[don l]

wow,  very nice indeed! 

[Bob23]

Daryl:
   Beautiful job and a great story of a rescue of yet another compac! Thanks for sharing that. I guess it proves that almost no boat is beyond saving.
Bob23

[Craig Weis]

That is one very sharp looking 16 and an interesting story. Attaboy!.
There is a 16 in town not yet in the water on a flat bed trailer that looks to be in much worse shape then the 'before' picture. But she sits just 20 foot away from the 'Ipsypipsi' big dollar boats at Center Point Marina in a ladies back yard. Slum dog millionare.
skip.