Islands 17

The following comes from Bob Cavenagh:

I haven't owned a Tanzer 16, but I did own an Islands 17 until this summer. I've never seen any print reference to the similarities between these two boats, but if you put the boats or the ads for them side-by-side they are almost identical. The Islands was originally made on Long Island, New York by a company called Ocean Yacht; they are now made with a modified interior by Sumner Boats of Long Island.

I don't know if the Islands is a direct clone off the Tanzer 16 hull, a sincere imitation, or what, but the chief sailing difference is that the Islands has a reverse transom which extends the bottom length about 4-5". Its centerboard MAY be longer. Rig and sail area are identical; the hull interior of the OY boats is ALMOST identical, while the Sumner boats now have a full hull liner that adds flotation but reduces interior volume and cuts stowage drastically. The seats in the OY boats have a different curve than the Tanzer, the centerboard case and mast step are a little different (better, actually, in that it is easy to step the mast by extending it over the stern on a cushion, inserting the pin, then lifting it into position. Tanzers I've seen have the mast stepped lower and so you have to lift the mast into position). The OY centerboard case is a bit wider, lower and more braced than the Tanzer, so it omits the cross thwart. I added a cross thwart on mine for crew convenience and comfort. And that points to the chief failing of the Tanzer and the Islands, in my mind:

These boats have been optimized for crew sitting out on deck, with a sometimes almost painful compromise in interior seating comfort. Most of my sailing in my Islands was in coastal Maine where I took long trips in seas which could become fairly high. In those conditions you really want to sit IN, not ON the boat. To my mind (and all my crew concurred) the interior seating was just too narrow, and the seat backs too sharp for continuing use.

So, what to do?

1. Since my Islands lacked the cross thwart (home of the jib cleat on many Tanzers, sometimes even with a Barney post) I installed one. The top of the Islands centerboard case is about 1" below the seat tops (on the Tanzer all are about level, as I remember), so I contrived a pair of teak boards with a combined width of about 9", set flush with the bench tops. This allowed the crew to slide from one side to the other, and also to have a bit of 'cheek room' by sitting partly on the thwart. This made a HUGE difference in crew comfort.

   I spent some time looking at a Tanzer as I plotted this change. That sample boat had its thwart resting on top of the benches, straddling the centerboard case, with a cleat on top. We figured we could make a similar improvement on it by moving the cleat (the Islands used cam cleats and tracks on the side decks), mounting a new wider thwart lower, so that it butted against the centerboard case instead of straddling it.

2. The skipper has a bit more seat room, but it is still tiny compared to the actual depth of the benches. Those #*%@ side decks simply cover over much of the potential seating. I never got brave enough to cut back the side decks by a few inches, so I decided to put an extension on the front of each seat. By careful calculation I decided that 1.5-2" of additional seating area would be optimal. The curved geometry of the benches suggested a laminated piece and I had just started to make this up when I realized that it would be easier and more effective to carry this 'lip' on the seat in a straight line fore-and-aft. At the stern the p+s boards would just miss touching the hatch cover of the lazarette, run straight forward to the rear of the new cross-thwart. I planned to make simple 3" spacer blocks of varying depths, use these to link the longer boards and the hull. I planned to bond them with epoxy and a few screws. A nice benefit: the spaces between the spacer blocks would provide a nice place to tie stuff down when trailering the boat and gear. I wound up selling the boat without finishing this job, but that is another story that doesn't reflect on the boat in any way.

3. The last little failing was the sharp edges of the side decks in the small of my back when seated inside the boat. My plan was to add a carefully beveled coaming about 3/8" thick. A spacer would make this coaming flare out a bit at the top, forming a good backrest. It made no sense to add this till the interior seating was improved, so this job also went undone.

As a reply to another note here are more thoughts:

You might look at the thwart in your boat with a view to lowering it. The Tanzer I used as a model had a narrow strip of wood for a thwart, and, as I had noted, it rested on top of the seat. For long trips that is a lot less comfortable than a wider plank just flush with the seat tops. A plank on either side of the centerboard was long common on the O'Day Daysailer and similar boats and worked well even though the c-board buldged slightly above that level. To mount the thwart in the Islands I used a strip of aluminum angle about 1.5"x1.5". I bonded and pop riveted this to the side of the seat tank and it holds the weight easily.

I mentioned that I like to sit on the rear deck beside the tiller (even though it makes the transom drag ..)

I also used to sit on the rear deck. My boat had an outboard/bracket, and I particularly sat there when motoring. The one complaint I'd make about that is that the tiller was rigidly attached to the rudder head and wouldn't lift. I thought about putting a vertical hinge in the tiller just forward of the little rod traveller, so I could lift it to clear my legs.

It occurs to me that one could invent an elevated mast step for the tanzer, shorten the base of the mast appropriately. Then it would be easier to tip the mast up, as on the Islands.

I suspect the Islands is a rip-off of the Tanzer, but it was a well-built boat with a few nice improvements. (note from Chris: I took a couple of pictures in LockPort NS fall 2001: pic1 pic2)

Then we talked about sleeping on board:

I did indeed think about sleeping aboard. Since Tanzer used a very similar interior on the Overnighter you might look at one of those for ideas. They were never common in the states.

I'd think in terms of 1/2 inch plywood infill panels which you could store in the bow. Two panels from mast to thwart, two larger ones further astern. These could either rest on the seats or, if you can work out the geometry, they could be flush with the seat tops (I can't remember just how high the CB trunk is. The Islands trunk was sealed and lower, so this was a no-brainer.) A trick here is to put a thin aluminum flange at the edge of these panels; it would rest on the seat tops but be so thin as not to create a buldge through an air mattress. You could form a little rack to stow these panels on the underside of the bow deck, where they'd never get wet or be in the way to impinge much on other stowage.

My boat had a nice boom tent with a vent window at the transom, velcro to open and close the ends, and snaps to hold it down. A similar rig with 2-3 battens to spread it out Conestoga wagon style would provide some sitting room. You could also fashion a light weight CB table to use for cooking and eating. My boat had a rather fancy homemade aluminum boom crutch which lifted the boom nicely. I also had a second, shorter crutch which sat on the port seat at the stern, held the boom to one side while you bent on the sail.

The Wayfarer/CL16/Mistral has been much touted as a cruising boat, but frankly I think a well-fitted Tanzer or older Islands would be superior in many ways. If I come on a cheap one I may buy it and try cutting down the deck to a more comfortable width.

Bob Cavenagh
Carlisle, PA USA