The following are excerpts from an article by John Paul White published in Southern Boating in December 1988.
“The design chosen was Thomas Colvin’s 50’ Pipistrelle, a larger sister to his famous Gazelle. These boats are shoal keel developments of the traditional V-bottomed sharpie and are of moderately light displacement. They are easily driven under both power and sail and are well-suited for short handed cruising.
The lines show a single-chine clipper bow hull, with a long shallow keel and a raking curved counter stern. There is a raised afterdeck, a flush mid-ship steering station over the full width of the engine room, and a traditional trunk cabin forward with water-ways and bulwarks.
Under the supervision of Ray Merrill at Island Star Marine in Gulfport, Mississippi, the hull was sandblasted to white metal subsequent to plating, flame sprayed with aluminum on the exterior and multiply coated with Devoe epoxy anticorrosive paint inside and out. All frames, longitudinals and inside corners were covered with epoxy to eliminate moisture pockets. Thereafter and on delivery of the hull/deck to Pensacola, Florida, two additional coats of Devoe epoxy were applied to the hull followed by finish coats on the inside. All bronze fittings are set in neoprene with sleeved bolts and bedded with 5200 sealant. Every hole drilled in the boat was drilled through a paper cup to collect shavings and the hole immediately vacuumed, acid-treated and primed with Devoe Bar-Rust to eliminate rust specks.
An absolute minimum of epoxy fairing was applied to the hull and then only in areas of continuous welding, to prevent future spalling of fairing putty under hard use. Instead, more than 30 man-days were spent applying and sanding 12 coats of high build primer and acrylic glazing before the polyurethane paint job.
In consultation with the designer, a special construction process replaced the after cabin steel top with a laminated wooden structure covered with 1/4” teak planks set in West System Epoxy. This avoided the rust problems associated with wooden decks laid over steel and in addition, saved almost 600 pounds in the after section of the boat.
Traditional scuttle hatches, skylights, cap rails, and monkey rails with turned styles were built of Honduras mahogany and covered with ten coats of ultraviolet-filtered varnish.
The interior woods are cypress for hull, ceiling and bulkheads, Honduras mahogany for joinery and ash for floorings, all varnished.
The rig was given special attention to bring to the traditional advantages of the gaff rig evolutionary advances of the last 100 years development in materials and hardware.
Custom aluminum spars were built by Johnson Sails in St. Petersburg, all with internal halyards, reefing lines, outhauls, and topping lifts. Harken 3” Big Boat blocks, several custom made for this boat, were used throughout. Lewmar line stoppers and winches add sail control and shaping. Powerful 6-1 Harken vangs help handle the long booms.
Sails were built by Shurr of Pensacola, Florida, a racing sailmaker who happened to also have experience with the gaff rig. They incorporate moderate roach supported by battens and shelf feet for draft control.
Many other details of this boat, as varied as her hand-carved nautical scenes by Otto Preske and Barry Simpson of Gatlinburg Tennessee, to her powerful electrical system designed and installed by Kevin Carney of DC Engineering Inc., were worked out among the owner, the designer, and several specialists in an effort to construct a steel boat which all could be proud of.”
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