eastport pram heritage?

My first sailing experience was in 1959 in San Diego.  A friend of mine (we were 10 years old ) took me out in his Sabet, or Sabot, I don't really remember much except I think it was sloop rigged and had very similar lines to the CLC pram.  Two years later I lived in Hawaii and my best friend had a El Toro.  It was also sloop rigged, 8' long and very similar to the CLC pram.. We sailed the El Toro all over Kailua and Kaneohe Bays, sometimes in some pretty heavy waves.  We sailed out to Rabbit Island all the time for overnight camping.   Are there any old salts out there who remember these boats or is the basic design common and prevelent? 

9 replies:

« Previous Post       List of Posts       Next Post »

RE: eastport pram heritage?

Joe,

Much of my early sailing (Washington's San Juan Islands) was also in a Sabot (Wooden Shoe in French if I recall but don't quote me)  That boat is an 8 ft pram with single hard chine, dagger board, and a single sail (I do remember one guy installing a jib, complete with bow sprit).  I believe the shape of the EP Pram is a bit more elegant than the Sabot, but yes, they would both make good beginner boats.  Good to pull up the old memories.

PAG

RE: eastport pram heritage?

Hey Joe.  My Father built an El Toro (The Bull) for me in 1957.  Over the years I sailed all over San Francisco Bay, in all kinds of weather.  Every year they have the Bull Ship race.  It is with El Toros, now mostly fiberglass, across the bay, directly under the Golden Gate Bridge.  Very exciting in an 8' open boat.

 Although a pram style, CLC's Eastport is a much better looking and structurally more sound.  Both the El Toro (with dagger board) and the Sabot(with lee boards) are vee bottom shaped plywood.  The lapstrake, rounded shape of the Eastport is far more stable,  But I still miss my El Toro.

~BRUCE~ 

RE: eastport pram heritage?

Thanks for the input guys, its nice to know there are other old guys around still.

RE: eastport pram heritage?

I bought a fibreglass hulled Sabot on Salt Spring Island about 1981 or so. Joe will know where that is. There was quite a Sabot activity here, with probably dozens of boats having been built over a period fo several years. I had bought a used one a few years before the building came to an end. The club was eventually absorbed by the "big" sailiing club when we lost the use of the property where we stored the boats. We did lots of sailing for fun, going on picnics and so on, and quite a few people were quite competitive about our weekly races.

 I'm just finishing up a ten foot skiff which I will be able to sail and row, and then I'll be getting going on a Wood Duck 10 and an East Port Pram. The final project will be a PocketShip. I have the plans for all three already, and have most of the materials on hand for the hulls except the plywood for the PocketShip. I'm looking forward to rowing and sailing the EP Pram as well as towing it behind the PocketShip.

RE: eastport pram heritage?

The first boat I ever built was a copy of an El Toro back in 1976. I had some buddies whose father was a carpenter and he got hold of a plywood ET. We used that as a model and under his direction built 14 of them in 2 weeks to for ourselves and a bumch of friends. The sails were made of muslin bedsheets, the hulls from scrap 1/4" plywood amd the paint was epoxy tank liner salvaged from the shipyard I had a summer job at. I sailed the heck out of that boat for a couple of years but had to abandon it when I graduated and left town (also San Diego). The brown boat is the model, the others are the first 4 all rigged the day before their launch. They were a blast.

Laszlo

RE: eastport pram heritage?

I saw my first Sabot in the late 50s in a backyard on Andrews, AFB.  Even then big fun could come in small packages.

RE: eastport pram heritage?

El Toro plans are available at http://www.eltoroyra.org/index.htm  It's a great little boat. Would make a great CLC kit! What do you think John?

RE: eastport pram heritage?

My uncle had an El Toro, which became the first sailboat I ever sailed. My uncle told of letting the boat heel enough to sail under the raised dock surrounding the marina basin. Of course, the wind shadow from the dock resulted in the El Toro popping upright, giving him a mast to repair.

Later used it as the dinghy for a Cal 20. We still have the rudder and some other parts after someone stole the hull.

While somebody might have rigged a bow sprit and jib on theirs, class rules would have been main only.

RE: eastport pram heritage?

Thanks for all the input guys.  I looked at the construction pics on the above link for a plywood ET and the first thing I thought was that John maybe -  hmmmm - could work his majic with stitch/glue and really simplify the boat.  I'll bet that a CLC S&G would outsail the plastic ET in that one design fleet and return the design to its roots.

« Previous Post     List of Posts     Next Post »


Please login or register to post a reply.