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Davidson 30 Stardancer


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Anybody know the story of the rebuild of witch doctor?  And how the boat performs now?

Witch Doctor was rebuilt by Chris Mc Master (ex Doyles) on his front lawn in Howick. Had to flatten his wife's rose garden to get it in :razz:

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exactly , what keel  problems?. Witchdoctor?  she had a full rebuild  . Depending on the quality of that rebuild she could well be better than new, Like Emotional Rescue.

 

It would show up in a survey.

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Nice lines but it has all the problems with that keel , who wants it

Crikey regardless that the the owner is crook and attempting to quit the yacht WitchDoctor is obviously available for professional survey by interested parties and idle ill informed comments serve no constructive purpose.

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I believe she was built in the 80's for John MacLaurin (various Pendragons). Wood boat. She was called Stardancer when she was on the market some 5 years ago and bought by a sail maker in Seattle and is now known as Dangerous When Wet.

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The boat was named Stardancer. MacLaurin didn't name it one of the Pendragons because it didn't have an inboard engine and not built for offshore racing. I packed it up in MDR and got it trucked up to Seattle as part of the DWW team.

 

WIRW wipeout was epic and spurred an e-conversation between Davidson and myself regarding the rudder. I was driving when the winch pulled in a buoy race off Shilshole. Got it fixed by Henderson and better than new. It's a fantastic boat. Keel is original.

 

MACE looks like a candidate for a complete reno. I'd go the U.K. QT route and frac it with MH spin.

 

-Snap

 

 

 

5a985c605ef94_DWWHike(2).thumb.jpg.84311249f088a6e53e9eadbde4b9a813.jpg

 

Oops...that was a typo. Yes, Stardancer

 

That explains why she wasn't given the Pendragon moniker. I had thought perhaps it was because she wasn't an IOR boat.

 

I was looking at Kokopele back in the fall of '08 after the asking price was reduced to a reasonable amount. Went down to have a look at her and took an offer sheet home with me so I could sleep on it. The next day the CAD went down $.03 vs the USD so figured I'd wait a couple of days till it bounced back. Bottomed out a few days later down $0.10. By the time it bounced back in the spring she had sold.

 

After that I had my eyes on Stardancer (although an entirely different boat) but I waited a bit too long for the price to drop and someone from Seattle snagged it. Never got to see her in the flesh but she looked to be immaculately kept from the photos at the time.

 

So I had the rug pulled out from me on a couple of Davidsons. But I did end up with a Davo - just not one of these two gems.

 

The rudder thing seems to be a problem for all of Davidsons PNW designs. Kokopele has a new rudder (and bulb keel) and the owner of the other D29 is looking at one as well. Quite a few of the Dash 34s have new ones as well. I think it is mainly due to LD trying to reduce WS for PNW conditions, but perhaps going a bit far. You also have to realize Stardancer's rig was bumped a couple more feet from her MORC config. And the stock Dash rudder is just plain small and deplorable. I've heard rumours the Dash rudder wasn't even designed by LD. That the builder was trying to save a few bucks and that it was taken from an existing mold in the Spencer yard. Although a more plausible explanation is that 1981 was early days of transitioning from trapezoidal to elliptical rudders and this was an early and rather crude attempt at that. But still too small regardless.

 

I have a photo of the WIRW crash on my PC at home. I'll try to post her up tonight.52363C6F-8DCC-4310-A72E-6B1991090F17.jpeg1E170F49-3B4A-47A4-B8B1-526609A42425.jpeg7BCC7D4A-6A36-465A-9D24-0C198BAACFD9.jpeg5C178313-E420-4E38-B1FF-3322856F01D4.jpeg

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I assume the problems with the keel referred to above relates to Emotional Rescue not Witch Doctor, but does anybody know what they are?  Did the new keel not work reliably or is it something structural?

 

If it's reliable the main issue with ER would probably be cruising and short handing that spindly rig with runners.  Both it and WD are pretty although it's sadly true that they have the room of much shorter more modern boats and to keep them in a marina round here would make the eyes water.

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Witch Doctor was rebuilt by Chris Mc Master (ex Doyles) on his front lawn in Howick. Had to flatten his wife's rose garden to get it in :razz:

 

That would have been the build of Frenzy if it was in Howick. Marine Parade...

 

Witch Doctor was done by Chris McMaster in the driveway on Point View Drive. I recall as a kid watching it come into Halfmoon bay on a barge, a second barge followed with the keel.

Chris had a boatbuilder on it full time and was done properly. Has done a lot of miles since then including offshore work. - Dad raced on it halfway to Fiji only to turn around during the Coup in 2000.

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