Yesterday, in the USVI, as I was bringing charter guests back to the marina/drop off point, we were passed by a beautiful Amel 53' Super Maramu. I had been chatting with the guests about building boats back in the PNW. As the Amel passed us, I pointed out that I built boats like the one on the back of the center-cockpit sloop. Then as it got closer, I said, "Actually, that's the boat I just finished building". It was a Passagemaker as tender to S/V Kristy!
After dropping them off, I wandered over to S/V Kristy to get a better look. I started chatting with Captain Kent and he invited me aboard for a beer and to talk about Passagemakers. Come to find out, they had the boat built by someone else, so there were some issues there. We talked about the things I did with my build, where I deviated, how I adapted, my recreational use vs. their using it as a tender for a 53' sailboat, and what to do to fix some of the the things done during the build, etc. It was a very enjoyable and enlightening discussion on both sides, and I made some new friends. The fact that we both had chosen the gunter-sloop rig really gave us some common ground, whereas they went with the stock aluminum mast, I went for the optional wooden one. It was interesting to observe some of the differences in the real world.
Anyway, if you have any specific questions about using a Passagemaker as a tender, I'll do my best to try and relate their experience. I love my PM and it does exactly what I built it for. Here are some pics of this PM in the wild. BTW, it's a take-apart version called "Cut Up"....
