Greetings from Lake Ontario...could there be prettier lines?
Not likely..
Jay
Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
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Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
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Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Frances is the epitome of pretty 
Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Beautiful boat there Jay. Got to find one.
Thanks for all your help-
Eddie
Thanks for all your help-
Eddie
Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Hi Guys,
I'm new to the forum - first post here.
I bought the study plans for the FRANCES II off Chuck Paines' website last week (Nov. 2019), and it's all I've been able to think about for the last two weeks.
The boat is for my retirement which I mostly plan to sail solo in long distance trips. Vancouver to Hawaii perhaps being the ultimate goal. I have been contemplating many other boats for this purpose over the years; a few from Dudley Dix, a BCC28 & FC22, a Contessa 32, and a few modern fast French boats. It's like I'm caught in an endless torment of "which boat?" Then I absent-mindedly catch a glimpse of the FRANCES and it stops me dead in my tracks. There goes another 45 minutes pouring over the plans, my indecisions evaporating.
After 40 years at sea (both pleasure and work) I have come to the bitter realization that there is no perfect boat. (Funny really, because early on in my life I understood there would be no 'perfect' partner) Yet here I sit, continually looking for the perfect boat. Insanity. I guess the best we can hope for is choosing what is the most perfect 'for you' at the time. That's where I'm at now, and it's the FRANCES II.
I still think "I would change this" and "certainly need to remove that", and on and on it goes. Perhaps I'll learn from previous FRANCES owners what worked and what did not? Eventually, when the time comes to build, I was thinking on getting my FRANCES professionally built by Morris, or Covey Island, or perhaps ont of the Port Townsend yards. We'll see.
Anyway, just wanted to say "Hello", and open a discussion on what you would want in your own new-build FRANCES II. What choices would you make?
Fairwinds,
Andy Nemier ∞
https://www.chuckpaine.com/boats/26-fra ... le-enders/
"FRANCES II embodies all the improvements I could think up in 39 years. She carries a taller rig with a masthead genoa. Her house provides full headroom (if you’re not too tall) and has a neat extension aft of the mast for storing deck gear. The keel is a little deeper, much shorter fore and aft, and has a narrower trailing edge than the original one making it far more efficient. The rudder is deep and partially balanced, so helm forces are minimal. The ballast ends up deeper than the original version, making FRANCES II one of the stiffest designs for her size my studio ever designed!
The arrangement has full headroom where you need it (6 feet on centerline)."
I'm new to the forum - first post here.
I bought the study plans for the FRANCES II off Chuck Paines' website last week (Nov. 2019), and it's all I've been able to think about for the last two weeks.
The boat is for my retirement which I mostly plan to sail solo in long distance trips. Vancouver to Hawaii perhaps being the ultimate goal. I have been contemplating many other boats for this purpose over the years; a few from Dudley Dix, a BCC28 & FC22, a Contessa 32, and a few modern fast French boats. It's like I'm caught in an endless torment of "which boat?" Then I absent-mindedly catch a glimpse of the FRANCES and it stops me dead in my tracks. There goes another 45 minutes pouring over the plans, my indecisions evaporating.
After 40 years at sea (both pleasure and work) I have come to the bitter realization that there is no perfect boat. (Funny really, because early on in my life I understood there would be no 'perfect' partner) Yet here I sit, continually looking for the perfect boat. Insanity. I guess the best we can hope for is choosing what is the most perfect 'for you' at the time. That's where I'm at now, and it's the FRANCES II.
I still think "I would change this" and "certainly need to remove that", and on and on it goes. Perhaps I'll learn from previous FRANCES owners what worked and what did not? Eventually, when the time comes to build, I was thinking on getting my FRANCES professionally built by Morris, or Covey Island, or perhaps ont of the Port Townsend yards. We'll see.
Anyway, just wanted to say "Hello", and open a discussion on what you would want in your own new-build FRANCES II. What choices would you make?
Fairwinds,
Andy Nemier ∞
https://www.chuckpaine.com/boats/26-fra ... le-enders/
"FRANCES II embodies all the improvements I could think up in 39 years. She carries a taller rig with a masthead genoa. Her house provides full headroom (if you’re not too tall) and has a neat extension aft of the mast for storing deck gear. The keel is a little deeper, much shorter fore and aft, and has a narrower trailing edge than the original one making it far more efficient. The rudder is deep and partially balanced, so helm forces are minimal. The ballast ends up deeper than the original version, making FRANCES II one of the stiffest designs for her size my studio ever designed!
The arrangement has full headroom where you need it (6 feet on centerline)."
Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Yes Sir,
Absolutely drop dead gorgeous! ❤
Absolutely drop dead gorgeous! ❤
Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Let me first state that I have loved my Frances and think it is a perfect little sailboat. Emphasis on the word little.
At the risk of being pilloried for heresy, given your stated cruising plans, I question your choice of the Frances II. As they say, you can do everything to a boat except make it bigger.
Personally, the Contessa 32 has proven itself as much more of a voyaging sailboat, and darn pretty in its own right.
If you have the budget to have a boat custom built and like the lines of Chuck Paine's designs, there is either an ANNIE or a LINDA for sale which would make the voyage much more comfortable.
Just one man's opinion
At the risk of being pilloried for heresy, given your stated cruising plans, I question your choice of the Frances II. As they say, you can do everything to a boat except make it bigger.
Personally, the Contessa 32 has proven itself as much more of a voyaging sailboat, and darn pretty in its own right.
If you have the budget to have a boat custom built and like the lines of Chuck Paine's designs, there is either an ANNIE or a LINDA for sale which would make the voyage much more comfortable.
Just one man's opinion
Re: Awfully quiet forum!!Hope everyone..and every Frances is well
Hi,
I read your post with interest, and have been considering it all afternoon. However, until I actually get on a FRANCES, and see what I'm getting into, I guess I'll continue to dream about this little boat. You may well be right, and of course the Contessa 32 is always an option. (Plan B).
This whole thing is a few years down the road yet anyway, I just enjoy thinking about it while working overseas. So, "game-on" if anyone wants to discuss the FRANCES II.
Oh, forgot to mention. I did check out the Linda and Annie on Yachtworld, and while I loved them, I saw too many things I would want to change. One of the reasons I'm considering this new-build route, is to enable a some-what 'reduced-maintenance' period (of say 10 years) once she's shook-out properly. I'm not getting any younger! Time to sail!
I read your post with interest, and have been considering it all afternoon. However, until I actually get on a FRANCES, and see what I'm getting into, I guess I'll continue to dream about this little boat. You may well be right, and of course the Contessa 32 is always an option. (Plan B).
This whole thing is a few years down the road yet anyway, I just enjoy thinking about it while working overseas. So, "game-on" if anyone wants to discuss the FRANCES II.
Oh, forgot to mention. I did check out the Linda and Annie on Yachtworld, and while I loved them, I saw too many things I would want to change. One of the reasons I'm considering this new-build route, is to enable a some-what 'reduced-maintenance' period (of say 10 years) once she's shook-out properly. I'm not getting any younger! Time to sail!