Glen-L 19 restored by Charlie Man
1 November 2007
I have always liked the double ended boats, maybe that was because my peapod was double ended. But there is a problem with these boats, small double ended boats didn't have a lot of comfort space. My wife didn't like to go out in the peapod because there wasn't any room to sit. I liked gaff rigged boats because of the larger sail area with lower center of effort, but they do have the greater weight up on the mast due to the gaff. The boat I was looking for had to be trailerable and be capable of sailing in shallow water, so a fixed keel boat was out. I guess I just wanted a plain ole' sloop rigged sailboat. I found one (the Glen-L 19) in Texas. It was a salty looking thing and I thought it would serve my needs as a project boat and sail thing.
I bought the boat from a man in Texas in 2004 and have
steadily redone much of the boat. I think I saved this Glen L
19 from a chain saw. My wife insists that is all anybody else
would have done with it. The boat had a rotten roof, a rotten
deck on my initial inspection, but the big surprise was yet
to come. It also had a rotten swing keel trunk. Although I
didn't notice this when I bought it. Note: Double your
efforts to find problems when there is water in the boat. I
have some tips for boat builders:
Do not use plain steel screws! It does not matter that the
hull is covered on the outside with fiberglass and resin.
Water gets on the inside from rain and condensation. Even
Maranti plywood will rot with nail sickness; so does Cyprus.
I think the Glen L 19 is a good sailing boat. It sails well
into the wind and has enough mass to make turns into the wind
without backwinding the jib, something a good Hobby Cat
friend insists on doing, which reduces progress by over
correcting for a problem that doesn't exist.
The 19 has almost cavernous interior, as long as you are
4' tall, just sit there. The lack of the mast through the
roof and the flat floor only adds to the roominess.
I have noted that there is only one other Glen L 19 in the
archives. That is surprising in that it is one of the largest
boats that can be trailered and sailed easily single handed.
Sometimes I just can't get a crew together to sail.
I have attached a couple of pictures of the craft and would
like to hear from others that have built Glen L 19. (See
Project Registry for contact information.)
