We had a plan … then things happened.

In mid-2016 one of the rare Jerry Montgomery Panthers became available and we jumped on the chance to own a piece of Montgomery Marine Products history. The Panther is a pure racing boat designed by Ron Holder. Jerry Montgomery only built about a dozen. The boat will plane in winds over about 12 knots. She has an unballasted centerboard so the crew is hiking out to keep the boat upright in anything over a light breeze. She is a fractional sloop with a HUGE main and TALL rotating mast. Jerry only built a few as his distributors were marketing the boat as a family daysailor because of the large open deck and cockpit. As she is a race boat she is a bit ‘twitchy’ and is not appropriate for casual family outings.

When we got her to the boat shop she needed a few fixes: repair the transom as the backing for the rudder gudgeons was rotten, retune the rig and fix a broken frame. Otherwise she needed some cosmetic work and the boat would be ready to sail.

 

Well. A strong storm came through Golden, Colorado, with 100+ miles per hour winds. The boat and trailer were picked up, meaning they flew through the air, and the boat came to a sudden crashing stop. The mast and boom are bent. The centerboard was broken. A chainplate pulled out taking part of the deck with it. One of the trailer tires came off the rim. Yeah it was one hell of a blow!.

So the Panther is now available to someone willing to take on the project. All the running, standing and miscellaneous parts are present though severely damaged … and some in better condition than others (see above). She is a project. First person that takes her gets the boat! Cost – FREE! 

** THE PANTHER HAS GONE TO A NEW HOME AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE **

SageCat Update

So what happened with SageCat’s mast?

In Monterey when SageCat’s mast came down Jerry Montgomery believed that the rotation knuckle on top of the tabernacle post failed.  At the time this could not be confirmed as the knuckle had been driven down into the tabernacle post and could not be inspected.

This photo is of SageCat’s broken tabernacle post just after she was put back on her trailer in Monterey, CA. The knuckle is inside the post so at the time this picture was taken we were unsure ‘what had broken first’.

Upon return to Golden, Colorado, we removed the tabernacle post from SAGECAT and found that the leading edges of the knuckle’s plate had failed.

The broken knuckle. This part is a modified late 1970s part that was used on the Montgomery Panther.

Close up view of the failed tabernacle post.

What cannot be confirmed is if the plate failed and then broke through the tabernacle post, or the post failed and this resulted in the knuckle’s plate failing as the mast fell.

This broken rotation knuckle is from a Montgomery Panther.  The Panther is a 17′ raceboat Jerry built for a few years in the 1980s.  The post is, or was, an aluminum casting.  Yes, the prototype part was made 30+ years ago.

We have made a new, stronger, tabernacle post and machined a new, stronger, knuckle.

New interim rotation knuckle on the left, the broken modified Montgomery Panther version on the right.  As Sage Marine is part of Spyderco knives the new knuckle was CAD designed and then CNC milled out of a block of 6061 aluminum.

These new components have been installed on ASOLARE, the Sage 15 sloop, for testing.

Improved tabernacle post, interim prototype rotating mast post and chainplates installed on Sage 15 ASOLARE.

Dave did sail the catboat rigged ASOLARE the 6th of August … and again on Chatfield Reservoir on 12 August … but only light winds were blowing on each lake.  We continue to wait for strong wind, 15+ knots, to confirm the serviceability of the new setup.

So there you have it, prototype boat testing means there will be failures and things needing improvement.  Sage Marine tests boats hard.  We, meaning Sage Marine, do this in order to assure owners the craft is safe and seaworthy in real world conditions.