"Patience", a Sam Rabl-designed Picaroon II

by Burton Blais
(Kemptville, Ontario, Canada)

I recently acquired a Sam Rabl-designed Picaroon II sailboat built by Jamie Little (launched in 2006) of St. John, New Brunswick.

She is built almost entirely to the designer's specs (right down to the clever sliding companion way door windows as illustrated in "Boat building in your own backyard").

She is built of eastern white cedar strip planking and tamarack frames, coated in epoxy inside and out.

The deck is built of tamarack planking, and the cabin sports round portholes (a small deviation from the elongated ports shown in the Picaroon plans - the round ports are much saltier looking to my mind).

She carries a gaff main and a small jib, with beautiful wood blocks.

Her cabin is cozy but plenty spacious for two adults to go on extended cruises.

She needs plenty of wind to get going, but when she does, she seems to perform quite well on all points of sail (though so far my experience sailing her is limited).

She is amazingly stable, and feels like a much larger keelboat both underway and when walking about her decks at anchor.

I plan to spend the winter months in 2010-2011 restoring her (her varnished decks and cabin sides are in desperate need of refinishing, and a few areas of water damage in the cockpit require attention).

For auxiliary power she has a sweet little re-built Farymann 8 HP diesel which pushes her along just tickity tackity...

Her new home waters will be in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River (I found her in the Northumberland Strait and trailered her home to Ontario).

Now that I have brought her home to live in a freshwater realm, I am quite concerned about the possibility of rot in the bilges.


Burton Blais, Kemptville, Ontario, Canada.

Comments for "Patience", a Sam Rabl-designed Picaroon II

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May 29, 2019
Backyard boat
by: Doug

Nice to come across this Pickeroon story!

My dad built one in Tampa Florida.

Took 9 years but it got done and sailed Tampa Bay in the early 60s.

Feb 05, 2012
QUITE A BOAT STREET WE LIVE ON!
by: Bill Haldenby

Hi Barton, nice to see my neighbours on this forum as well!! Nice posting of your sail boat.

Bill
Kemptville


May 07, 2011
Picaroon
by: Jeff W.

Lovely boat.

We had two Picaroons in our family; the first an 18 footer that matched your boat and later a 25 foot ketch that I knew as the Picaroon Two, with bowsprit and gas ( Gray marine) auxiliary, built by my father with plywood bottom and strip-plank( yellow cedar) topsides.

Both were seaworthy but not noteworthy for weatherly performance.

We cruised Picaroon Two around Isle Royale in Lake Superior in comfort and style.

Fair winds and good sailing.




Nov 05, 2010
dry rot
by: Anonymous

Dump salt in the bilges. Salt water doesn't cause dry rot.

Any fresh water entering becomes ---saltwater ---!




Aug 23, 2010
Such a Pretty Boat!!
by: Mike

The Picaroon is a much admired and very seaworthy design.

"Patience" looks to be a very fie example, I'm sure she will give you many hours of happy sailing.

Look after her and she will look after you.


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