Stone Harbor Museum, Take Two.

Both of my long time readers  will recall that towards the end of last summer I attempted to see a Moth Boat which was supposedly on display at the Stone Harbor Museum.  Diarist family was down on the Jersey shore last week and so a second attempt to see the Moth was made.  

The Stone Harbor Museum is located at 235 93rd Street.  It was open this time.

The Moth turned out to be a Shelley Mk I with a self-draining style cockpit.  The coves at the transom are a John Shelley design hallmark.  His International 14 from the early 1960s also has this design feature.

From the bow one can see the distinctive flat Shelley stem above the waterline.  The chine is hard to see in this photo and eventually fades away at about the chain plate position as we view the U-shaped bow.

There is already tree debris laying in the cockpit.  This boat should be displayed indoors!

Another shot of the boat.  At first I assumed that this boat was built by Bill McCutcheon on the Isle of Wight but after discussing the details with Bob Patterson it may be one of the Shelley-design Moths which his brother Tom built.  This particular boat is Nr 3028 and was donated to the Museum by  Stone Harbor YC member Kevin Pain.

With a bit of rearrangement the Moth could be displayed inside this outbuilding which houses photographs, half models and other dinghy racing memorabilia.  At least they have the boat under a canopy.  Hopefully other arrangements will be made before the weather takes it's toll on this Moth. I always have mixed emotions whenever I learn of Moth Boats being used as static displays rather than being raced.  A boat which is raced is a boat that will be maintained in good condition. The Museum has examples of other race boats which are in various states of decay.  This underlines the fact that it's often easier to donate a boat to an organization than it is for the receiving Museum to safely house, repair and display it.