From:  "Rick "

Date:  Wed Sep 8, 1999  5:12 pm

Subject:  [watkins] Watkins info

Hello all,

Well, I finally managed to catch Rich (Watkins) during a quiet moment and got his replies to questions that several of you have posed. I also found out that Coda will maybe even hit the water in a couple of weeks (oh please, please ...)

Any way, here goes:

1. Hull layup schedule (W27)

.75 oz. mat

(2) 1.5 oz. mats

24 oz roving

1.5 oz. mat

24 oz. roving

1.5 oz. mat

24 oz. roving

As you can see, the hull is no lightweight and plenty strong.

2. Post 1980 ownership of Watkins (after Rich and his brother sold it) Rich says he doesn't recall the name of the actual owner (he said he'd have to dig through old files) but that a manager at Watkins was Dennis Robbins who he believes may be working at Trident Shipworks, Inc. in Tampa (813) 839-5151. Those who need detailed information on post 1980 boats might try to establish contact with him.

3. Model production run quantities from serial #. The actual serial portion of the boat ID # is the quantity of that model built to date from that model's inception. My boat's hull ID # is WYM27428M81I so that my Watkins (WYM) 27 (27) was the 428th W27 built since that model's inception to build date May of 1981. I think I've got it right according to Rich but Robert you may want to check to be sure. The date coding does change at certain dates.

4. Keel weight material and construction. Jerry, I think it was you who had concerns about your keel and water saturated concrete that was evident. Well, Rich says that they did actually use concrete in the keel on boats after around 1979 (he wasn't sure of the exact date.) However, it wasn't used as the keel weight but rather as an encapsulating material around the actual lead keel weight. This was done as a cost saving measure when the polyester putty that was used previously to encapsulate the lead became prohibitively expensive. Apparently the use of concrete in this manner was done by quite a few boat builders at the time. Given the layup schedule above, if your keel structure is as thin as you say then I'll bet that it was ground down at some point after the boat left the factory.