17' Davis Sloop Rigged Penobscot 17 (2010) - PISTACHIO

PISTACHIO is an Arch Davis designed Penobscot 17 rowing/sailing boat that sails and rows well. As a lifelong canoer and kayaker I looked for several years for a small, simple, easily trailerable sailboat that would be ideal for exploring the mid coast of Maine on those days when the breezes picked up. My wife and I have 3 married children who are now having children of their own so this kind of boat has been ideal for a growing family of all ages.

There are so many choices of boats in this size range that are great but I fell in love with the Penobscot’s graceful sheer, nearly plumb bow and wineglass transom. The lapstrake really shows off her lines and I found the design beautiful from any angle. Also, being modern glued lapstrake, we could take her in and out whenever we wished.

I had intended to build this boat and had purchased plans when our boat came up for sale only a couple hours drive away. The builder, Jim Schlough, had done a beautiful job so rather than wait a year or two for my own build, we bought her.

The Penobscot 17 has lived up to all my expectations. She is perfect in 5-10 knot breezes. 2 reefpoints makes it possible to sail her safely in more, but being unballasted you need to keep a hand on the sheets all the time. Beating into 2-3 foot seas you might get some spray but it’s pretty easy to back off some and stay mostly dry. I can sail solo or load up with 4 or 5 adults, a kid or two and our dog on a calm day. Balance is wonderful I really notice no weather helm at all.

I believe her to be fairly quick. Times we’ve been out with other boats I’ve received comments that people struggled to keep up. My wife and I jumped into a local race last summer and for a mile or so in very light air, we came from a couple hundred yards back to leading the pack of much larger boats. Coming around an island though we hit some pretty strong winds so while the other boats took off like racehorses, we turned tail and cruised home.

The other thing I love about this boat is when breezes die, or when we want to put into a quiet beach for the day, it’s easy to drop the sails and row wherever we want to go. There are two rowing stations if we really needed to cover a lot of distance under oar. Maybe someday when I’m really old I’ll explore a small electric motor but for now the oars are perfect.

Mostly though I love sailing PISTACHIO. From trailer to sailing is only about 20 minutes. We keep her on a mooring so can have sails up and ready to go in 5 or 10 minutes. She’s fun to pilot. She’s a great camp cruiser for a couple of people exploring islands along the Maine trail. Or just a great picnic boat. And back on the mooring the deck can be a wonderful spot for a nap.