Re: Hello from a Jinni (#426) owner

Yes it is like the one Jim Michalak built. Apparently he built the first one. According to Bruce Hallman's website there was another design named Jinni but my Jinni is the 426 that Michalak built as his second boat in the early '80's. I bought the plans from Common Sense Designs in 1990. This was well before the falling out with Bolger I believe. I only learned of that, and the history of the design with Michalak, in the past couple of weeks. 
There are a few web videos of a Jinni under sail on the web. It was very strange to see them, since my boat hasn't been in the water in 14 years The one linked below is nearly identical because it was also built with pivoting leeboard and rudder, and was painted with the same color scheme. I used a sail track on the main mast instead of lashing. 

Just out of curiosity, assume the boat was well-built and similar to the one below and came with a good condition trailer. What price would you ask for? I imagine the market on a small lake in Texas is smaller for a boat like this than on the east coast. I need to suck it up and get the boat back here and just use it myself. Transport cost will equal what I could get for it I image. 

Thanks for input.

Bolger Jinni Coming in

 

 
 
Where did the plans come from if it is the one Jim Michalick  built I always wanted to build one . Phil has quiet the following here in Hampton roads Va area I have never had a hard time selling a well built boat , the conversations they start up out on the water is incredible

Hi all,

 

I'm a new member of the group and wanted to introduce myself and ask a couple of questions about my boat. I bought the plans for a Jinni (16' sharpie camp-cruiser) in 1990 or '91. I worked off and on on the boat for several years while in graduate school in Miami and finally had her sailing in 1995. I built her to plans except that I used a pivoting leeboard of my own design. I had a lot of fun sailing that boat from 1995-2000. I experienced a lot of things good and not so good mentioned in threads on this group, which I only recently discovered. Lots of sail and could be fast, not an exceptional pointer, could pound quite badly and experience "oil-canning" but no big deal. Capsized her a number of times, but had no trouble righting - just had to do a fair amount of bailing afterwards. Went camp cruising to small keys in Florida Bay a few times - a perfect boat for that. 


 Building my boat was a lot like writing a dissertation - a long battle of endurance, very rewarding, and left me with the feeling that I absolutely never want to do that again. Even with such a simple design - although the end product came out well, I work just too dang slow. In 2000, I moved to Hawaii and left the boat in covered storage in Texas. At the time I couldn't imagine ever selling it because of the blood, sweat, and tears invested. Fast forward 14 years (I sailed a Hobie 16 bought for $900 in Hawaii) and I'm back in Miami. My Jinni is still at my grandfather's place and I'm trying to decide whether I want to spend the money ($1500 or so?) to get it back here. With 3 young kids and very little free time, even taking on a complete paint and varnish job (which is all it really needs) is more than I really want to take on. 


 Is there a question here? Yes. If I was to put the boat on e-Bay, do you think I'd be lucky to get $1000 for her (the trailer needs to be rebuilt and rewired). I just never figured there would be much of a resale market for small home-built boats.


Assuming I transport her here and refinish ... one addition I might like to make is adding a smaller motor to putt around Biscayne bay near the mangroves and maybe do a little fishing with the kids. What do you recommend for a motor. She was built with 1/4" marine ply and presumably I'd (1) have to reinforce the stern, and (2) the mount would have to go to one side of the rudder. Problem is that Jinni under after deck had enclosed compartments on both sides holding closed cell flotation. I'm not sure how I would be able to mount anything from outside. Any thoughts on adding a motor?


Thanks for reading and any recommendations. All my old photos of the boat are also in storage but if/when I can locate them, I'll post a couple.

John