Hello Bly:
I just spent about 60 minutes on the Sea Sprite website and forum discussion section. I honestly felt like I was cheating on my girlfriend
Anyway, from what I can gather there is more confusion on that website about Wickford Shipyard and/or CE Ryder. Apparently, from what I can understand there was not a lot of consistently in production design. CE Ryder did some prep work on hulls and sent some to Wickford and vice versa. After an hour I had to stop searching. I got a headache
They also had many different opinions about hull identification numbers as they pertained to the SS 23 series. Apparently both CE Ryder and Wickford Shipyard used the same hull numbers for their respective mfg.
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
Now that's not too confusing.
I also tried to research the issue of the hull separation at the keel on a bolted on keel. There seemed to be one guy (Robert Granier) who knows a lot about SS 23s. He suggested in a post that this is probably not a big issue. I, nevertheless, remain troubled by this issue.
While the Sea Sprite site appears to be nice, I must candidly state it is not close to the quality of this site - especially in format, ease of access to issues, maneuvering within the site, etc. I am not sure who handles this kind of stuff for the CDSOA board, but they sure know what they are doing
At the risk of wearing thin my welcome, I will try to keep the board posted on developments with this SS 23. I may make an offer but I am just afraid of buying a lemon and winding up not being able to make lemonade.
I really do not want to risk throwing away $5,000 - $6,000 on a risky venture. A Cape Dory seems a much, much more solid investment.
Fair winds,