PORT TOWNSEND — It took a whole yard full of folks for this vessel to achieve successful seaworthiness.
Greg and Sheryl Kerkof, who plan to launch today their 50-foot sailboat, Toccata, discovered this while building the boat from the hull up over the past 27 years.
“Bernie Arthur sold us the hull back in 1983, although he tried to talk us out of it,” said Greg, 62.
“Since then, we’ve done much of the work ourselves. It has occupied us for years, but we had a lot of help.”
Said Sheryl, 59: “Dan Kulin and Lisa Vizzini of Port Townsend Rigging did the mast and the rigging. They are true artists.”
Added Greg: “Carol Hasse at Port Townsend Sails is doing very good work. We will have them up next week.”
“And you can’t forget the BUMs, the Bottoms Up Marine Services,” Sheryl said.
“We are going to have them fix the hull once we get the water line.”
The boat weighs about 38,000 pounds and contains about 400 square feet of tightly controlled living space.
Even though the quarters are tight, the boat can sleep eight people easily, includes two bathrooms, a tub-shower, a kitchen and a comfortable sitting area.
There will be constant fine tuning, such as when Sheryl, who planted a small garden in the cabin, puts in a small shelf behind the herbs.
“That’s news to me,” Greg said in response to the shelf idea.
The project, said Sheryl, “will never be done.”
The Kerkofs were married in 1980 and started the project when they were comparative newlyweds.
The boat spent most of the intervening years in the back yard of their Mulkiteo home, while Greg worked for Boeing and Sheryl for the University of Washington Medical Center.
Now both retired, they moved to Port Townsend in October and live on the boat as it sits in the boat yard.
After today’s test launch and last-minute repairs, the boat will be christened on July 10.
The Kerkofs will spend the summer in Port Hadlock because of dock renovations in Port Townsend, with an uncertain future.
They may fulfill the lifelong ambition of sailing to New Zealand, or just take a lot of side trips to Alaska.
“That area is paradise even though it’s a cold paradise,” Greg said. “You can travel up the coast from here to Ketchikan and stop in different inlets and never see the same area.
“You could do this for years,” he said.
Greg did all the finish work and carpentry, and the cabin is full of light wood that brightens the mood.
At the same time, the controls are simple with just the necessary dials, contrasting with the Starship Enterprise feel of some modern boats.
While Greg can build or fix almost any mechanical device, he doesn’t have the same ability with digital equipment.
He is comfortable with this.
“One of the reasons that I like Port Townsend is there are a lot of people like me around here with the same abilities,” he said.
“This makes the area exciting to me, that a lot of people are doing much the same thing.
“There are a lot of really experienced people here who work very hard at their jobs,” he said. “It’s not like some of the Seattle boatyards, where you get a young kid making minimum wage who doesn’t really care.”
Building a boat is a remarkable feat, but the Kerkofs draw respect from the boat yard crew for a reason that has nothing to do with skill.
“It’s amazing that they pulled this off and stayed together,” Vizzini said. “A lot of couples break up when they try to build a house.”
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
