From: JERRY L HOBSON From: "Jerry Hobson" <howlindawg@juno.com>
March 16, 1999, March 5, 2000

HOTHER (Rhodes #428)      46'3'  x  37'6'  x  12'6''  x  4'9''   designed in 1937, built in 1938, is in my back yard in Fort Myers, Florida, being rebuilt.    Her design was quite unusual, a double ended centerboard cutter for ocean racing.  She won about 29 trophies 1st and 2nd places, including races to Bermuda from  New York.    Hother was truly built strong for offshore racing.  She was well built, mahogany on oak, bronze floors, lead ballast,  bronze fastened.  She is described  in the book written by Richard Henderson, Philip Rhodes and His Yacht Designs, Chapter 19.

 I have completed most of the rebuilding work.  The normal processes of deterioration were seriously aggravated when she was run onto the Key West jetty one night in January, 1992.  The weather was fine, clear sky.  Both people on board drowned, and Hother sank in 20 feet of water.   The man was retired from the navy and should have know survival techniques.  The result of this mishap was a 2' x 2' hole in the forward starboard side under the bunk.  It took out two floors ( I've made new ones) and two frames.   Several other frames were broken.   I've replace nine frames in that area as well as 12 in the engine compartment (small engine room).  I scarfed in the required planking where the rock went through the hull.

Unfortunately, the people hired to re-float her were not experienced working a boat of this size.  In their attempt to drag her off the rocks, they tore out the dead wood aft of the ballast (about the lower 8'').  They also tore out the lower part of the stern post, below the prop shaft, and broke off the rudder from the stern post down.

I replaced 4 keel bolts in the area of the gripe with silicone bronze that I made out of bar stock.  These 4 were original and sounded pretty bad when tapped with a hammer.  They had corroded away down to 3/16'' diameter.  They were originally 1/2'' diameter.  All the rest of the keel bolts are 7/8'' diameter and are in fine shape.

All of the floors from forward of the mast to aft of the center board trunk are made of silicone bronze.  The rest are massive wood (white oak).  I'm using white oak and ash in the structural repairs.  I had to make 3 new deck beams and I laminated them using ash (it glues well since it is not an oily wood like white oak).  I've replaced all of the damaged and ripped out wood with new white oak  (1'' planks) that I laminated in with epoxy and secured with silicone bronze  #14 screws and 12'' x 1/2'' lag bolts.   I still have to make a new rudder or add the missing section to the old one.

I've epoxy glued splines into all the seams to keep the hull planks stable.  I rolled on two coats of 2 to 1 (thinned 10%) epoxy on the out side.  The planks have not moved any at all.   I now have what is like a strip planked hull only with wider planks and without the edge nailing.  I also coated the inside of the hull with epoxy.  My intention is too put on two layers of veneer on the outside of the hull using the WEST type of application.  I have bought all the lumber to make the veneer.  Spanish Cedar.   The added vineer will surely give great strength to the hull.   The inside of the boat has a ceiling (liner) that is 3/8'' thick and this ceiling along  with the 1 1/4'' planking is what gave her the strength needed to survive the
crash.

 The 3 large bilge stringers originally put in are still in great condition.  The frames are 2'' x 2'' and many have been sistered.

The chain plates are attached to a solid piece of bronze plate 18'' x 48'' on each side of the hull. Then, there are diagonal bronze straps running from those massive plates down to the keel.

The Mystic Seaport Museum has all of the original drawings of this boat.  I bought copies of seven of them including one for the rudder.

 I removed the water tanks to reseal them and I still have to re-install the forward starboard bunk and lockers.   I still have to make some cabin sole...many floated away.

The engine was stolen out of the storage in Key West and so I need another one.  The center board was removed but no one would ever tell me who did it.  It was of bronze plate with 1000# of lead shot.  It definitely was not broken off and it did not fall out of the centerboard trunk.  The lock down bolt had been backed upward so the board could be removed.
 

Hother in a travel lift:

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