Peter,
I haven’t gotten direct status feedback from Good Old Boat, so your interpretation of what Kelley wanted is as good as mine.
One thing I can tell everyone for sure is that I was not able to send the magazine enough pictures of N36’s under sail. Whether she’s pursuing my article or someone else’s, I know that more sailing pictures will definitely be appreciated.
It’s also their standard practice to have a sidebar of “Owner Comments” with short, pithy quotes on owner’s views of the boat’s strengths and weaknesses. It might be that she also meant to solicit those.
Here’s an example of that accompanying the Gulfstar 39 review in the March issue you mentioned (https://mailchi.mp/goodoldboat/free-march-2020):
[My Gulfstar 39]… is a dream to sail. It is not a race boat but it is heavy like a bluewater boat. Overbuilt to the extreme. The construction was top-notch. We did have some blisters and a soft spot on the deck that was due to the leaky windows. Look at the inside wood. Make sure the windows have not leaked and ruined it. I wish there was a second bunk. The water tanks and fuel tanks most likely need to be opened and cleaned. We added a Racor filter. The water tank screws go lefty-tighty, righty-loosey. No idea why they did that, as this is a horrible way to do things.
—Derek Fronabarger Annapolis, Maryland
Since that was for a Gulfstar 39, not a Nonsuch 36, the takeaway should not be that quotes should focus on problems. They’ll be looking for fair and honest statements about the good, the bad, and ugly. It’s up to owners to decide the proportions of each.
For those of you who don’t already get Good Old Boat magazine, I’d encourage you to take a look. In addition to boat reviews, it has a lot of articles on boat projects and maintenance that are much better geared to how many of us actually use our boats than other sailing rags. (You won’t find articles in Cruising World or Sail on how to build a boot and gloves drier with a spare computer cooling fan and used tubing from your CPAP machine.)
Particularly for those with delayed or abandoned hopes of launching this year, it might provide some ameliorating distractions.
– Bob
Solar Wind
Nonsuch 26C, #143