Mr. Treloar sent us the e-mails below along with his photos. We thought everyone would enjoy reading about his Pocket Cruiser and its history.

Many years ago we received the photo on the left from the original builder, Mr. Davies. Mr. Davies built this Pocket Cruiser in 32 days (he also built a Triad in 11 days...). Mr. Treloar now owns the boat, and we'll let his e-mails give you the rest of the details!

When I bought the boat it was in a sad way. I had to replace half the sides from the transom up on both sides. 1/3 of the bottom, one side of the cockpit. The whole keel had rotted outso I laminated one out of pine and heaps of stainless screws and epoxy flat onto the bottom of the boat and when it was close to the right size I shaped it with a spoke shave an sander. I covered all the bottom and transom with double diagonal cloth and epoxy. A small part of the decks needed replacing and I also did the deck hull in cloth and epoxy. The post fot the mast had also rotted so I replaced that with laminated pine and strengthened up the deck where it goes through. I also had to replace the tabernacle. The rudder box was falling apart so I just rebuilt it and stiffened it up by using hard wood. The mast was falling apart and had a twist in it but luckily I was given two 26' long very old perfectly straight grained douglas fir flagpoles. I now have enough for 4 masts if I need them. The rigging was also replaced. The cabin top was also replaced as well as the windows. This might sound expensive but it only cost around $900 which also included getting the trailer repaired. It only took time because I had no advice or anything to work. The boat is still rough but it is strong and rot proof and everone loves it. I use an old Seagull outboard as I am rather fond of the dirty smelly noisy things. I have entered the boat in classic regattas and reenactmaents and gaffers races. Even though it might be rough people like it because it is obviosly not a show boat but one that gets used. I don't worry about knocking it around as I treat it like a work boat. The lee boards are made out of steel and are very simple to fit. After all the trouble I had with the boat at the beginning and all the worries we named it TITSAWORRI. Its a credit to the strength of your design as it was still being sailed very hard and very regular even as it was falling apart. None of the problems I have had have been due to your design but due to poor workmanship. So tell people not to try to make it a challenge by doing it to cheap by using poor quality materials as it is an excellent boat and deserves to be treated with respect.It still gets used very regularly and still cops a hiding in bad weather. Thank you for a great design.

Hello again from Chris Treloar in Australia. Thanks for the reply regards my pocket cruiser. I found the original builder through your sight. He is John Davies and only lives 30 miles away. He was extremely pleased to see that the boat had been rebuilt. It is testimony to the strength of your design because even though he built it very quickly he unfortunately built it to cheaply and a bit rough. He used packing case plywood which was used for shipping Volvos to Australia. He used all steel screws and resorcinal glues. The bottom was done in polyester. He said he would have done it in epoxy but it was very expensive and not easy to find back then.

Even though the boat was built rough it has done one hell of a lot of sailing. He has been caught out in 70 knot thunder storms and has quite regularly sailed it in 30 knots plus. He sometimes used to go cruising for 2 weeks at a time with his wife and 2 dogs. When he sold it there was no known rot in it. The person who bought it never did any but the most basic maintenance. When the bottom started to rot he repaired it with masonite and house bog. He lived aboard it for 3 months and sailed it on a 500 round mile trip up the coast of Queensland from Brisbane to Bundaberg and back. He never carried an outboard as he didn't believe in them. When he use to do these trips the boat was falling apart. The only thing that kept the bottom together was the polyester sheathing, and it was also the polyster that caused the problems as people have found out now it might be cheap but it doesn't stick to the wood and lets the moisture in. I highly recommend that people don't try to do a boat as cheap as they can as you pay the price later down the track. I don't use marine ply as the Australian exterior ply is of very high quality and uses the same glues and is a lot cheaper. I highly recommend epoxy regardless of the price.

The American System Three brand is excellent as it is very forgiving especially of atmospheric condition. Their glue is excellent, It will even go off properly in the wet and the cold doesn't seem to bother it.

Hello from Chris Treloar,
I thought you might like another photo of TITSAWORRI. Its taken at the beginning of a fun race on a classic boat regatta. The old boat held her own on the down wind mark and on the reach but got a bit left behind to windward, but that got sorted out by getting someone to go right up on the bow and getting the nose dug in. It always makes a difference. I am slowly learning the protocol on the bulletin board, it is all new to me.

Regards Chris. It is blowing about 40 knots here today so no sailing. Unusual weather for here