Here's the story on the Sonic 30 from an owner who needed help with
the uncompleted interior. I sent him photos of the e 27 interior,
which is also similar to the Sonoma's and Synergy's interiors; all
have the signiture slat benches. I was doing research on Carl
Schumacher's designs, trying to develope a time line on his designs.
Here's the e mail thread:
"Bill: Thanks for the kind remarks on my boat. Almost but not quite a
Sonoma 30. After Gorman (or whatever his name was) skipped on Carl
Schumacher and went back to Australia, Carl entered into an agreement
with Tom Vance in Port Townsend, Washington, to rework the Sonoma 30.
Using some of the mods done for a customer for a heavily modified
Olson 30 called Vanishing Girl, and the keel from The Great Red Shark
(Sonoma 30 Hull #1 in Hawaii), three SONIC 30 hulls were built, but
only one was assembled...mine. Think of a Sonoma 30 hull with a
retractable bulb keel, elliptical rudder, rounded corners on the
cabin and coaming edges, taller rig and longer boom, and masthead
spinnaker. Vance also built an Express 27 (for Carl) and an Express
34 in the early 90's. BUT, then Vance skipped on Carl, got married,
and quickly headed off to go around the world in a Freya 39 five
years ago. Then when Russel Belden approached Carl to build a new
boat based on the Sonoma/Sonic 30, Carl told him of Vance. He could
not reach Vance so built the Synergy 1000 (9 hulls, but not all
built) as Timeless Marine. The bow is more vertical and the half-high
stern was removed to extend the stern (open cockpit stern) to extend
the sailing length. Well, Timeless wasn't timeless, the boat was way
too high-tech built causing an exorbitant price and it
folded, and it folded. Russel's trying to start an America's Cup
campaign based in Seattle probably did not help. Bankruptcy problems
now diminished, he is trying to build more Synergy's but lower tech
and cheaper. See sailinganarchy.com for the Synergy ad and link to
the web site. There are several Express 27 and Sonoma 30/Synergy 1000
posters on the forum there also. Carl once told me on the phone that
the Sonoma 30 and it's evolutions were among his favorite designs and
biggest disappointments all because of builder problems (flakey). I
added the flakey.
The Express 27 was on MY short list as a really great boat, but there
are none that I know of in Puget Sound and I would have had to go
south to find one at the time. Of course, then the Sonic 30 became
available. I would like to see the interior of an E-27 to get ideas
for my interior. Carl had said the layout was basically the same, but
Vance never finished it.
Ben Daniels
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Daniels [mailto:
[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 9:26 AM
To: Bill Park
Subject: Thanks for the info
Bill:
A little background on my Sonic 30. There were three hulls and decks
produced, primarily...I was told...under the direction of Chris
Corlett (now in the bay area as a broker), and they appear to have
been done quite well. Vacuum bag process with Baltek core and
vinylester resins. Vance has the remaining two sets under a lean-to
in Port Townsend, Washington. The boat went a little downhill from
there, as in his haste to get one to the San Francisco Boat Show in
the winter of '95, I swear they were installing hardware, pulpits,
maststep, etc. while trailering the boat down I-5. Probably with a
side trip to the West Marine in Portland for nuts and bolts. They
obviously forgot the caulk, because much of the hardware had none. I
can laugh now, because most of everything has been re-bedded. I'll do
the maststep once the new rudder hardware is on. The old one was from
Schaeffer and recommended for boats 20' and less. Real scary when it
broke. On the plus side, the boat is a great to sail with the best
cockpit I have ever experienced. The boat is docked in Lake
Washington, east of Seattle, where we do fun races, not the more
serious Puget Sound stuff. She planes pretty easily and we have hit
14.3 knots boatspeed on a sustained one mile plane in about 18-20
knots wind.
Carl had mailed me interior plans (without dimensions), as Vance had
only "finished" the center 10 feet, and not according to Carl's
vision. I missed out on the park bench slats and instead got two ten
foot cushioned settees with an Igloo cooler/step, and...well that's
all folks. Carl had planned to have more like what the Synergy ended
up with, which looks alot like the photo's you e-mailed. He said mine
was to based on the Express 27 with changes because of the
retractable keel trunk which is glassed to the bilge and underside of
the deck. My next project is the interior and I really appreciate the
photograhs. In particular, the forward partial bulkhead with the
cutout for the forepeak. I'll be installing foam stringers and can
glass them into the bulkhead.
The rig on my boat is very similar to the E-27 and I have been using
tuning tips for the E-27 to get mine up to snuff.
Thanks again for the photos. They will be helpful for my winter
project.
Ben
