The Midship was originally going to be Sea Camper and Sears was going to market them. That never happened. The Bob Finch designed boat went into production in Westminster, California in 1971(?) and possibly  a handfull of prototypes with no serial numbers were produced. The Trail-Yacht Company sold out to the Dawson Company. This Company, who built biz jets in England set up a plant in Las Vegas, Nevada and went into production there in 1972, retaining the Midship name. Since they had no dealer network, they sold the boats directly to the public through magazine advertising. The base price including trailer was around $7500...They had a LONG option list. You ordered your boat and when it was ready, you drove to Las Vegas and picked it up. That was the plan and they built and sold maybe 200 of them, Midship 25's, in '72-'74. They then moved production to Florida and changed the name to "Dawson 26". There are few if any boats built in 1975. Production was sporatic in Florida and ceased altogether in 1979. They built maybe 130 Dawsons in Florida. Then a fellow named Capt. Parker, a New Englander, bought the molds and tooling and built one or two very fancy renditions re-named Parker Dawson 26 and promoted them heavily at boat shows. The price had ballooned to over $25,000 and the unique fiberglass inner cabin liners were not used, which saved some weight and construction cost. These boats were built at Rumery Boat Yard in Biddeford Maine, 1981-1984, something like that. Parker built maybe 15 boats, no more, before he sold the molds and tooling to someone on the west coast who never built another Midship. The total number built is less than 330, 1972-1984. The hull number progression is unbroken for Midship, Dawson, Parker-Dawson. Most were sloops, a few had ketch rigs, most are tiller steered but some have wheel steering. Many different inboard engines were used, both gas and diesel, in the 5 to 10hp range. OMC Saildrives, Petter diesels, Vire, a few others found their way into the engine compartment. They have an 1100 pound cast iron swing keel and a retractable rudder allowing easy trailering and launching and providing a 20" draft with keel and rudder up. With the keel fully lowered, you need six feet of water. A small percentage of these boats had fixed keels, making them more seaworthy but much more difficult to trailer and launch.

Along the way, many of the '72-'74 Midship owners started calling their boats "Parker-Dawson 26" as they gained a foot of hull length and they liked the classy sounding name.

I'm writing this from memory, my Midship 25 file is not with me now. I'll fill in the details this summer when we are in Massachusetts.

I have owned a 1973 model, Costa, ID number MDS500650573 still on it's original trailer, since 1988. MDS50 065 0573 means she is #65 built in May, 1973 Costa has spent most of her days on the Sea Of Cortez in Mexico. We still use the original hanked on Hallmark sails. I'll try to answer any questions if I can..There are more pictures of Costa in the "Proud Owners" forum.

Cheers & Fairwinds.



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I'll be on Cape Cod in a week and maybe I'll drive over to Nauset Marine and see what I can dredge up. I'm not sure they ever built a Dawson or actually had possession of the molds..There IS a bar on Rt28 called Captain Parkers...The Bombay 26 story is even less credible, but anything's possible..I got most of my information by researching old magazine articles. I know of one bonafide trans-atlantic crossing (a single handed racer, Bob Lengyel) who had beefed up the rigging and used a fixed keel, and I interviewed an older gentleman in Boulder, Colorado (Bob Barrell) who had sailed one to Tahiti with his next door neighbor. The neighbor jumped ship in the Marquesas and Bob hired a local boy to crew for him. He put the boat on a reef near Tahiti and came within a heatbeat of losing her. The boat drove up on a coral reef, got hung up by the keel which bent the locking pin so he could not remove the pin to lower the keel. A large wave pushed him over the reef with minor hull damage. He completed the journey and shipped the boat back to San Diego as deck cargo on a freighter. His neighbor who jumped ship never spoke to him again. He sold the boat on the dock in San Diego, cheap..

IMHO, the swing keel makes these boats unsuitable for serious ocean voyaging. If the keel mechanism failed in a sea-way, you would be in serious trouble. They are PERFECT however for in-shore costal cruising and gunkholing and can even be used for off-shore passage making and island hopping. But there are far better choices for open ocean blue water cruising. Nor'sea and Pacific Seacraft come to mind..

You have jogged my rapidly failing memory...I seem to remember something about Nauset Marine having the molds for a while..I think Parker and Hopkins were in on it, but whether they ever built a boat there...I'll see what I can find out.

Do you know if the guy who bought the molds and tooling still has any of it? A moot point, really. They will never be made again and anything that breaks can be fabricated without factory support. I wonder if there are any salvage keel assemblies (or new keels!) tucked away..

The snow has finally melted off our Venture 21 parked on the front lawn of our Cape Cod house..I Have contacted both Rumery & Nauset Boat Yards asking for any information they might have. I'll post the replys back here..

Welcome aboard John!  Please let us know all the details you can remember! Production history, production locations, total number produced, how many boats did Henry Parker produce, did Nauset Marine on Cape Cod ever build any, all the trivia!

Also, did the first boats built in Westminister, CA have hull numbers? What year was the FIRST Midship 25 produced?

Again welecome aboard and feel free to join in!

A few questions ...

For Bob:
A couple of things on the fixed/swing keel.

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If the keel mechanism failed in a sea-way, you would be in serious trouble.

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Being a shallow water/shore device, the keel mechanism wouldn't normally be worked at sea. To a certain extent, it is also a 'fail-safe' device in that the thing most likely to break is the cable/retracting mechanism. In this case the keel would simply extend.

One thing that is interesting about the fixed/swing issue is performance. I read many who speak of the Midships being very slow but my experience has been different, perhaps due to the fixed keel.

Slow Ride holds her own quite well under most conditions, excepting in light air. My insistence on keeping it simple is part of the reason for poor light air performance - I have only a 125% jib.

In anything over about 7kts wind speed however, she does quite well.

She outpoints most boats her size (extensive testing against an old model Cal 27 and several Catalina 25's, all well sailed).

The more modern boats seem to reach a little better but that also might be due to my very old and rather small choice of sails.

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Bob Lengyel) who had beefed up the rigging and used a fixed keel

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Do you have more information on Prodigal? My (possibly failing) memory was that Prodigal was a swing keel boat. I have somewhere an article torn from one of the sailing mags about the 1976 Observer Single-handed Trans Atlantic Race (OSTAR) race. I remember being puzzled by the choice of a swing keel for a trans Atlantic boat. As I remembered, he towed it to the East Coast, sailed to England (thereby being able to qualify for the OSTAR), then racing back. An ugly season, remembered for bad storms during the race.

The Midships and Dawsons were very well built, having hand laid roving hulls as opposed to the matt and/or chopper gun construction of cheaper boats. After over 30 years of a very hard life, Slow Ride's hull is still quite strong and sound.

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The price had ballooned to over $25,000

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gained a foot of hull length

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I have (again, somewhere) a 1975 price list and a 1976 Dawson color brochure. In 1975, the (fully equipped but no trailer) price was right around $25,000.00. This was very close to the price a friend paid for a Schrock Santana 25 (a quite pricey MORC rule beater).

In 1976, Dawson (apparently still in Vegas due to the Lake Mead photos) had dubbed the boat a 26 footer. At 25' 7" we could average up since she is an inch over half foot ;-)

http://www.blackflute.com/sailing/srspecs.html

Slow Ride is either a 25 or a 26 depending upon who I am talking to ... when telling war stories at the bar, she is of course a 26. When talking with a dockmaster, she is a 25 (saving $1.50 - $2.00 for my transient dockage fees) lol

And for John:

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more history upon request

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Thank you for your input! I for one would be very keen for more first-hand information.

My exerience with the keel banging in heavy weather was very disconcerting, it felt like the boat could be severly compromised with a very few number of bangs.  I now have my keel pin and or tension on the cable at all times.

If I decide to cross an ocean it will probably be in a different boat.  I think the Bahamas and the Sea of Cortez will be enough of a challenge for me.

Bob

Great stuff, thanks for digging it out.  Talk to our ADMIN at webmaster@parkderdawson.com about the best way to share.

Steve