American Mariner Sailboats
20'-30' Family Cruisers

Headroom in the main cabin and galley area without poptops or excessive freeboard is a revolutionary feature in each model. Utilizing the patented shoal draft keel (28 inches maximum draft molded as an integral part of the hull). Eliminate the usual bothersome centerboard plus provide the many advantages of interior ballast for the non-trailering family.

Hull configurations provide responsive "stiff" sailing, plus remarkable "under power cruising." The very design characteristics which make the American so stable and sea-easy also permit trouble free launching and retrieving.

Sturdy construction includes hand-layed fiberglass hulls and plywood reinforced sandwich lamination in cabin tops, decks, cockpits, and transoms. One piece molded hull and cabin innerliners all but eliminate interior maintenance and condensation.

Do You Own One?

So, why buy a hulk like this and drag it 700 miles back to Kansas? Two reasons: headroom and trailerable! The American Mariners had a (then) patented step-down keel that adds another 10 inches or so of headroom that otherwise wouldn't have been there. Thats right, 10 inches. When you step to the floor of the main cabin, you can step down again into the keel. With my 6' 2" height, that extra headroom was important. The second reason; since were located in the midwest, I wanted to be able to trailer my boat to other areas. With only 28" of draft, the Americans are a piece of cake to load, launch, and pull.

I had driven 700 miles for this little fixer upper, so I wasn't about to go home empty handed. The rebuild was long and complicated, but the rewards immeasuable. With the help of the good people at "West Marine", and a small fortune in topside paint, bottom paint, new interior decor, filling in of bashes, dents, dings, scratches, etc... the old girls looking pretty good. I've learned everything I know about sailboats and sailing with this American 24. It's unfortunate they are no longer manufactured, but I would like to find out who else out there has them. Perhaps we can help each other with ideas and knowledge regarding maintainance, acquisiton of spare parts.... well, you know.

This site is just starting, so contact me and let me know who you are, where you are, and lets see where this site might lead us all.
Sincerely,
Shannon Holley

UPDATE... I havn't added any info for a while. The above monolog was written in 1998, its now fall of 2001 and my sailing interest is as strong as ever. A lot of reality has soaked in, and my sailing skills, (they didn't exist in 98) have gotten a bit better and I'm sailing pretty well these days. Lots of updates to the boat, and a few boo-boos along the way. I explained to a fellow the other day that my early opinion of the boat was that it had a snap roll characteristic when a gust of wind caught me off guard. The problem was really caused by a worn out old mainsail. I bought a new main from Doyle that has made an unbelievable difference in the boats behavior. If I had known the difference would be so dramatic, I would have replaced the silly thing years ago. The sail from Doyle is fantastic. I was guided through the whole process by Bly Berkin of hunterowners.com. Bly was awsome, wouldn't let me buy a Hunter sail that I thought would fit me well. She made me do it right, you know, measurements, the whole enchilada. She found a Doyle loft that could get the sail done in time for my vacation, which was plannned around the boat. It came two days early, and was PERFECT in every way. My hat will always be off to Bly.
UPDATE...April/2002: I finally named my boat..."Slippery When Wet". Just took 4 years to bond with a name. Also, I wasn't going to mention this unless I knew it worked, but I've dreamed of getting away from the "YANK" start gas engine and into something more quiet and elegant. This year I switched to an ELECTRIC DRIVE. Click for the detail. I love it.
UPDATE...Feb/2003: I'm doing a bit of wood working this winter. My teak has been outdoors for 23 years. I'm flabber-gasted at how tough this stuff is. When I think its rotten, I pull it off and clean it off with a sanding mouse, only to find its heavy, dense, and hard enough to spank a Rottweiler. All of my solid teak is in great shape, the ply materials are another story. I'm replacing them with mahogany and oak. I made a new companion way entry, and am finishing my cockpit locker doors, and will start looking at dorade boxes for a pair of dorade vents I finally received from Sailnet. I'll attach pic's and explanations on this Project link.
UPDATE...June/2006: Have made a few changes on the electric drive. Had to let the ChargeTek charger go and replaced with a Dual Pro three bank charger. Due to overcharging from the former charger, I had to replace the batteries after 4 seasons. This may not seem to soon, but I probably should have gotten more years from them. The new charger from Dual Pro now lies under my scrutiny. It stops charging once the batteries are fully charged; it remains "on", monitoring them, and will charge again when self discharge drops them to a pre-set level. This keeps it running cool, and I just don't think it's a good idea to overcharge and hold the batteries at the higher 13.6 level. The Dual Pro does NOT do this. Details on the electric drive page.
ANOTHER UPDATE...June/2006 LED navigation lights. You can buy em' for about $140 bucks, or you can make them for less than $10; you be the judge. Visit this LINK.

Thumbs..(some befores & afters)