Design
Malolo was designed and built by in 1965 Edwin Albury of Man O'War Cay, Bahamas as a one-off cruising boat. There are no plans for her, she was built by eye, her hull shape being based on the Bahamian "sponge schooners". She has a shallow draft (as you would expect for a Bahamas boat), is quite beamy with the beam carried through most of her length and has lots of tumblehome. She has a sweeping sheerline, a reverse transom and a lovely clipper bow.
Malolo is ketch rigged, with a clubfoot staysail and a genoa on roller furling at the end of her 6 foot bowsprit. Her mainmast is set quite far forward with a long (20 foot) main boom, while the mizzen is relatively small. This combination makes her difficult to tack as she lacks power to push the bow through the wind. Her underbody is very rounded and full, flattening out to meet the full keel. The rudder is keel hung and there is approximately 3,000 pounds of outside lead ballast.
Her pilothouse is more like a hard dodger than a true pilothouse. It is an extension of the cockpit and is open at the aft end, although a canvas cover with a zippered "door" can be fitted. The side windows slide open and the forward windows open upwards. The cockpit is quite large, with the seats easily long enough for sleeping. There are two steering stations - one to starboard under the pilothouse and the other in the traditional sailboat position of centre aft. Only the inside steering station has engine controls.
Belowdecks, the galley is to port just inside the companionway, with additional galley space (and an icebox that we added) on the starboard side. Forward of the galley is the main saloon with a double berth to starboard, a single to port and a drop leaf table positioned in front of the single. The table is original to the boat and is made of "madeira", the same wood as the frames and floors. It is amazing to lift the drop leaf and see how heavy and dense the wood is.
We have fitted both settee/berths with hinged backrests that allow them to be used as comfortable seating with the backrest down or as berths with the backrests up. There is a "Tiny Tot" woodstove at the forward bulkhead of the main saloon, just to starboard of the doorway to the forward area.
Forward of the main saloon is a short hallway with a hanging locker to port and the head to starboard. The head has a separate shower stall. The f'oc'sle is set up as a v-berth with two single berths on either side, and the mast in the middle. Forward of the berths is a storage area and the chain locker.
We have since removed the hanging locker and turned it into a workbench, rebuilt the head adding a wet locker and rebuilt the v-berth. We are also in the process (spring 2009) of rebuilding the pilothouse.