Travel Day - Maine

Today I flew to Maine and picked up a rental car in Portland. I am making my way to Brooklin Boat Yard but wanted to spend a couple of days visiting boat yards. My first stop was Rockport Marine where I had the pleasure of inspecting their recently launched 1938 Alden motorsailer. The restoration was a 3 year process and it shows. Fantastic boat. Click here to access their website and see the finished product. I certainly hope this leads to more restorations of this type, especially if they are S&S motorsailers. I have a policy of not posting articles about other designer's work but in this case it is worth the exception.

I then drove over to Artisan Boatworks. This is a smaller yard run by a alum from Rockport Marine, Alec Brainerd and his crew. They specialize in smaller boats and custom construction but they tend to do their fair share of restoration work as well. Check out their website here. That boat at at the top is Sparkman & Stephens yacht Glory, a Finisterre type undergoing complete restoration. Here's a shot of her gutted interior. At the moment they are replacing broken frames.


And here's a Dark Harbor 20 being spiffed up for the season. I think this a great yard to build a smaller daysailer or cruising boat out of wood and really enjoy the process. Click here to access their website.


Tomorrow I am off to Morris Yachts. I will have the pleasure of sailing a new M42 with "short house" (sport edition) later tomorrow afternoon. This will be the second launched of this new series. I'll try to get some images and I'll be sure to post them here.

Design 1948 - One Ton Cup Series

Here's a stock design for a one-tonner. 11 Boats were built to this design at various yards around the world, generally in the UK, Italy and New Zealand and Australia from what I can see from the files. The boats were constructed of wood.

Boats with well known names like Morningtown and Kerkyra II sailing in England and the Mediterranean and boats like Boambillee in Australia were winners. Although an English boat, Conservative leader Ted Heath sailed his Morning Cloud to victory in the Sydney Hobart Race of '69/70. See my previous post about this design.


Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
Principal Dimensions
LOA 36'-4"
LWL 27'-0"
Beam 10'-6"
Draft 6'-3"
Displacement 13,462 lbs
Ballast 6,250 lbs
Sail Area 526 sq ft (heavy air rig) 551 (light weather rig)

Design 1959 - S&S 34

The S&S 34 is a very well proven cruising boat. It is the boat that Jessica Watson sailed single handedly around the world. Here is a newly restored 34 ready to launch. Note the sail drive installation. Nice looking boat. Click here for more information about the S&S 34.

Brilliant and Encore - Something Old and Something New

Although we were beset with very light air on Sunday, here's a shot of Encore motor-sailing past Brilliant at the entrance to Oyster Bay.

Design 1278-C1 - Caravan

Previously we posted an article about Irving Johnson's Yankee. As mentioned 8 boats were built to this design. Here is hull #2, Caravan. The boat is appropriately named as she was built for Wally Byam, father of the Airstream trailer. According to a relative of his who contacted us "Wally was going to retire and use his ketch to travel the oceans, the rivers and canals of the world. Unfortunately he became ill and died before he could fulfill his dream".

The boat was built in the same shipyard as Yankee, the Westhaven Scheepswerf yard of Zaandam, Holland. She was launched in 1959.

Caravan has a different interior layout than that Yankee. Here's the General Arrangement plan.


Here are some interior images.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 50'-7"
LWL 42'-6"
Beam 15'-4"
Draft 4'-0"
Displacement 62,500 lbs
Sail Area 1,323 sq ft

Design 2527 - Encore

I snapped this image of Encore heading out of Oyster Bay, New York yesterday. She's a custom 72' aluminum I.M.S. racer built by Derecktor and launched in 1987. She is gorgeous and in perfect condition. Click here for more information about Encore.

Bayadere - Design 317

Here's a boat I have not seen, nor the plans. The owner was nice enough to send these to us. He's owned her for 30+ years. She was one of the designs from our Boston office. The plans are in storage at the Mystic Seaport. We'll post them as soon as we have them.

Design 1883 - Black Jack

Here's a boat with a very successful racing career. She was designed with more than racing in mind. Her interior looks conducive to cruising as well. The boat was designed for East Coast/Long Island Sound racing but capable of offshore races such the Newport-Bermuda Race.

Black Jack was built of welded aluminum by Robert E. Derecktor of Mamaroneck, New York. She was launched in 1968.

Here is the general arrangement plan. The arrangement of the chart table and navigator's berth with generous space is worthy of note.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 44'-10"
LWL 31'-0"
Beam 11'-6"
Draft 6'-6"
Displacement 21,500 lbs
Ballast 9,600 lbs
Sail Area 880 sq ft

Timoneer - Design 2575

Of the big S&S motorsailers which include Osprey, Sea Angel, Freedom, Galileo, Astral and Mayslyph, Timoneer represents the ultimate refinement of the type. She was built by Palmer Johnson of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and launched in 1992.

Once launched she made her way through Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie, through the Erie Canal and made her way down the Hudson River and to the sea. She then embarked on a 65,000 mile, 5-year cruise.


Here are the plans.

Her elegant classic interior of American cherry was designed by John Munford. Here are some images.

Salon

Master Stateroom

Guest Stateroom

Galley

She is now called Knickerbocker and makes her home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 117'-3"
LWL 88'-0"
Beam 25'-1"
Draft 9'-9"
Displacement 294,300 lbs
Ballast 70,000 lbs
Sail Area 5,589 sq ft

White Cloud Chronicles

I was very pleased to receive a copy of a lovely little book entitled White Cloud Chronicles. The book is an account of sailing the yacht White Cloud, design #137, from Chicago to San Francisco during the winter of 1945-46. It is told through letters penned by the owner's wife. It is beautifully written and includes maps and illustrations. The book can be purchased online through the publisher at: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2124761.

Design 2184 - Tartan T.O.C.K.

This design has Rod Stephens' imprint all over it. Rod was a huge fan of the big, beamy, center cockpit ketch as a cruising boat. This looks like a natural development of two previous designs: Yankee, design #1278 and Torea, design #1927.

The T.O.C.K. (Tartan Offshore Cruising Ketch) was put into production in 1976 for short run that lasted two years. 30 boats were produced.

The boats must be fun to sail, especially with the cockpit so far forward.


Here are the plans.

Here's an interior shot. Just look at the volume.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 41'-4"
LWL 32'-4"
Beam 13'-4"
Draft 4'-9"
Displacement 24,300 lbs
Ballast 9,000 lbs
Sail Area 787 sq ft

Design 1357 - Lorna Doone

This boat just makes me want to pull a Joshua Slocum and set off for distant shores. She is full of interesting design details. Here are a few points of note:

• Note the double berth forward and in the inboard profile view the portion of the bunk that folds up to become a comfortable seat back.
• Note there is a small deck plate on starboard over the head so one can shower with someone pouring a bucket over their head.
• I like the engine space hatch in the cockpit sole.
• Note the tabernacle for raising and lowering the mast.

And ah the clipper bow gives her a ton of character. I sure wish we had a photograph.

Lorna Doone was built by Stonington Boat Works of wood and launched in 1958.

Here is the general arrangement plan.


And an article from The Skipper magazine from the time of her construction. Please double click for zoom.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 33'-0"
LWL 25'-0"
Beam 10'-6"
Draft 3'-0"
Displacement 14,700 lbs
Ballast 4,000 lbs (outside) 200 lbs (inside)
Sail Area 613 sq ft

Design 1724 - Germania VI

This big beautiful yawl was built of aluminum by Abeking & Rasmussen of Germany. She was launched in 1963. The boat was built to extremely high quality standards and was Lloyd's approved (100 A-1 rating). She was designed to rate well under the C.C.A., R.O.R.C. and German KR Class 16 Rules.

There are sleeping accommodations for nine in the owner's party and four paid hands.

Germania VI was an early recipient of an aluminum main mast, built by the Bath Iron Works of Maine. The rest of her spars were of spruce.


Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 72'-8"
LWL 51'-11"
Beam 15'-7"
Draft 9'-10"
Displacement 96,493 lbs
Ballast 42,900 lbs
Sail Area 2,428 sq ft

Design 1219-G - Inward Bound

This boat is a bit of a mystery. We believe she is a bootleg copy of a Pilot 35. And it gets more interesting. The story goes that she was built by the Astilleros Sarmiento Shipyard of Buenos Aires, Argentina and launched in 1962. Rumor has it that a young design intern who worked in our offices at the time left with more than his experience: he left with a set of plans.

She is constructed of South American cedar (cedro) and she is built like a tank. Her deck and deckhouse are built of recycled teak which was taken during the refurbishment of an Argentinian naval vessel, the General Belgrano. I've been aboard her and she's a nice boat. She is about to go on the brokerage market for approximately $35,000. If anyone is interested in knowing more about her please feel free to email me at bjohnson@sparkmanstephens.com.

Click here for more information about the Pilot 35.

Here are the plans. Keep in mind someone got creative with the design of her deckhouse.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 35'-2"
LWL 24'-3"
Beam 9'-7"
Draft 4'-9"
Displacement 11,970 lbs
Ballast 4,200 lbs
Sail Area 528 sq ft