Design 1707 - Thunder

This pretty yawl was built of wood by Smith & Rhuland of Nova Scotia. She was launched in 1961. She is pretty standard but I do like the full height engine room separating the head, galley, main and aft cabins. This is convenient for the engine room air, which draws in/exhausts through small cowl ventilators located in the cabin top. The navigation table is located in the after face of this enclosure on the centerline allowing good communication between navigator and helmsman.

Here is the general arrangement plan.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 45'-0"
LWL 30'-4"
Beam 11'-0"
Draft 6'-5"
Displacement 25,075 lbs
Ballast 9,250 lbs
Sail Area 914 sq ft

Design 2719- Hull #7

Here's hull #7 of the Passagemaker 60 series. After extensive sea trials in and around Hong Kong she has been loaded on a ship and is currently headed for Fort Lauderdale. It kind of puts a 60' yacht in perspective relative to the enormity of Hong Kong harbor.


Here are the plans.

Principal Characteristics
LOA 63'-3" (includes integral swim platform)
LWL 57'-6"
Beam 17'-2"
Draft 4'-11"
Displacement 108,680 lbs (full load)
Power Single ~340 hp, various manufacturers available
Bow and stern thrusters standard
Stabilizers standard
Displacement speed ~10 knots
Range ~3,000nm

Design 2390-C3 - Steven 50 Pilothouse

This design has had many evolutions, starting with the Stevens 47 (center cockpit), Stevens 50 (aft cockpit) and then this pilothouse design. The boat eventually became the Queen Long 47 and now the Hylas 49, built by Queen Long. I'm going a bit out of sequence with these designs but in any event let's focus on the pilothouse 50. It's a great boat. It takes what was a super boat (Stevens 47) and makes it even better with a light and airy salon below.

Here's an early brochure.


And an early article about the boats.


Here's a peek at her underbody.


Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 50'-2"
LWL 37'-9"
Beam 14'-4"
Draft 6'-0"
Displacement 31,220 lbs
Ballast 12,000 lbs
Sail Area 1,051 sq ft

2011 Newport International Boat Show

Sparkman & Stephens will be in Tent A for the 2011 Newport International Boat Show. We hope to see you there!

Please call our Newport office at (401) 847-5449 or send us an email to request complimentary guest tickets.

Design 180 - 6-Meter Fun

Fun was built by Henry Nevins of City Island, New York in 1937. She was destined for San Fransisco. Today she makes her home in France.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 37'-0"
LWL 23'-9"
Beam 6'-0"
Draft 5'-3"
Sail Area 460 sq ft

Design 1343 - 12-Meter Columbia

Image Courtesy Beken of Cowes

Of all the S&S 12-meters, it could be argued that Columbia is the prettiest. She was the 1958 America's Cup winner. Built of wood by Henry Nevins of City Island, New York she was the first post-war 12-meter designed by the firm. She is also the very 1st America's Cup 12-meter winner.

The crew consisted of Rod Stephens as bowman, Cornelius Shields as skipper, Briggs Cunningham as helmsman, Henry Sears as navigator and Olin Stephens in the afterguard.

Learn more about the S&S 12-meters by clicking here.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 69'-5"
LWL 45'-6"
Beam 11'-9"
Draft 8'-9'
Displacement 63,200 lbs
Sail Area 1,985 sq ft

Design 319 - Fleet-o-Wing

This little keel boat was introduced in 1939. Designed in our Boston office by K. Aage Nielsen, they were designed for and built by Marcus C. Lowell & Sons of Newbury, Massachusetts. The original production was 15 boats built to this design. I will try to track down an image or two when I am back in the office on Tuesday.

The boats are still available from Pert Lowell for a cost of $31,000. Click here to access the website.

Here are the Lines. Just look at the amount of hollow in the LWL. She must be pretty at the mooring.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 17'-9"
LWL 14'-6"
Beam 6'-0"
Draft 3'-0"
Displacement 1,200 lbs
Ballast 480 lbs
Sail Area 149 sq ft

More About NY32 Turns 75

Station 10

I just got back from Newport where I attended the 75th Anniversary Party for the NY 32 Class. It was held at "Station 10" at Harbor Court, New York Yacht Club. Station 10 was the NYYC's first clubhouse, built in 1845 in Hoboken, New Jersey. The clubhouse has been located in a few places over the years but has made its permanent home at Harbor Court for the past ten years.

The highlight of the evening was a talk by (former NYYC) Commodore Henry ("Harry") Anderson, age 90, who watched the NY32s being built at Nevins (including his parents' boat) when he was 15 years old. That same year (1936) he sailed the Bermuda Race on his parents' boat. His parents owned their original NY32 for 35 years.

It was a great party.

Design 2073 - 37' Power Cruiser

Well I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen to with my own eyes. Here is the only boat designed for ferro-cement construction in our archives. The client was one Count Della Rose of Italy. There are numerous images of ferro-cement boats being built in Egypt with "Hulls as fair as high quality aluminum construction." I tend to doubt it. She was never built, as far as I can tell. The year was 1970.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 36'-8"
LWL 32'-3"
Beam 12'-0"

Design 2091 - Finn Craft 38

This flush deck cruising boat was produced by Finn Craft of Finland. The production run started in 1971. The production boat was based on a nice looking bright finished prototype, shown below. In the sequence they are turning the hull. Look at that great topside finish.


Trying to produce a flush deck yacht at 38' overall is certainly an aesthetic challenge due to to the required freeboard. This boat suffers no less than any other that attempted the challenge, but was somewhat camouflaged by the striping accent at the sheer.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 38'-0"
LWL 30'-0"
Beam 12'-0"
Draft 5'-5"
Displacement 19,200 lbs
Ballast 10,500 lbs
Sail Area 658 sq ft

Design 377 - 110' Ocean Going Tug

This profile sketch is about as refined as this design was to get, back in 1940. The design was developed for the Dalzell Towing Company, a New York City based tug operator founded in 1851. The boat was not built.

I particularly like the engine selected for the design: an Alco-Sulzer 2-cycle diesel generating 1,800 hp. This engine was 28' long and weighed an astounding 128,000 lbs.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 110'-0"
LWL 98'-0"
Beam 26'-0"
Draft 14'-0"
Displacement 310 tons

New York 32 Turns 75 - Design 125

The 75th anniversary of the NY32 Class, design #125, will be celebrated this coming weekend with a dinner at the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island. After winning a design competition from the New York Yacht Club for a new one-design class, 20 original boats were built by Nevins of City Island at a cost of $11,000 each.

As Olin once said "We set out to design a good cruiser/racer with good all-around form, guided by the lines of Dorade, Stormy Weather and Edlu, and emphasized seaworthiness rather than around-the-mark agility."

The following boats will be represented at the Newport dinner:
Apache, #2
Falcon, #6
Salty, #9
Isla, #10
Sapphire, #15
Night Heron, #16
Gentian, #18
Siren, #20
Masquerade, #21

Here are the plans.

Here's an early article from The Rudder magazine.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 45'-4"
LWL 32'-0"
Beam 10'-7"
Draft 6'-6"
Displacement 27,000 lbs
Ballast 12,000 lbs
Sail Area 950 sq ft

Design 298 - White Heron

This handsome motorsailer was considered to be quite a big yacht at the time of her launch in 1940. She was constructed of wood by Albert Lemos of Riverside, Rhode Island.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 55'-0"
LWL 47'-0"
Beam 14'-0"
Draft 4'-0"
Displacement 52,500 lbs
Sail Area 1,290 sq ft