Design 2159 Sumbra III

Sumbra III is a very typical One-Tonner design from the period. She was built of wood using cold molded techniques by Cantiere Sangermani of Italy and launched in 1973. The design utilized the Lines, Construction and General Arrangement plans from design #2094. If you recall this was a speculative design that was used numerous times, such as the boat Lightnin, design #2094-C1.

Here is the Deck plan. The style of this drawing is interesting and was commonly done. Only the starboard sheer line is drawn since in the draftsmans mind the boat is symmetrical, so why draw it?


The ballast keel was also modified from #2094. Heres the Ballast Keel plan.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 38-6"
LWL 28-9"
Beam 11-9"
Draft 6-3"
Displacement 15,309 lbs
Ballast 8,000 lbs
Sail Area 604 sq ft

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More About Design 2625 Sleighride

Sleighride, design #2625, is undergoing a major refit in California with design and styling by Adam Voorhees Design and engineering by Sparkman & Stephens. The boat will be renamed Aandeel. Click here to learn more about the project.

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Design 77B J Class Racing Yacht Cheveyo

Graphics Courtesy Spirit Yachts, Ltd.

We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Spirit Yachts, Ltd. of Ipswich, England to build a new J-Class racing yacht. The boat will be named ‘Cheveyo’ (pronounced shu-Vay-o), a native American word meaning ‘spirit warrior’ and will carry sail number J1.

The yacht has been commissioned by a U.S. syndicate of investors and sailing enthusiasts. A driving force behind the project is the desire to experience the thrill and elegance of yesteryears yacht racing on a modern vessel steeped in the essence of tradition.

While the J-class Ranger design utilized lines 77C because it was found to have the best potential for racing in the sheltered waters off Newport, Rhode Island, Cheveyo will be built using the Ranger 77B hull design for the more exposed conditions of today’s classic regattas. If you recall in 1936 an original series of six hull designs was submitted by Starling Burgess and Sparkman & Stephens to Harold Vanderbilt for the 1937 America’s Cup defense. Each of the six Ranger designs was extensively tank tested by Burgess and S&S to select the optimum hull-form to defend the America’s Cup against the challenger Endeavour II, designed by Charles Nicholson. The ‘Super J’ Ranger was thus born, and went on to triumph decisively over Endeavour II in the 1937 series.

Cheveyo will marry the classic design of yachting’s golden era with modern build techniques of the 21st century. Spirit Yachts will use sophisticated wood/epoxy construction mated to laser cut stainless steel ring frames to create an exceptionally stiff yet lightweight hull.

On deck, this new ‘Super-J’ will remain true to the beauty and grace of the original design. The authentic low-profile deckhouse has been retained, resulting in a clean, unobstructed working deck. Complementing this will be high-modulus carbon spars, carbon rigging, state of the art sails and all the modern sophistication of a contemporary performance yacht that will allow her to be raced competitively against any modern yacht and, most importantly, in the spectacular growing J-Class fleet. Authenticity continues below deck with a beautiful 1930’s-inspired interior.

Here is a sail plan rendering and the general arrangement plan.

Principal Dimensions

LOA 139-0"
LWL 86-11"
Beam 21-0"
Draft 15-0"
Displacement 392,423 lbs
Sail Area 8,290 sq ft

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Design 2235 1 4 Tonner

I looks like at least two boats were built to this design by South Hants Marine of England and launched around 1975.  The boats were built using C-Flex, a type of fiberglass "planking" that was developed by Seemann Composite Inc. in the early 1970s. Its made up of flattened longitudinal glass rods with roving in between, woven together with a light fiberglass cloth to keep things in position, and this allows it to be worked on the bias to create compound surfaces.

Here is the general arrangement.

Principal Dimensions

LOA 27-10"

LWL 20-0"

Beam 7-0"

Draft 4-11"
Displacement 4,634 lbs
Ballast 1,700 lbs
Sail Area 288 sq ft

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Design 2471 Tartan 28

The Tartan 28 was introduced in 1984. The boat was designed as a competitive cruiser/racer that would be suitable for a family and accomplished the mission well. 136 boats were delivered during a production run that ended in 1990.

Heres a design review from Sail magazine from around the time of her introduction. Please double click for zoom.


Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 28-3"
LWL 23-3"
Beam 9-10"
Draft 4-11"
Displacement 7,450 lbs
Ballast 3,200 lbs
Sail Area 408 sq ft

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Design 1756 Passenger Vessel

This 58 passenger vessel was built of aluminum by J.W. Nolan & Sons of Erie, Pennsylvania.  She was launched in 1963.  I cant tell you much about her.  Looking at the Nolan archives I have not been able to identify the boat, or if she is still afloat. I can see a small note on the plans that says the Coast Guard at Buffalo, New York had us add freeing ports to the aft cockpit so my supposition is that the boat saw service somewhere in upstate New York.

Here is the general arrangement.

Principal Dimensions

LOA 57-9"

LWL 53-0"

Beam 15-9"

Draft 4-4"

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Design 2586 Seven Seas

This 12-meter racing yacht was launched in 1935. She is a design by Clinton Crane and built by Henry Nevins of City Island, New York. Crane was a good friend and mentor to Olin Stephens at the time.

Clinton Crane

In 1991 the boat underwent a massive 3-year refit from the keel up at Southampton Yacht Services of England. We were brought on as consultants to check the integrity of the chainplates, deck fitting foundations and look at her rating.

Here is the general arrangement plan.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 68-0"
LWL 44-6"
Beam 12-0"
Draft 8-11"
Displacement 60,704 lbs
Sail Area 1,782 sq ft

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Design 2731 Manhattan Sailing Club Dinghy Dock

If you recall, back in 2001-2002 we designed the floating clubhouse for the Manhattan Sailing Club, the Honorable William Wall, design #2686. Thats her way out in the distance next to Ellis Island in the image below.


The dinghy dock was to be moored in the shallow flats behind and southwest of the Statue of Liberty. The barge was designed to accommodate 7 Lasers, 6 Sunfishes and 12 Optimists for the schools dinghy program. The boats would be stored on carpeted ramps. The floating facilitys design also included toilet rooms and an observation deck. In the end the school purchased an existing barge due to cost constraints.

You can learn more about the floating clubhouse and the dinghy sailing program by visiting Manhattan Sailing Clubs website by clicking here. Simply follow the links to "Clubhouse" and "Junior Sailing."

Principal Dimensions
LOA 90-0"
Beam 30-0"
Draft 2-0" (light ship)

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Kees Prins and the Loon Design

Our friend Kees is at it again. He is a prolific boat builder and designer and a genius in my book. The modified Ed Davis Surf Dory, Sparrow, that graces the header of this weblog is one of his creations.

Another fine cruising dinghy he designed and built is the Townsend Tern, belonging to Chelcie and Kathy Liu of Port Townsend. He was instrumental in building the first Welsford Scamp and perhaps is best known today for his adaptation of an Iain Oughtred Fulmar dinghy  into the micro-cruiser Fetch.

This winter, while instructing boatbuilding at the Great Lakes Boat Building School, located in the Les Cheneaux Islands of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Kees has been working on his own design for a double-ended mini-cruiser called the Loon. What better occupation in a land where winter night is longer than the day? The UP is one of the rare places in the contiguous United States where its common to see the Aurora Borealis on a clear winter night. A frozen winter wonderland, not fit for man nor beast, but thats just one opinion...

The Loon is still in design stages and you are witness to the genius of the man behind her conception. If you study the drawings and models posted here, it will become readily apparent what I mean. You all know how much Doryman loves a double-ended sea vessel. One day he might be compelled to build a Loon, because she might be just the most perfectly conceived small trailerable cruiser available today.

Congratulations, Kees on a job well done! We look forward to the completed plans.
Anyone interested in developed plans for Loon should contact me soon.  Ill be sure Kees hears about it.

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Design 2531 New Horizons 68

Here we have a preliminary design for a company called International Yachtbuilders, Ltd of New London, Connecticut. There is a note in the files regarding this design that reads "We have no idea if this boat was built or not." My supposition is that the boat was not built and that this was a marketing effort to see if they could rally any potential clients, at least to the point where this very simple brochure was produced. The design looks very well thought out. The year was 1987.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 68-3"
LWL 53-0"
Beam 17-2"
Draft 12-0"

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Design 2767 40 Flybridge Motoryacht

The client for this preliminary design approached us after seeing our Pegasus design. The boat was enlarged slightly and changes were made based on his requirements, such as the addition of a flybridge. The following two general arrangement options have been proposed.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 40-0"
LWL 38-11"
Beam 12-11"
Draft 5-0"
Displacement 26,500 lbs (1/2 load)

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Design 2088 Bolle V

This 6-meter racing yacht was built by the Yachtwerft Hans Wirz of Steinbach/Bodensee, Switzerland.  She is double planked of mahogany with white oak frames.  The boat was launched in 1971.  As can be seen in these images, she was later renamed Antares.  We assume she is still in Switzerland.

Here is the Lines Plan.

Principal Dimensions

LOA 32-9"

LWL 24-5"

Beam 6-2"

Draft 5-6"

Displacement 9,746 lbs

Ballast 7,326 lbs

Sail Area 488 sq ft

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Design 1710 C23 Sylvia II

In the past couple of weeks we have posted articles about two boats in the series of boats built to design #1710; Rumbuster and Seamróige.  While Rumbuster is a one-off, Seamróige is one of the Swan 36s.

Here we have Sylvia II.  She too is a one-off built of wood by Ateliers & Chantiers Ziegler-Frères of Dunkerque France and launched in 1965.  She is design #1710-C23.  Its a great sequence of her being loaded on a trailer. 

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More About Design 955 24 LOA Catboat

We posted an article way back in 2010 about this boat. I thought I would circle back to it as I think she is a lovely design. The boat would be a breeze to sail and her extremely shallow draft would be great for gunkholing just about anywhere. Her general arrangement looks generous and even more so with the mast forward of the main cabin itself. That sure is one way to handle access to the head, by simply having a door from the cockpit directly into it.

I spoke to the owner last week and he promised to send us some images. Well get them posted when we receive them. The boat is awaiting restoration.

Here is an article from Yachting magazine from 1951. Please double click to enlarge.


I disagree with the author. I wouldnt even hesitate slipping her dock lines here in Greenwich and sailing her up to Penobscot Bay. All you would need is a little cockpit tent for the evenings. Like this.



And here is the deck and deck construction plan, which is beautifully drawn.

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Design 1780 C1 Satanita

Satanita is a sister to the famous Firebrand, design #1780. She was built by Keith Atkinson of Auckland and launched in 1965. Looking at the plan list it appears the only change was the reverse transom, whereas later boats built to this design benefited from a separate rudder. The above image is a newspaper clipping, and is the only image we have of her.

It is interesting that later sisters of this design benefited form a separate skeg and rudder. The former owner of Satanita sent us the image shown below which looks to me like someone added a separate skeg and rudder, removed the old rudder, while maintaining the original keel profile.  Thanks for sending this image.

According to that owner:  When I bought Satanita there had been a crude,(in terms of design) modification whereby the rudder had been removed but the full keel profile left. A small rudder on a skeg had been fitted only a short distance from the keel. This appeared to have increased the wetted surface and the boat was totally unmanageable in reverse.

Heres a shot of the original keel and rudder configuration on Firebrand.

By following the link to the posting regarding Firebrand one can see the S&S revised keel profile, skeg and rudder at the bottom of the article (general arrangement and inboard profile for C4).

While we are on the subject of Firebrand, heres a letter we unearthed from her original owner to her then new owner describing her sailing characteristics.  Its an interesting read.  Please simply double click for zoom.

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Design 2699 120 Expedition Yacht

This expedition yacht was designed with a steel hull and aluminum superstructure. Between 2004-2007 we seemed to have a whole lot of clients asking for expedition style boats. This is just one example. We have proposals between 68-154 length overall with various deckhouse configurations.

Power was to be provided by twin Caterpillar 3412E - B rated engines producing 720 hp each for a top speed of 14 knots. The main engines were to be close coupled to mechanical, fully rotational Schottel "Z"-drive propulsion units.

Here are the plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 120-0"
LWL 110-5"
Beam 27-10"
Draft 8-3"
Displacement 687,680 lbs (1/2 load)

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