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Design 1959-C3 - Palmer Johnson 34

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We have made numerous postings about this very successful design, the S&S 34.  She is design #1959.  We have had a number of confused buyers or owners inquiring about this particular version, the Palmer Johnson 34.  Let's set the record straight.  The Palmer Johnson 34 brochure lists Nautor of Finland as the builder.  That is completely false. Like the Swans that Palmer Johnson marketed and did not build themselves, these S&S 34s were marketed and sold by P.J. but built by Michael Winfield & Partners. Ltd. of England (later known as Aquafibre International).  We know of at least 12 units sold through P.J.

The boats were identical to the boats sold abroad with the exception of an increased sail plan.  The "I" dimension is 2'-6" taller than the English counterparts resulting in a sail area increase of 27 square feet.  Here's the P.J. 34 sail plan.


And here's a copy of the original P.J. 34 brochure.  Note the misleading credit to the builder on the cover page. Also note the LOA is listed as 33'-7".  This was probably done for marketing reasons only and is not correct.

 
 
 

Principal Dimensions
LOA 33'-6"
LWL 24'-2"
Beam 10'-1"
Draft 5'-10"
Displacement 9,195 lbs
Ballast 4,800 lbs
Sail Area 484 sq ft

Design 1930-C2 - Blithe Spirit

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Originally launched as Gem, this interesting boat is actually a modified Freya Class boat.  She was built by Cantiere Benello of Italy but was shipped to America for completion.  The year was 1969.

Her second owner renamed her Blithe Spirit, was very particular about the sail plan and was a big proponent of the twin "Tradewind" staysail rig. Here's an article written by the second owner touting the rig. Please double click for zoom.


Here is the sail plan.


Our records show she made 4 transatlantic crossings and cruised extensively in Ireland, England, France and the Mediterranean as well as thoroughly exploring the Caribbean and Bahamas.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 44'-9"
LWL 33'-0"
Beam 12'-4"
Draft 7'-0"
Displacement 25,000 lbs
Ballast 11,000 lbs
Sail Area 921 sq ft

Design 1106 - Ship to Shore Causeway

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Elevation View

In 1953 Sparkman & Stephens was commissioned by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks to prepare design studies of a Ship to Shore Causeway.  Here were some basic parameters:

a) Maximum length - one mile
b) To transport on a LST
c) To be able to carry 60 ton track vehicles (tanks) one way and truck traffic two ways
d) To erect the first 3,000 ft in two hours
f) To erect the balance if 2,280 ft  in another four hours
g) Adaptability to an irregular bottom at low tide
h) Provide support on a miry or marshy bottom
i) Not to be overstressed in waves 80' long and 4' high

That's a pretty impressive wish list.  This study followed on the heels of a previous study by the firm for a light tactical pontoon bridge the previous year, design #1000.  The report is extensive but in summary the solution  consisted of aluminum decking sections over rubber pneumatic floats with a ramp at the terminal (shore) end.  The sections were connected using threaded rods, cables and springs.  The floats were made up of multiple chambers in case a float was breached by gunfire.

The causeway assembly was tank tested at the Stevens Institute of Hoboken, New Jersey.  Here are a couple of images from that testing.

 

The report and associated plan work includes diagrams regarding assembly and storage aboard a LST.

Principal Dimensions
Causeway Sections
Length 200'-0"
Width 22'-0"
Height (Over Floats) 7'-0"
Number of Pontoons Per Section 20
Float Spacing 9'-0" and 13'-0"
Roadway Width 19'-0"
Weight Per Section 55.25 Short Ton

Floats
Length (Width of Bridge) 22'-0"
Diameter 6'-0"

Design 2676 - Northwind 65

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This is the largest of the boats designed for Northwind Yachts of Barcelona, Spain.  The 65' was designed in 2001.  Like the other Northwind models we designed the hull, rig, appendages, general arrangement, and engineered the structure.  The styling was provided by Northwind.  2 boats were built to this design before Northwind folded although we have since learned that at least one bastardized copy at 72' length overall was delivered.

Here's a look at her shape.


Here are the plans.


Principal Dimensions
LOA 65'-0"
LWL 56'-7"
Beam 17'-5"
Draft 7'-3"
Displacement 72,545 lbs
Ballast 24,993 lbs 
Sail Area 2,007 sq ft

More About Ananda - Design 2390-C5

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Back in April we posted an article about Ananda, the 50' sloop built by Carlini. A blog follower sent us these images. Here she is out of the water so you can get a good look at her shape. 


And a couple of interior shots.


She's currently lying in Genoa, Italy.  She has apparently been for sale since 2007.  The current asking price is €120,000.  Looking at some more detailed images she looks like she needs a complete exterior varnish job.  Otherwise she looks pretty good.  Please contact us if you want more information or the complete listing.  Thanks for sending these images.  We are always happy to receive images of the boats.

Design 2648 - Zaca A Te Moana

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Zaca A Te Moana was designed by Olivier van Meer, constructed of steel by the Amstel B.V. Shipyard of Holland and launched in 1992.  She was designed along the lines of a traditional "Grand Banks" schooner and as a near sister to the famous yacht Zaca once owned by Errol Flynn.

In 1997 she was put through a major refit, primarily to make her suitable for the charter market. Sparkman & Stephens was hired to assist with the design and engineering of her propulsion system and associated machinery, a revised interior arrangement and other miscellaneous tasks.

Here is the revised general arrangement plan.


 Principal Dimensions
LOA 143'-7"
LWL 124'-7"
Beam 23'-6"
Draft 14'-1"
Displacement 363,660 lbs

2642-C1 - Gitana

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Here's a nice aerial shot of Gitana (ex-Zingaro) with her new dark blue topsides and revised cockpit.  When Zingaro was sold in 2008 her new owner asked us to redesign her cockpit for increased seating/dining capacity.  Here is the original versus the revised layout.


This image shows the original configuration which includes a passage between the cockpit and steering stations along with a central navigation station.


Here are a couple of images showing the revised layout.  The passage between the steering pedestals and cockpit settees have been eliminated and the settees much improved. The navigation screens, engine panel and vhf radio have been incorporated into the aft end of the settees.  One now has to walk back between the steering stations to exit the interior or cockpit but the improvement to the outside seating is well worth it.

Design 2556 - 105' IMS Cruiser/Racer

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According to the files, this preliminary design as to be constructed of aluminum and designed to rate well under the IMS Rule as a cruiser/racer.

Here is the general arrangement plan.  It's a nice layout.  With the crew located aft it leads me to believe this boat was destined for a European client.


Principal Dimensions
LOA 105'-0"
LWL 86'-0"
Beam 24'-1"
Draft 9'-10"

Design 362 - 72' W.L. Cruiser

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This preliminary design takes us back to 1940.  As is often the case with these older designs that were not built we pulled these images from our microfiche files, so we apologize for the poor quality of the plans as shown.

Here is the general arrangement plan.


And an alternate outboard profile.


 Principal Dimensions
LOA 75'-0"
LWL 72'-0"
Beam 17'-6'
Draft 5'-0"

1959-C2 - S&S 34 by Swarbrick

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We have discussed the S&S 34 before and also the model licensed for sale in the United States, the Palmer Johnson 34.  We don't know exactly how many of these popular boats have been built, only that in the first year of production at Winfield & Partners (later known as Aqua Fibre), 39 contracts were signed.


The boat shown here is yet another version, built by Swarbrick of Western Australia and designated as Sparkman & Stephens design #1959-C2.  The images shown are of a launch sequence of a new boat from the early 1980s.  We don't know exactly how many were built by Swarbrick at that time either.

Here is an interesting article from the Italian magazine Yachting Quarterly about the S&S 34 design in general, in Olin Stephens' own words.


Any way, back to Swarbrick.  Did you know these boat are again in production and available from Swarbrick?  Here's a brief article about the subject from Cruising World magazine.  As always please double click for zoom.


More information can be obtained from the builder's website by clicking here.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 33'-6"
LWL 24'-2"
Beam 10'-1"
Draft 5'-10"
Displacement 9,195 lbs
Ballast 4,800 lbs
Sail Area 484 sq ft

Design 1701-C1 - Weekender

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We have previously posted an article about the Rainbow Class, design #1701.  Here we have a modified version, called the Weekender and also classified as a MORC racer.  Here's the brochure.


Aside from the addition of the fairly rudimentary "cruising" interior, the modification was fairly simple and included a blister on the coach roof as can be seen in the excerpt from the construction plan, and a heavier keel.


The boats were produced by Tidewater Boats of Annapolis, Maryland.  We can see that the base price of a Rainbow in '64 was $2,695 and the Weekender model was $3,395, a $700 option.

 Principal Dimensions
LOA 24'-2"
LWL 17'-3"
Beam 6'-3"
Draft 3'-6"
Displacement 2,060 lbs
Ballast 1,120 lbs
Sail Area 218 sq ft

Hull #021-Seamróige - Design 1710

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Owners are starting to get back to us in response to our posting about design #1710 and the Swan 36.  And we always like to hear from them.  Here we have hull #021 of the Swan 36 class, s/y Seamróige.  She's a beauty.  She makes her home on the east coast of Northern Ireland.  The owner was kind enough to send us a link to a blog about the area.  What a magical place.  To see for yourself please click here to access the blog and then follow the links to images.

More images of Seamróige can be found by accessing the Classic Swan Association page about her, and including some interior images.  Click here to access.

And finally here's a look at her shape.  You can see the rudder has been modified at some point.


Thank you very much for contacting us and sending the images and fair sailing.

Design 355 - 49' W.L. Cruiser

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This little cruiser was designed in 1940.  Again, we pulled these scans from our micro fiche files so the quality is not great.  Looking at the plan list I can easily tell she was never built as the plans listed have an alpha designation whereas plans for construction always have a numeric designation. On these older designs that were never built, I still think it's worthy of discovering what the plans look like. 

Here are two proposed general arrangements, one with the galley aft and one with the galley forward.


And an alternate outboard profile.  The differences from the profile shown above are very subtle.


 Principal Dimensions
LOA 50'-0"
LWL 49'-0"
Beam 13'-0"
Draft 3'-3"

Impala - Design 1056

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Our good friend Steve White of Brooklin Boat Yard was just over in Italy sailing on the beautiful classic yacht Impala, design #1056, built by A&R and launched in 1954.  The image above was taken in Porto Santo Stefano on the west coats of Italy while the image below was taken on the island of Ponza a bit further south.  Thanks Steve.

Design 1780-C1 - Satanita

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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.

Here's 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, here's a letter we unearthed from her original owner to her then new owner describing her sailing characteristics.  It's an interesting read.  Please simply double click for zoom.


Design 1816 - Chelsea 46' Motoryacht

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I happened to stumble upon this design the other day and it's one I had never seen before.  This 46' wooden raised pilothouse motoryacht was designed in 1964 for Packanack Marine Corporation of Newark, New Jersey.  Perhaps the company was named after the lake in New Jersey which bears the same name.

This little piece from Yachting magazine of 1966 shows a Chelsea Yacht and attributes it to Sparkman & Stephens but on closer inspection it does not look like the same design as shown here and I can see from the files that the 46' was the only boat designed for Packanack.


Here is the general arrangement and inboard profile.


LOA 46'-4"
LWL 42'-11"
Beam 14'-8'
Draft 3'-6"

Design 1767 - Aquarius 40

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 Boo Hoo

We have posted about this well utilized and popular design before.  As can be found in a previous posting, various boats were built of both wood and fiberglass to this design.  For the purposes of this article let's focus on the Aquarius 40, built of fiberglass in Finland.

A writer was kind enough to send us the article found below about the design.

S&S Design #1767 - a classic yacht
Translation of an article published in the Finnish Yachting Magazine “Frisk Bris” Nr 1-2009
In the impressive list of all Sparkman & Stephens designs included in the book “The Best of the Best” Design #1767 is described briefly as follows:
Year:    1964
Client:    Various
Name/Class    Honey et.al.
Job description: R.O.R.C. aux.sloop, LOA : 39.95, DWL : 28.75, Beam : 10.04, Draft : 5.52, Type : Sloop.

R.O.R.C. means the design was adapted to the British R.O.R.C. rating rule. S&S or more specifically Olin Stephens used to analyze the rating rules for finding out what was worth doing and not doing to get a favorable rating. The other dominating rating rule at the time was the CCA rule used in the USA. The rule differences were biggest for the rigs, and therefore the rig dimensions used to be different depending on where the yacht was going to race. Also draft variations were common.

It could be mentioned that the two rating rules were soon merged into one – at an ITC meeting in London in November 1968 it was decided to replace the RORC and CCA rules with the new International Offshore Rule which contained features from both of them.

S&S had with the time built up an extensive library of completed designs which could be used as a reference for new projects, and also in this case it is obvious that an earlier design was used as a basis for #1767. In the list of S&S designs one can find #1738 having exactly the same main dimensions except for the draft which is a little more, 6.23 ft.

Because lines drawings and related calculations at the time had to be made manually it saved a lot of effort if existing information could be used with just some small modifications.

It can be pointed out that a S&S design of this age has very good performance on the wind, particularly in a blow, but does not readily surf off the wind, instead there is a tendency to rolling and broaching.

In Finland 10 yachts of GRP according to Design #1767 were built 1966…68 at a yard started up for this purpose in Hämeenlinna, and the yacht type was denoted S&S 40 by the builder.

It can be noted that this type notation already existed in the S&S list for the mentioned base Design #1738. It appears the builder’s type notation is not necessarily the same as the designer’s, and some caution is needed in this respect if only one of the notations is known. It is also possible that the as built main dimensions differ from the numbers stated in the list of designs.

The name of the new yard was Teksoglass. A company with this name already existed, but so far it had manufactured glassfiber weaves. It is likely that these weaves were used for the boatbuilding, but the yard’s history was very short, it was laid down in 1969. 3 of the yachts were sold to Finland, 5 to Sweden, and 2 to Norway.

The driving force behind this boatbuilding project was Åke Lindqvist, at the time Chief Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register in Finland. He had an active interest in offshore racing, had established contacts with S&S, and the knowledge for performing scantling calculations for the yachts. GRP was then a new and unknown material for boatbuilding, and it is likely that Lloyd’s scantling rules at the time partly built on Åke’s contributions.

An interesting detail can be mentioned here – the builders knew that air inclusions in the laminate are not acceptable, and in order to enable easy control of this transparent gelcoat was used, this made the hull translucent. The outside was then painted in a color to the owner’s choice.

The owner of the first hull was Göran Olofsson, he named his yacht BOO-HOO, Åke built the second hull for his own use and named her EVA II, and the third owner was Peter Fazer with FÅGEL BLÅ.  EVA II is nowadays in Sweden and named GRY, earlier names SCHALU and SPARK, the two others have remained in Finland. Olofsson owned BOO-HOO until 2006 when he sold her to Hans Johansson and Joakim Wilenius.

One of the Swedish yachts was named GALLANT, and she was painted light blue. The others were named GONNY, ANN-CHATRIN (later KRISTIN AF ARKÖSUND), NONCHALANT (later AXELINA), and GADFLY (later CATHENA). For the Swedish yachts the woodwork and outfitting was done by Bergviksvarvet, Bromma (near Stockholm).

The Norwegian yachts were named SIESTA and NORSEMAN, and the latter was somewhat different as she had the rudder moved aft and separated from the keel. NORSEMAN was extremely successful and won 45 prices out of 50 in IOR racing between 1967 and 1977 – an early indication of the dominating underwater concept of today. It is possible that some other of the Teksoglass-built yachts also has the modified rudder arrangement.

The Teksoglass moulds were bought in the 1970s by Turun Teräskaluste in Turku, and this manufacturer renamed the type Aquarius 40. The first hull was ready in the spring 1977. Six yachts were built, one of them has the rudder separated from the keel, and another has sailed around the world. A copy of the brochure for Aquarius 40 in German language is appended.

S&S also sold the same drawings to other clients. In Sweden Bröderna Martinsson had already 1964…1965, i.e. before Teksoglass, built 3 yachts in wood, they were named HONEY, PAVANE, and CHARLOTTA IV ( later BRILLIANT). HONEY was renamed ISADORA, and was sold to Finland, where she got back her original name. The name HONEY is mentioned in the S&S design list, and it is likely that she is the original Design #1767, although all 3 yachts were launched in May 1965, which is quite remarkable for a small boatyard.

In Denmark the Walsted yard built PAM to this design in wood 1966, she was recently bought to Finland, and has the rudder separated from the keel.

In New Zealand a wooden yacht was built 1964, she is called COTTON BLOSSOM, and is now in Ireland. Further two wooden yachts were built in Australia, one was named CORROBOREE. One was built in Hong-Kong named COLUMBINE, and two in Italy, more about them below.

S&S had a big and international clientele, and solely of this design 20 yachts were built. One wonders how Rod Stephens managed to inspect them all. He did inspection trips about once every month all over the world, and mentioned once that he had much more flight hours than aircraft captains – they have limits for this.

In the S&S list the next line after Design #1767 shows Design #1767.1, the added number means it is a slightly modified variation of the same basic design. The main dimensions are exactly the same, but the client was the Italian Navy, and the year 1965.


Two wooden yachts were built, named NAUSICA and CALYPSO. They are still in good shape, but for some reason they are not mentioned in the list of Italian Navy Sail Training vessels. This list mentions, however, two much larger two masted S&S designs, #1505 and #1505.1, length about 70 ft, and built in the beginning of the 1960s.

They deserve a short presentation.
One of them, named CORSARO II participated successfully in the Transpac Race 1961, and collected 1st price overall. She took also part in the Sydney Hobart Race 1965, both required very long sailing trips before and after the race, and this must have been remarkable experiences for officers and crew.

The other yacht is STELLA POLARE, she won the Giraglia Race in 1966, with a course record that stood 18 years. Two years later she won the Bermuda – Travemünde Race overall, this race was a predecessor to the Transatlantic.

Author:
Lars Ström
larsm.strom@gmail.com


Here is a copy of the brochure he references.


And finally here is the construction plan for the fiberglass boats.  Sorry it's in such poor condition.

Update on S&S 30

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We continue to receive a lot of inquiries about the S&S 30 asking about the status regarding production. We are pleased to report that the hull tooling is complete and the deck tooling is nearing completion as can be seen by the image above. We are still targeting having a boat on the water in time for the fall boat shows.

For plans, additional images, specifications and project history, please visit the Sparkman & Stephens 30 website at www.sparkmanstephens.com/ss30.  Also multiple postings can be found within these pages by doing a search for S&S 30 in the search field above.

Offered at $149,000, sail away price.

Design 1710-C26 - Rumbuster

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Last week we posted an article about hull #021 of the Swan 36 class, the beautiful s/y Seamróige. Here we have a wooden sister, Rumbuster, which is hull #026 of the entire lineup of design #1710 (this excludes the Swan 36 numbering sequence).

The owner of Rumbuster dropped us a note and included the beautiful image of her seen above, courtesy of Beken of Cowes.  The image looks like it was taken in the Solent but could not be the start of the Fastnet Race as it was not held in that year.  Nice image.  She's being pressed about as hard as she can.

Our records say Rumbuster was built by "Port Hamble" but in my mind that could mean a couple of yards in that area.  Perhaps the owner will set us straight?

Here's a copy of her original rating certificate.  I include it as it is interesting in that it shows her scantlings.


In any event she is a beautiful boat.  She makes her home near Oban on the west coast of Scotland.  The image below was taken off Eilean Dubh Mor, part of the chain known as the Inner Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland.

Design 95 - Game Cock

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Game Cock was designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1925.  She is an R-Class sloop.  Her original sailplan was a Marconi rig with a headstay, but with no spreaders whatsoever and with only a single cap shroud per side, and no backstay.  The deckhouse came to a point at the front end like most all R-Class boats from Herreshoff. The rig was eventually changed to the wishbone boom configuration you see in the image above.  Both rigs proved to be a disappointment.

I can tell very little but that the firm was commissioned to redesign the rig as you see her drawn below and make modifications to the general arrangement, also shown.  I do not believe we were involved with the changes to her deckhouse geometry.  The plans, pulled here from our microfiche files, are obviously in deplorable condition.


 
I have no idea why this presentation plan was prepared but it conveniently shows her principal dimensions and those of the new rig.  It's curious as the files show the plan work we did was done in 1935 yet the plan below references an owner from 1944.  Perhaps that was added later as it appears to be done by a different hand.

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