herreshoff carpenter sailboat

Series Small Boats Annual 2008

A beach-explorer tender with a design pedigree

From Issue   Small Boats Annual 2008

P aul LaBrie is new to professional boatbuilding, but the design he chose for his first commercial project is one of the oldest in this publication. CARPENTER was drawn up by L. Francis Herreshoff in the summer of 1929—his Design No. 41—and featured in his book Sensible Cruising Designs .

In an era when small boats were less commonly created for their own sakes, Herreshoff devised CARPENTER as a tender for the 50′ auxiliary power cruiser WALRUS. (The names come from Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and The Carpenter.”) He described CARPENTER as being a “sort of cross between a whaleboat and a dory, for she is whaleboat-shaped above the waterline, but has the narrow, flat bottom of the dory. The combination would make an admirable seaboat, whether loaded or light, yet a boat that would also take kindly to being beached.” He went on to explain that the “turtlebacks fore and aft provide dry stowage space and extra buoyancy,” and that “the rig is extremely versatile, for…there is an additional mast position at the forward end of the centerboard trunk, which would allow sailing her as a catboat with either the big sail or the small one.” In short, Herreshoff mused, “she would make an excellent secondary cruising boat for exploring small waters within range of the WALRUS’ anchorage.”

For Paul LaBrie it was love at first sight. About 10 years ago a friend gave him a copy of Sensible Cruising Designs and as soon as he saw the drawings for CARPENTER, he “just fell in love. I always thought, if nothing else, it would be a fun boat to have for myself. Then two years ago we moved to Maine—we have a log home in the woods with a barn and access to lakes, the Penobscot River, and the upper Penobscot Bay. Once I’d built the new shop it seemed that CARPENTER was ideal to be my first boat.” Paul had built boats before: an English punt for his son, two kayaks—one an Aleut baidarka, the other a “tortured-ply” Severn from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit—and a strip-planked canoe, but CARPENTER was the “first bigger boat” and the first to be built “on spec.”

The characteristics that made the L. Francis Herreshoff–designed CARPENTER a fine companion to the power cruiser WALRUS for day treks also make her a fine daysailer and gunkholing boat.

I met up with Paul the day after his first sail in CARPENTER when, despite a few minor details that he felt needed attention, he was pleased with how things had turned out.

Just as he had surmised when first he saw CARPENTER’s lines, she is, indeed, a pretty boat. Double-ended with smoothly curving turtleback decks fore and aft, her sheer sweeps pleasingly from end to end and is picked up in each of her narrow lapstrakes. Her shape is reminiscent of the lifeboats seen on oceangoing ships of the early 20th century, but her construction is altogether lighter—with an overall length of 18′ and a beam of 4′ 6″, she has a total hull weight of just 400 lbs. Following the lapstrake building technique described in Tom Hill’s book Ultralight Boatbuilding , CARPENTER’s glued side planks are of 7mm BS1088 meranti plywood, while the single-piece bottom board is of 18mm meranti ply covered externally with Dynel fabric and epoxy mixed with graphite to give a strong abrasion-resistant finish in anticipation of the boat being beached. For the rest, Paul used native lumber: ash for the frames, seats, and gunwales, and white pine strip planks for the decks—these he built in situ before removing them to glass-sheathe them top and bottom. The decks have a pleasing smooth-radiused curve, which Paul thinks may not have been Herreshoff’s original intention: “I think he would have built them with a flat top and vertical board, but I think the curve is prettier.” Like the bottom board, both the centerboard and rudder are in 18mm meranti plywood finished with epoxy and graphite powder; the centerboard and lifting rudder blade are both weighted with lead pockets (the rudder follows the designed profile, but Paul made it lifting for beaching).

Her flat bottom makes CARPENTER an excellent boat for beaching, yet she has an elegant lapstrake appearance above the chine.

It’s always a treat to go sailing in someone’s new pride and joy, and when its performance lives up to the sweetness of the appearance, it’s a true joy. Paul and I embarked from his father’s dock in the upper reaches of the Piscataqua River on a day of little wind, yet we slipped right along, the chuckling of water against the narrow strakes a cheerful accompaniment to our conversation. Despite the strengthening ebb current (always an issue on this river that marks the southern border between New Hampshire and Maine), CARPENTER made good headway, and, as was to be expected given her light weight, she responded quickly to even the smallest breath of air. Paul told me that he’d heard criticism that the design is undercanvased—with the mizzen measuring just 19 sq ft and the main about 50 sq ft, it is certainly a small sail area, but judging by her progress that day I would have no qualms about it. Indeed, the reverse of the argument is that in a blow she could keep sailing when, perhaps, others of her size and narrow beam would run for shelter. For our outing we had set both main and mizzen. Sadly the wind never filled in enough to see how she fares cat-rigged with the main or mizzen mast stepped through the forward thwart, but I would expect her to remain well balanced. Under her ketch rig she tacked and jibed with grace, held a steady course on all points, and with no headsail to push her off, lay head-to-wind calmly and steadily whenever required.

Yoke steering is necessitated by the centerline mizzensheet lead and works very well in a long, fine hull.

Inevitably with a new boat and an early outing we had one or two teething problems but with a bit of experimenting ironed them out. As we set off I found that she had rather pronounced weather helm, and this didn’t help me familiarize myself with the push-pull tiller. First I tried slacking off the mizzen sheet a couple of inches, and that did help but only with some loss of performance. Next we sheeted in both main and mizzen and raised the centerboard just a few inches—success! The helm was immediately lighter and, even when heeled to a gust, no longer a problem. The tiller did take some getting used to. For anyone accustomed to a conventional helming system it will surely seem awkward at first, but after awhile I did find that it became—if not quite second nature— at least logical.

With her rig struck, CARPENTER rows and maneuvers well, with either one oarsman or two.

After a happy couple of hours’ sailing we returned to a beach by the Dover Point public landing and ran CARPENTER up on the shingle beach—just as she is designed and built to do. Her flat bottom now came into its own—she sits perfectly upright so that you can lean in and de-rig without grinding the topside lands into the beach. The masts and spars all fit within the boat’s length (one end of the mainmast tucked into the forward storage locker) so that you can row unimpeded, and trailer the boat without the need for support crutches. Once we were all tidied away Paul rowed around to the ramp, and within minutes CARPENTER was on the trailer and hitched to the back of the car—the ideal scenario if all you have time for is a short morning’s outing, or you’re lucky enough to be returning from a long weekend of camp-cruising with a friend.

L. Francis Herreshoff described his CARPENTER design as a cross between a dory and a whaleboat, flat-bottomed with well-rounded sides. Her rig is simple and versatile, with an alternative maststep at the forward end of the centerboard trunk for sailing single-masted when the wind pipes up.

This Boat Profile was published in Small Boats 2008 and appears here as archival material. If you have more info about this boat, plan or design – please let us know in the comment section.

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Comments (4)

Thanks for the “bonus” article.

I have read somewhere in the past, that Carpenter was the basis for the Sea Pearl 21, a great boat in its own right, of which I have owned three over the years. This is indeed a beautiful boat, but probably beyond my abilities at age 87. Jim Brown Sweetwater, TN

Paul, did I miss it? Wondering about the beam? Looks more slender than I thought she might be, but likely the photos. She looks like a perfect little cruiser for overnights up there. I’m leaning toward the ILUR, love the freeboard of both… but this little beauty might just change my mind. Congrats, Rob K

I no longer have the plans for CARPENTER so I can’t accurately speak to the beam, but CARPENTER is a long, slim boat as the photos suggest. Yes, Sea Pearls were inspired by this Herreshoff design, but they are much larger boats. (Dr. Denis Wang, whose Downeast Work Boat was featured last month in Small Boats , is the longtime owner of CARPENTER. The boat is now located in the Pacific Northwest).

I really like Vivier’s Ilur; it is a wonderful design and is a much different boat from CARPENTER. Ilur has the great advantage of being available as a CNC-cut kit and could be built more quickly.

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A Herreshoff Legacy Lives On

Count the stuart knockabout among the few to hold its value..

Photos by Ralph Naranjo

It took some time for the Stuart Knockabout, an L. Francis Herreshoff design, to take root and finally flourish. The 28-foot day boat first appeared in 1932 as line drawing number 53 in the L. Francis annals, and only one boat was built. In 1933, Ben My Chree (a Galic term of endearment), was launched and wound up nestled away in Casco Bay, Maine, at the island home of owner Willoughby Stuart. With its own small marine railway and boat shed, Ben My Chree remained in the family for nearly 40 years. In the mid-1980s, it was discovered in a Massachusetts boat shed by Bill Harding, a sailor known for his deft hand on the tiller and the builder of the popular Herreshoff 12 replica-affectionately known as the Doughdish. Harding fell for the lines of daysailer he had discovered, and he researched the boats lineage. After getting a feel for what it had to offer under sail, he decided that this was another slice of sailing history that deserved being resurrected.

Harding built molds and used his already proven approach to turning a timber Herreshoff into a fiberglass favorite. To accomplish the goal, he once again went to boat builders Edey and Duff to do the hull and deck laminating and Ballentines Boat Shop to harness its carpentry skills and talents in finishing off these elegantly trimmed knockabouts. Today, Ballentines handles all the manufacturing and marketing, and even puts on the annual national championship. There are more than 80 boats sailing in the wake of Ben My Chree, and the reason for their success centers around how the boat was originally designed, where it is built today, and why it will continue to sail into the future.

While nearly every major New England boatbuilder is offering a contemporary classic daysailer today (see PS January 2009 online), the Knockabouts long production run and coast-to-coast following give it an investment appeal that you seldom see in the world of sailboats-of any size. For a retired cruiser looking to downsize to a daysailer, this reason alone should bump the Stuart Knockabout up into the final round of hulls under consideration.

What makes this boat such a pleasure to sail has as much to do with whats missing as whats included. This sloop has been stripped to its essence, not a parsimonious approach to boat building, but rather one in which a fine pedigree is created from the foot of the keel to the top of the mast. There is also a startling difference between most contemporary, 28-foot production sailboats and the Stuart Knockabout. The latest luxury daysailers are accessorized with a cabin, bunks, galley stove, a small diesel-plus tanks to fill with water and fuel. While daysailing, the engine coaxes the boat on and off the mooring, and all too often, is a substitute for light-air sails. But for many, the bunks go unused and the stove remains cold for months at a time. The tanks grow their own plankton. In the end, the owners are lugging around a lot of unnecessary structure that shrinks the cockpit, lowers the waterline, raises the center of gravity and kicks up the cost along with the annual maintenance invoices. In short, more boat isn’t necessarily more fun.

The L. Francis Herreshoff design No. 53 defines a shoal draft, 28-foot centerboard/sloop. It has shallow draft (2 feet, 9 inches centerboard up and 5 feet, 6 inches centerboard down), sporting an impressive 50-percent ballast ratio that recoups the righting moment trade-off in the commitment to shallow draft and a lean (6-foot, 11-inch) beam hull. This results in good sail-carrying ability, and is why the Stuart Knockabout, like many of Herreshoffs designs, can make the most of long waterlines, a classic modified spoon bow, and fine sections aft. The net result is a 22-foot, 10-inch resting waterline that grows considerably with just a small amount of heel or squat, and an easily driven hull that can cope with breeze and chop, despite its low freeboard.

The Marconi mainsail and small clubfooted jib yield a combined 265 square feet of working sail area. This is fairly small by Herreshoffs (and todays) standards, but its clean hull lines provide adequate light-air efficiency, especially with the genoa substituted for the self-tacking working jib. An asymmetric spinnaker rounds out the light-air inventory, and even with the relatively low-aspect rig and moderate amount of sail area, the sloop starts moving with little more than a zephyr and is a delight to sail throughout a wide wind range. A J/80 crew will wave as they go by, but after a couple of hours, those lads leaning against the lifelines will envy the knockabout crew sitting in the cockpit snacking or sharing a tasty lunch.

The boats a made-in-America tale of Yankee tradition. Today, Hall Spars does the rig, and its just the right combination of alloy spar, low-maintenance reliability, and a buff-color traditional finish that conveys aesthetics and good performance. Even the sensibility of traditional three-strand, easy to splice, running rigging fits the equation. Edson casts the traditional bronze hardware, and provides the pump thats set deep in the bilge.

With a rail-to-rail traveler on the aft deck and a mainsail vang, theres plenty of opportunity to optimize mainsail shape and trim. The ballast-derived righting moment and moderate sail area keep the crew from scrambling to the rail as the breeze builds. One of the many appealing design attributes found in this boat is the way sailing remains civilized-an in-the-cockpit experience rather than a hang-over-the-rail tribulation. Even when the breeze pipes up, the moderate sail area and high ballast ratio locks in a welcome stiffness, and it justifies lugging around 2,400 pounds of lead ballast in a 4,000-pound boat. The modern foam/fiberglass sandwich hulls and decks weigh less than the original hulls and the ballast has been upped a bit adding extra stiffness.

The proclivity to heel is the Achilles heel of boats built with non-self-bailing cockpits. In this case, the Stuarts high coamings combine with its stiff countenance to prevent the down-flooding linked to a deep knockdown, a very unlikely occurrence. The crew at Ballentines add buoyancy (foam aft and a water-tight bulkhead in the stem) to keep a swamped hull on the surface. According to well-kept Ballentine records, one boat was actually caught in the vortex of a tornado moving over a lake with winds well over 100 knots. The boat was knocked down and swamped, but the owners were surprised at how well the built-in flotation kept it on the surface and upright, despite the flooded hull.

The Stuart Knockabout is a sailboat that looks as good underway as it feels at the helm. A long, carefully sculpted, varnished locust tiller delivers a fingertip feel. Observers note that even with the slightest bit of heel, the well-proportioned sloop stretches its waterline just enough to settle into the seaway and shoulder the waves without excess pitching. The long tiller affords enough leverage to eliminate any barn-door effect from the low-aspect-ratio attached rudder. The long run of keel and forefoot cutaway are in harmony with the sail plan. This results in on-the-wind sailing that could be described as balanced, and off-the-wind sailing that is a nicely controlled endeavor.

The large-main/small-jib sail plan is in complete harmony with the underbody. As the breeze increases, the Knockabout heels gradually and remains reluctant to go much beyond 15 to 20 degrees. Naturally, big increases in wind velocity, such as during a thunderstorm, can result in being overpowered. Like any sailboat, its not immune to fire drills.

Under power

The Stuart Knockabout is a prime candidate for an electric Torqueedo outboard or a small 3- or 4-horsepower, long-shaft four-stroke outboard. A port mounting bracket is fitted near the tiller, and the low freeboard gives the outboard plenty of prop submersion. When the engine is not in use, its easy to haul it back aboard, remove the bracket and stow the motor and bracket under the foredeck.

Pocket cruisers are indeed one of the most worthy ways to voyage under sail. But if your stints on the water are measured in hours not days, weeks, or months, why lug along a cabin and all that goes into such an interior? Look around your marina or out at the moored fleets, and tally up how often you see folks perched uncomfortably atop the cabin houses because the cockpit is nearly nonexistent. Add up how many of the capable cruisers return home to their slips in the late afternoon rather than swing-on-the-hook in a quiet cove. Designers and builders have been noting this trend, and the result has been a resurgence in capable sailing, large cockpit, daysailers. But rather than shell out $80,000 (or much more) for one of these new iterations, an option is to track down an old Stuart Knockabout. The Knockabout has both the enduring appeal of a classic and the design advantages of a true daysailer. It is a sailboat that has indeed had multi-generational appeal.

In the just under and just over 30-foot size boat, youll find cruisers, racers, and everything in between. Its this tween range that got us going this month and led to our close scrutiny of the Stuart Knockabout. The boat is neither a cruiser, nor a racer for the adrenalin-dripping sailor hoping to keep up with the kiteboarders. The Stuart works for those looking to savor a couple of hours of an afternoon sea breeze or a bit of local club racing. How she compares with a couple of other boats we call daysailers is worth mentioning. (See In Context table on right.)

The new CW Hood 32 is an elegant, and technically tricked-out, long-ended daysailer. With a carbon rig and vacuum-bagged molded hull, it has a few feet on the Stuart and still comes in lighter in displacement. Its Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) rating of 147 will appeal to the race-oriented, as will the carbon spar and rod rigging.

The out-of-production J/80 is more of a one-design racer than leisure daysailer, and its proven ability under sail has a lasting legacy. Over 1,300 boats have been launched, and the used price for a sound boat is about $35,000. The new J/Boats that bracket the J/80 are the smaller, 22-foot J/70 speedster ($50,000) and the 29-foot, auxilliary-diesel powered J/88 ($150,000). Both are fine boats, but they offer less than an apples to apples correlation with the Stuart Knockabout.

The bottom line, at least from our perspective, is that although sailboat design and technological advances have moved ahead, and made for performance enhancements that count on the race course, the delight of simply being underway in a tried and proven traditional design still has merit.

Theres a lot to appreciate about a boat thats easy to handle, leaves just a few ripples in her wake, and is as pleasant to look at as she is to sail.

• Craftsmanship is at the Heart of Construction

The Stuart Knockabout’s performance ratios mark it as more conservative than contemporary daysailors.

• Ballentine’s Boat Shop

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The Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné

Welcome! For about a hundred years, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, boats were built in Bristol, Rhode Island, under the name of Herreshoff. Herreshoff-designed-and-built sailing yachts dominated national and international regattas, and Herreshoff steam yachts were among the world's fastest. With them came worldwide fame and prestige. Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (1848 - 1938), the designer of most of these yachts, is regarded by many as the preeminent yacht designer of that time, if not of all time. His contemporaries called him The Wizard of Bristol , and this became also the title of the first, and still the best, biography of N. G. Herreshoff, first published thirteen years after his death by his son L. Francis Herreshoff, himself a noted yacht designer. We are grateful to have permission to publish the first Internet version of this important book here .

The Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné at the Herreshoff.info website strives to be the most exhaustive source of information about Herreshoff boats, their models, and their history. Consider it a catalog which documents each and every known boat designed by or built by the Herreshoffs in Bristol — sail boats, steam yachts, military vessels, even rowboats and dinghies. It contains thousands of pages with thousands of vessel images, model photos, and facsimiles of documents. Information is provided about the boats, the half models that were used to create them, construction histories, launching dates, and ownership changes, along with much, much more. The entire catalogue raisonné is thoroughly cross-linked and offers fascinating possibilities for scholars, cognoscenti and owners of Herreshoff-built boats to study and explore N. G. Herreshoff's expansive career and production.

We are extremely fortunate that so much Herreshoff material has survived. Of some 2,000 craft built by the Herreshoffs, for example, more than 400 are still with us, owned privately and by at least eight museums. The Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island has an unmatched collection of Herreshoff boats, yachts, and artifacts. It also houses one of the world's outstanding collections of half models made by several generations of the Herreshoff family including almost every half model ever carved by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff himself over his 75-year career as a designer. A visit to the Herreshoff Museum's model room is like stepping into an art museum and seeing every work of art ever created by a single famous artist — every one! (It is also what has caused this catalog to be named a catalogue raisonné.) Then there is the massive collection of Herreshoff drawings and related artifacts in the Hart Nautical Collection at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, holds large image collections (including photos by Burton, Bolles, and Rosenfeld) containing Herreshoff watercraft, as well as plans and artifacts (including hundreds of casting patterns), and a number of small boats built by HMCo. The Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has many photos of Herreshoff boats (by Levick and others) and at least two Herreshoff boats in its collection. Although entire books have been written about the Herreshoffs as well as newspaper and magazine articles, never before has an attempt been made to document all Herreshoff boats and models by systematically drawing on information from all these sources in order to create a larger whole. This is what the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné is all about. Freely-accessible and continually reviewed and expanded, it is an ongoing endeavor intended to enable an understanding never before possible.

The pages that follow are dedicated to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and the Herreshoffs of Bristol.

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• Sailboat Guide

Herreshoff Mfg. Co.

Formed as a partnership between John Brown Herreshoff and his younger brother, Nathaniel. Though the reputation of the latter is well established, it was the elder Herreshoff (who was blind), that kept the finances in order. So important was his role that company was sold very shortly after his death. The Herreshoff Museum has a website, listed below. A visit to the museum is certainly worth the trip even for the casual enthusiast. Others might find themselves looking for longer term accommodations. Over 14,000 plans and related design records were loaned to MIT when the firm was closed by the General Manager, Rudolph F. Haffenreffer (MIT Class of 1895). In 1961, the Haffenreffer Family donated the collection to MIT. A 218 page guide is available at MIT Museum or by mail from the Hart curator. web.mit.edu herreshoff-legacy.mit.edu

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• The Herreshoff Registry
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• A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff
• George Owen
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Herreshoff Marlin 23

Cape Cod Gemini

Herreshoff S-Class

Buzzards Bay 15

Herreshoff Fish

New York Yacht Club 30

Fishers Island 31

Fishers Island 23

New york yacht club 40, buzzards bay 30, bar harbor 31.

Biscayne Bay 14

New york yacht club 50, buzzards bay 25, herreshoff newport 29, buzzards bay 18.

Herreshoff Marlin

New york yacht club 70, new york yacht club 57, watch hill 15.

Tech Dinghy

Herreshoff Seawanhaka One-Design

Herreshoff Seafarer

Herreshoff 15

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Rebuild of a Herreshoff America

18' 2" 20' 0" 17' 9" 2' 2"/4' 11" 28' 0"

outboard 3 to 6 hp 24%

Hutchins Design Team Hutchins Company 2002-present 205 sq. ft. portable 10 gal.

Min./max. draft: Bridge clearance: Power: B/D ratio:

Designer: Builder:

Years produced: Sail area: Fuel tankage: Water tankage:

Approx. trailering wgt.: 3,500 lbs.

The Com-Pac Horizon 18 is a reconstruction of the Herreshoff America (page 35), pursued after builder Hutchins bought the tooling from the last of many molders of the original vessel, first built in 1971. In the comparison below, it is easy to see that many small changes were made in the design—for instance, adding two inches to the beam, and 100 pounds to the ballast (but without increasing the overall weight? hmmmm . . .). Best features: Reduced sail area (note lower SA/D versus comps) may slow the Horizon down a little in light air, but advantages more than compensate, e.g., reefing can be delayed a bit versus her comps, and less area results in a lighter mast and boom, making it easier to raise and lower the spars at a launching ramp. The modern deep and high-aspect rudder combined with the keel-centerboard combination should give the Horizon the ability to point higher. The four opening ports and cabintop hatch are a big plus, especially in summer heat. Worst features: With the new underbody, the ability to remain comfortably upright "on the hard" is lost. As for the steering wheel shown, let it suffice to say a tiller would be better.

Continue reading here: Little overnighter from Hutchins

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Readers' Questions

How rouse a centerboard on a catboat?

To raise a centerboard on a catboat, follow these steps: Locate the centerboard trunk, which is a vertical opening in the middle of the boat's hull where the centerboard is housed. Make sure the boat is properly balanced and stabilized, either by having someone hold the boat steady or by tying it to a dock. Find the centerboard control line. Depending on the specific catboat model, this could be a rope, handle, or lever located near the cockpit area. Pull the control line upwards or release the lever/handle to loosen the centerboard. Apply gentle upward pressure to the centerboard from the cockpit or another convenient location. If the centerboard is heavy, you may need to use a little more force (but be careful not to use excessive force). As you apply pressure, the centerboard should start rising. Continue with a steady upward motion until the centerboard is fully raised. Once the centerboard is raised, secure the control line or handle to lock it in position. This will prevent the centerboard from lowering unintentionally. Remember, each catboat may have its own specific mechanism for raising the centerboard, so it's always recommended to consult the boat's owner's manual or seek guidance from experienced catboat sailors for specific instructions related to your boat model.

How does the centerboard mechanism work on a herreshoff catboat?

The Centerboard mechanism on a Herreshoff catboat is designed to provide stability and balance to the boat while sailing. Here is a description of how it works: Location: The centerboard is a vertical board located in the center of the boat's hull, usually mounted beneath the cabin sole or cockpit floor. It extends down into the water from the hull. Lifting and lowering: The centerboard can be manually raised or lowered using a winch or a tackle system. When sailing in shallow waters or under certain wind conditions, the centerboard is raised to minimize its drag and prevent it from hitting the bottom of the water. Shape: The Herreshoff catboat's centerboard has a streamlined shape, similar to that of a wing. This shape allows it to generate lift when it is lowered into the water. Sailing upwind: When sailing upwind or close to the wind, the centerboard is lowered to its full extent. This helps to counteract the lateral force generated by the wind on the sails, preventing the boat from being pushed sideways or from slipping leeward. Lateral resistance: As the boat moves forward through the water, the centerboard acts as a keel-like structure, providing lateral resistance against the sideways force from the wind. This allows the boat to maintain its course and prevent it from being pushed off its intended direction. Balance and stability: The centerboard also contributes to the boat's balance and stability. By adjusting the amount of centerboard that is lowered, the sailor can control the boat's heel (tilting from side to side). A lower centerboard provides more stability but increases drag, while a higher centerboard reduces stability but minimizes drag. Overall, the centerboard mechanism in a Herreshoff catboat enables the sailor to optimize the boat's performance by adjusting the centerboard's position based on the wind conditions and water depth.

What type wood is a herreshoff catboat tiller made of?

Most Herreshoff Catboats have tiller handles made of mahogany or teak wood.

Collections & Research

L. Francis Herreshoff Collection

Ships plans collection 38, biography of l. francis herreshoff.

Lewis Francis Herreshoff (1890-1972), the son of Nathanael G. Herreshoff, was a naval architect, editor and author of numerous books and articles. As a young man, Mr. Herreshoff had the opportunity to work in each area of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. During World War I, he designed for the U. S. Navy, and he later worked for naval architect W. Starling Burgess. By 1926, he was self-employed, designing racing and cruising yachts, canoes, kayaks and other small craft. His racing yachts include a 1930 Americas Cup contender, the J class yacht WHIRLWIND; the almost unbeatable double-ended M class sloop ISTALENA; and the revolutionary R class sloops YANKEE and LIVE YANKEE. L. Francis Herreshoff became a well-known designer of graceful yachts; among the most famous are the schooner JOANN and the ketches BOUNTY, TIOGA and ARAMINTA. He published numerous articles, including many for the “How to Build” series of The Rudder magazine. His “How to Build” designs include NEREIA, MARCO POLO, MEADOW LARK, and the unusual catamaran, SAILSKI. His books include “The Writings of L. Francis Herreshoff,” “Capt. Nat Herreshoff: The Wizard of Bristol,” “The Common Sense of Yacht Design” and “The Compleat Cruiser.” Two books, “Sensible Cruising Designs” and “An L. Francis Herreshoff Reader,” were published after his death.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Available for use in the Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library

Restrictions on Use

 Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library.

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene, 1848-1938 Skene, Norman L., 1878-1932

Corporate Bodies:

Abeking & Rasmussen Britt Brothers Burgess, Swasey & Paine George Lawley & Son Corp. Herreshoff Manufacturing Company

American Canoe Association 19 square meter canoe (Canoe) Araminta (Ketch) Ben-My-Chree (Sloop) Bonnie Lassie (Sloop) Bounty (Ketch) Button (Sloop) Buzzards Bay 14 (Sloop) Carpenter (Tender) Deva (Ketch) Diddikai (Ketch) Dulcinea (Ketch) Golden Ball (Ketch) H-14 (Dinghy) H-28 (Ketch) Istalena (Sloop) Joann (Schooner) Lightning (Sloop) Live Yankee (Sloop) Marco Polo (Schooner) Mayflower (Schooner) Meadow Lark (Sloop) Mistral (Schooner) Mitena (Sloop) Mobjack (Ketch) Nereia (Ketch) Prudence (Sloop) Puritan (Schooner) Questa (Sloop) Quiet Tune (Ketch) Rob Roy type decked canoe (Canoe) Rozinante (Yawl) Slipper (Sloop) Tioga (Ketch) Tioga II (Ketch) Walrus (Motorboat) Wasp (Sloop) Whirlwind (Sloop) Yankee (Sloop)

Boats and boating Naval architecture–Designs and plans Ships plans Yacht racing Yachting Yachts–Design and construction

Document Types:

Ships plans

Occupations:

Naval architects–United States Yacht designers–United States

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Coll. 38, Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection. For more information, please e-mail Ships Plans. This collection inventory was funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Open for Spring: Wed-Sat: 10-5pm, Sun: 12-5pm | Donate to the Museum

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats

A series of papers on bringing innovation to the “New Navy” written by John Palmieri, Curator Emeritus

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part XI  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part X  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part IX  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part VIII  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part VII  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part VI: Herreshoff Success- US Navy Purchase of STILETTO, 1886-1895  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part V: HMCo. #118, STILETTO and the Torpedo Cruiser, 1883 – 1885  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part IV: Preparing for a STILETTO  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part III: LIGHTNING – a win for the Herreshoff System  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part II: Civil War & its Aftermath  

The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats, Part I: The Players, 1860  

Introducing “The Herreshoff Brothers and their Torpedo Boats”  

Hylan & Brown – Boatbuilders – Brooklin, Maine – Building and Restoring Classic Wooden Boats

N. g. herreshoff coquina plans, n. g. herreshoff coquina.

Both glued lapstrake plywood and traditional cedar over oak construction.

Under license from the MIT’s Hart Nautical Collections, Doug Hylan and Maynard Bray have collaborated to produce a highly detailed builder’s package for both amateur and professional builders, as well as students of Herreshoff’s work. Nathanael Herreshoff designed Coquina for his own use in the winter of 1889, and used her for may years, perhaps longer that any other of his personal yachts. Herreshoff wrote in some detail of Coquina in his later life: “I sailed quite often, both summer and winter.” Surely such a boat, used so much and remembered so fondly by a man of Herreshoff’s means and experience, must have applications for today’s sailors.

PLANS are fully detailed, and consist of 11 sheets including Herreshoff’s original construction drawing.

Other sheets include sail plan, lines plan, original construction, glued lapstrake plywood construction, spars & rigging plan, building jig, and four sheets of full sized patterns and plank layouts.

COMPACT DISC – also available, a CD in Adobe Acrobat format containing over 500 photos of both traditional and glued lapstrake plywood construction, covering every aspect of building, rigging and sailing these wonderful boats.

PARTICULARS

LOA – 16′ 8″ BEAM – 61″ DRAFT, 8″ board up, 36″ board down WEIGHT – with rig, 450 lb HULL TYPE – round bottom lapstrake CONSTRUCTION – glued lapstrake plywood or traditional cedar over oak SUITABLE FOR – Somewhat protected waters TRAILERABLE – Yes SKILL REQUIRED – Skilled amateur LOFTING REQUIRED – No

STUDY PLANS

Click here to download free Coquina Study Plans (1.2MB Acrobat PDF file). Includes specifications, examples of plans, and sample photos from the Photo CD.

PLANS SHEETS – 11 PLANS DETAIL – Very detailed ALSO AVAILABLE: Photo CD ($50.00 plus S & H) OTHER REFERENCES – Herreshoff of Bristol , Bray & Pinheiro, pp. 50, 51, 126, 146. “Getting to Know COQUINA” by Maynard Bray, WoodenBoat Magazine, No. 187 , p. 76.

TO ORDER PLANS:

• You can also order plans by sending a check or money order to Hylan & Brown – Boatbuilders, 10 Frank Day Ln, Brooklin, ME 04616
• Many questions are answered in Frequently Asked Questions . Please check there first.
• Contact us if you have any questions .

Link to Photos for this boat

Link to Frequently Asked Questions for this boat

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HERRESHOFF AMERICA Detailed Review

If you are a boat enthusiast looking to get more information on specs, built, make, etc. of different boats, then here is a complete review of HERRESHOFF AMERICA. Built by Nowak and Williams and designed by Halsey Herreshoff, the boat was first built in 1971. It has a hull type of Centerboard (Trunk) and LOA is 5.54. Its sail area/displacement ratio 22.64. Its auxiliary power tank, manufactured by undefined, runs on undefined.

HERRESHOFF AMERICA has retained its value as a result of superior building, a solid reputation, and a devoted owner base. Read on to find out more about HERRESHOFF AMERICA and decide if it is a fit for your boating needs.

Boat Information

Boat specifications, sail boat calculation, contributions, who designed the herreshoff america.

HERRESHOFF AMERICA was designed by Halsey Herreshoff.

Who builds HERRESHOFF AMERICA?

HERRESHOFF AMERICA is built by Nowak and Williams.

When was HERRESHOFF AMERICA first built?

HERRESHOFF AMERICA was first built in 1971.

How long is HERRESHOFF AMERICA?

HERRESHOFF AMERICA is 5.41 m in length.

Member Boats at HarborMoor

L. Francis Herreshoff H-28 Ketch

Just two owners in 47 years.

Professionally maintained by Cutts and Case in Oxford, Maryland for the last 11 years.

Frequent exhibit boat at annual Sultana Downrigging Weekend in Chestertown since 2012.

“Simplicity afloat is the surest guarantee of happiness.”

– L. Francis Herreshoff

One of LFH’s most graceful designs, Gwylan is ready to begin turning heads in new harbors starting with the 2024 season.

LOA 28’

Sparred length: 34’

LWL 23’

Beam 8’9”

Draft 3’6”

Sail area: 343 s.f.

w/genoa approx. 546 s.f.

Built 1976 by McKie (Nick) Roth, Westport, Maine

White cedar over white oak, mahogany brightwork, bronze fastened, lead keel.

Reinforced 1998 with Cutts & Case's patented method which laces the planking below the waterline with thin Kevlar cord, resulting in an exceptionally safe and strong hull. No cracks in seams or planks in 26 seasons underway. See WoodenBoat #78 .  No known rot.

Original Volvo-Penta MD7A diesel is well cared for, runs beautifully.

​Sails made by the legendary Stuart Hopkins at Dabbler Sails, who crafted them from Dacron to look like vintage cotton: half-width panels (18") sewn with brown thread to catch the eye (and the camera), both jibs mitered to complete the vintage appearance. Sails are well maintained: main, mizzen, genoa, staysail. Includes a masthead drifter. Previous suit of sails are usable and are included.

Price $25,000, negotiable for a good home.

Ideal buyer has the skills and time to self-maintain or the availability of a competent yard.

You'll smile every time you look at her!

I have for 27 seasons.

She's now at Cutts & Case Shipyard in Oxford, Maryland, hauled for the season, stored indoors, among the many other beautiful boats in this classic yard.

See Drone Videos by Paul DeLaney

many more still images .

Authenticity

Gwylan closely follows LFH’s original design from the December, 1942 issue of the magazine The Rudder except for the welcome addition of a short bowsprit and removable jibstay to allow setting a big genoa in lighter air. It also is a handy place for the 25 lb. CQR anchor, which allows me to comfortably cruise singlehanded several hundred miles a year on the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River.

The article was reprinted later in Herreshoff’s Sensible Cruising Designs ( still available )

L. Francis Herreshoff’s biographer, Roger C. Taylor, describes the development of the H-28 in his Volume II and he used two pictures of Gwylan in his excerpt article in Woodenboat No. 206 .

Author Roger Taylor on board Gwylan at Chestertown during Downrigging Weekend, 2016.

Gwylan’s first owner was a fascinating man, Capt. John Cadwalader, USN. In addition to being a lover of the sea, he was a professor of Shakespeare and a namesake descendent of one of George Washington’s generals in the American Revolution. The name Gwylan is the Welsh word for “seagull”.

She's sweet and true - prettiest boat in the harbor.

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Jake Gyllenhaal and Sabrina Carpenter's SNL Scooby-Doo Parody Has a Wild Ending

Mikey Day transformed into Shaggy while Sarah Sherman played Velma in a sketch that gets Sarah Squirm-style gory.

Scooby-Doo and the gang did what they do best in a pretaped sketch for  Jake Gyllenhaal 's May 18  Saturday Night Live   finale. But after they solved the mystery and the culprit's mask came off, their classic  Scooby-Doo  double-unmasking went horrifically awry — and things only got crazier from there.

How to Watch

Watch Saturday Night Live  Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on  NBC and next day on  Peacock .  

Gyllenhaal led the gang as Fred, while "Espresso" singer Sabrina Carpenter  made for a great Daphne. It's unsurprising that Mikey Day and Sarah Sherman absolutely nailed their live-action Shaggy and Velma. Definitely more surprising is the Sarah Squirm -style turn the parody took in its final act, blood-spraying body horror and all.

RELATED: Watch Jake Gyllenhaal's  SNL  Sketches and Monologue from May 18

Things got very weird in SNL's "Scooby-Doo" starring Sabrina Carpenter and Jake Gyllenhaal

Aesthetically, the sketch looked exactly like a live-action version of the cartoon that's been running in various incarnations since the late 1960s. Opening on a shot of The Mystery Machine van parked outside a seemingly-haunted house, the action began with the gang prowling past a picture with cut-out eyes and capturing the spooky Shadow Phantom.

RELATED: Colin Jost's "Joke Swap" Baited Michael Che into a Kendrick Lamar Feud

Ripping off a mask, they soon discovered it was actually Old Man Franklin (James Austin Johnson), a typical end to most  Scooby-Doo  mysteries. Shaggy uncovered a bookcase that opened a hidden passage, while Carpenter's Daphne lowered two pulleys that pulled a line of piano wire taught. (If you've seen any films in the  Final Destination  franchise, you probably sensed the foreshadowing in that shot). 

"But who  is  Old Man Franklin — I mean, really?" Gyllenhaal's doofy Fred asked. "No one is who they appear to be." And that's often true in the real show — but when Fred went to tear off his presumed second mask, he wound up tearing his actual face off. 

"Quick, we need to put the face in a bowl of dry rice!" Daphne declared amid the gang's screams.  

"It's not a cellphone, you moron!" Velma told her.

Then Scooby (voiced by Andrew Dismukes) rendered the face irretrievable. 

RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" Song Meaning Explained

In the gang's subsequent panic, the swinging bookcase and piano wire became several members' undoing. The bloody finale took another turn when a police officer (Kenan Thompson) becomes an unwanted witness. But the biggest shock of all? The reveal of the product this all wound up being a commercial for.

"Scooby-Doo" is a fine companion to earlier pretaped sketches from Season 49 that have found Sarah Sherman wielding CGI and prosthetics to bend reality, such as "UNTOLD: Battle of the Sexes" featuring Jason Momoa  and "The Anomalous Man" with Dua Lipa .

"Got my head chopped off twice in one season," Sherman proudly announced in a May 20 post on X (formerly Twitter), sharing clips of both scenes. "Bye bye Season 49."

Watch  SNL 's "Scooby-Doo" parody above, and stream every episode of  Saturday Night Live  Season 49 on Peacock.

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The season finale of Saturday Night Live arrives this weekend, and the occasion brought together Jake Gyllenhaal , cast member Bowen Yang , and musical guest Sabrina Carpenter for the traditional Thursday promo.

As usual, it was an exercise in hilarity.

In the first segment, the lads claim to have a Carpenter song stuck in their heads. Only it’s not her song.

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