We enjoyed building a really lovely 34' daysailing/cruising sloop designed by David Ryder-Turner (see Two Yawls in "New Classic Yacht Construction"). David has drawn exceptionally good looking yachts that have been very fast. His specialty is drawing yachts in the William Fife style, and he does this extremely well. As David has catalogued the Fife plans collection, he is a leading expert on Fife's designs. Fife was the Praxiteles of yacht designers. His yachts were very fast as well. This 34' sloop design is reminiscent of Fife's double-ended 50' EVENLODE built for Colin Ratsey and the lovely the 72' LATIFA.

Learn about all the details relating to the building of AMORE.

ACADIA was designed in the commuter style of the 1920's, but is intended to be used both as a day boat to accommodate a party of the owners' family and friends, and as a cruising boat for the owners to go off by themselves alone or with another couple.

There are many configurations of what are now popularly called day boats, and many power cruisers. In this design Daniel Skira has combined the best qualities of both types with common sense and simplicity in an easily driven classic commuter style hull. There should be more boats like this.

Learn about all the details relating to the building of ACADIA.

Designed by Nick Potter, SERENADE was built in 1938 by Wilmington Boatworks. She was built for violinist Jascha Heifitz who kept her in Newport Beach. One of Heifitz's great friends was Humphrey Bogart who learned to sail on SERENADE. Other celebrity owners of SERENADE include Jacques Cousteau and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Learn about all the details relating to the SERENADE Restoration Project.

1) From patterns made from the lofting floor we fabricated the various members of the backbone in preparation for setting it up on the molds. By means of these patterns we needed only do one layout for all the boats, again a saving if more than one boat is being built. The members of the white oak backbone and the heart pine deadwood were bolted with bronze bolts. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company used iron, but the relationship between material costs and labor costs was very different in those days. Today it makes sense to use the best and most enduring materials.

2) The molds were made from the lofting. This task need only be done once for all the yachts built of this design. The Herreshoff method used a mold for every frame saving time in the steaming and installation of the frames and in the set up. Each frame is steam bent directly over its corresponding mold. The white oak frames are steamed and bent over the molds, and held in place pending the planks being fastened to them with bronze screws. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company pioneered the use of bronze screws in yacht construction for plank fastenings rather than copper rivets because of this manner of setting the boat up upside down with every frame over a mold.

3) At the same time the backbone is being set up we fabricated the raised paneled bulkheads berths and other members of the interior and the deck joiner work from patterns already made. Although most original NYYC 30 interiors would probably have been painted white with varnished mahogany trim, it would also to be traditional to have varnished mahogany, cypress, or cedar. Herreshoff often used varnished red cypress for interiors because it is light in color and light in weight. Black walnut would look very elegant set off by some creamy white. Perhaps one might paint the bulkheads creamy white and have the fore and aft paneling, like the settee fronts, varnished black walnut to make a very elegant interior.

4) Planking was the next task. The NYYC 30's are single planked of heart pine for the garboards and the broads up to beneath the turn of the bilge. The rest of the way up to sheer the planking is double with Heart pine or Douglas fir over cypress or Atlantic white (also called Southern or Juniper) cedar. The garboard seam and the single planking are caulked, but the double planking does not need to be. The double planking is one reason for the endurance of Herreshoff construction. The sheer strakes were oak on the original boats, but we considered making the sheer strakes on ORIOLE of mahogany. With oak one must use butt blocks whereas with mahogany it is safe to have a glued scarf. The hull is diagonal strapped with bronze.

5) The hull is faired while still upside down on the molds. It is then turned over and installed on top of the lead ballast keel.


6) The white pine deck planking was already milled out and the v-groove underside was painted. The deck planking was laid and caulked and then canvas covered. The canvas is bedded with a canvas bedding compound, and then painted. The deck is installed over sawn oak deck beams. The deck has a set of diagonal bronze straps in the way of the mast partners.

7) The trunk cabin and the hatches were fabricated off the boat after the interior joiner work and bulkheads, so they were ready to be installed as soon as the deck is on. As with the interior joiner work and paneled bulkheads, much of the deck joiner work such as the trunk cabin, hatches, and coamings will be laid out from the original patterns. The deck joiner work on the original NYYC 30's was mahogany.

8) The original spars were solid of Douglas fir. When the NYYC 30 LINNET was built Mr. Herreshoff re-designed the NYYC 30 spars to be hollow. For this he increased the diameter slightly and changed the material of the mast and boom to Washington (Sitka) spruce. We built NYYC 30 spars according to the Herreshoff modification for LINNET. The bowsprit is of heart pine.

9) The engine is a small light engine such as a Yanmar. On ORIOLE the shaft with folding propeller was installed in the manner shown in L. F. Herreshoff's construction drawings of the ARAMINTA ketch and the QUIET TUNE ketch for minimal drag. The fuel tank was installed under one of the saloon settee seats.

10) The plumbing system is a simple with hand pumps in the head and galley. The WC is a reliable Wilcox skipper. The water tank is under the settee seat opposite the fuel tank.

11) The electrical system was kept very simple. One of the most expensive components of the electrical system is the panel. The more items there are in the electrical system, the more expensive the panel. Since the NYYC 30's was to kept simple, it was tempting to eliminate electrical lights in the interior, and to use oil lamps instead. The navigational lights are electric though.

12) The NYYC 30's would traditionally have their hulls painted white. We like Epifanes #24 Nautiforte creamy white enamel. The anti-fouling bottom paint would typically have been a "Herreshoff green." We like Epifanes varnish for deck joiner work and all other exterior varnish. The canvas deck might be a light gray, or a sand color. The interior finish is mentioned above in #3, but we suggest that the underside of the v-groove deck planking be painted creamy white, and that the deck beams be varnished. For the interior satin varnish is often used.