Family cruiserr

To begin with look at that sheerline. No wimpy, flaccid, spineless sheer here. This sheer has strength in its spring. The boat is pretty beamy, so it can stand a lot of sheer, which is accentuated by the 4-inch-high bulwark and cove stripe. Note that an echo of the sheer spring is carried over to the upper line of the bootstripe. Sheer gives boats character. Think of the boats you find really beautiful, and I'll bet you can trace that appeal straight back to the spring of the sheer. No matter how you detail a yacht, an ugly sheer will always be the kiss of death.

I like Ted's bow profile too. It has strength in its curvature.

I love outboard rudders, but I would have preferred to see this one with more "meat" in the area directly above the rudder blade. This one looks anemic, weak aesthetically to my eye. Fortunately the lure and appeal of the sheerline is so strong that your eye is not really drawn to the rudder.

Looks are one thing and performance is another. Considering that this boat is a cruiser and will be sailed by a cruiser you might as well throw out Mumm 30-styled performance goals. This client won't sail like that. You could argue that by raising the freeboard forward you increase windage. You could argue that the spoonlike convexity to the bow profile makes for fuller forward waterlines. But I'm certain that in both cases the client would say, "So what? I want a good looking boat!" The quality of time spent cruising is not necessarily always a function of boat speed. This becomes a matter of personal style.

Ted's hull lines show a hull with marked deadrise running full length. This gives the boat a sharp forefoot and a shape aft that almost approaches the old "bustle" shape. The waterlines reflect that deadrise and are quite symmetrical fore and aft indicating a boat that should maintain nice balance through a wide range of heel angles.

The deadrise at the transom gives a nice shape to the transom, which is accentuated by a bit of tumblehome. This transom may not be exactly the shape of speed, but it's a looker. If you choose to couple modern performance-dictated sectional shapes aft with a traditionally raked transom you will get a terrible looking stern. You have to have a pretty fanny on your boat.

The interior layout is fine, if you like dinettes and individual seats. I'd prefer settee berths with a drop-leaf table. I can hear Ted saying "Well Bob, when you build yours we'll do it like that." This would be an easy change to make in the plans. Note the diesel fired "fireplace" to starboard directly ahead of the seat. I don't like this galley. There is no counter space on either side of the sink. This would not suit my style of cooking at all. Where do the dirty dishes go? Where do the clean dishes go? Where does the clean lettuce go while I wash the rest? Why is Eric Clapton's new CD so bad? These are all important questions. But heck, this is what makes custom boats wonderful.

We don't build production boats like this. Not anymore. Financially it's too scary. Tooling, plugs and molds are very expensive. Today's production boat has to be an everyman's, one-size-fits-all type of boat that will have universal appeal not necessarily derived from its direct links to classic yacht beauty. We are losing these optimistic, unique expressions of one sailor's life on the water. Nice job Ted.