More on Design 1557 Spirit Class

As a follow up to my posting of earlier today regarding design 1557-C3, here is Orpheus, hull number five of the series.  She was built of wood by American Marine of Hong Kong.  Her cabin trunk is specific to this hull. I think the house is very nicely proportioned.  There is 6-1" headroom under the deckhouse. Image courtesy of Jeff Sanders and Wooden Boat magazine.

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The Spirit Scow

Do you remember the scow built with hand tools of antiquity by the Crystal River Boat Builders? The USS WARTAPPO was used by the East Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron along the Crystal River shore of Florida during the US Civil War.

Dave Lucas and Bill Whalen sent us an update to this story along with a video. The soundtrack is a song written for the scow by a band calling themselves "7 lbs of Bacon". Even if youre not impressed by sea chanties, youll have to admit this big scow (36 feet) moves along nicely.

The CRBB have named their scow Spirit and thats what the song is about. Be sure to follow the link above for the back-story.








Happy sailing, SV Spirit!  Thanks to Dave, Bill and the Crystal River Boat Builders for the photos and video.
And thanks to 7 lbs of Bacon. Too much fun!

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Design 1557 C3 Spirit

We have discussed the Spirit Class before and as shown in the above image.  The boat was designed as a flush-deck one-design class for San Fransisco Bay in the mid-1960s.  Although the class never took off the original Spirit was hugely successful and various sisters were built.  It has been difficult to track what boats were built.  Here is a list of owners and boats for this design in its various forms.

In 2000, Wooden Boat magazine published a ten page article about the boats (Wooden Boat #156).  Even here they reference the ever-allusive hull #6 as follows: A sixth boat is rumored to have been built of fiberglass in New Zealand.

I was finally able to track down this boat, also named Spirit (just to further confuse matters) and shown just above.  The boat was in fact built of fiberglass by the highly respected boatbuilder John Lidgard of Aukland in 1965.  She was built with a small, attractive deckhouse, the draft was increased to 6-10", a separate skeg and rudder were designed and her sail area reduced slightly.  Please note that the model with the small deckhouse was dubbed the Mariner Class.

Here are a couple of shots that give a peek at her underbody and a good look at her cockpit.

Here are the Plans.

Principal Dimensions
LOA 33-5"
LWL 28-6"
Beam 8-5"
Draft 6-10"
Displacement 12,320 lbs
Sail Area 535 sq ft

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Design 1930 C2 Blithe Spirit

 

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. Heres 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

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