Another aluminum Alan Gurney

Hi everyone,

We all need multiple cruising sailboats soooo....

I recently bought a 33 foot aluminum boat built by Royal Huisman in 1968, hull number 238. Was told it was an Alan Gurney design and some research on line shows it may be what was called a Nantucket 33 (not the center cockpit Nantucket Island 33), possible there where some built in fiberglass as well as aluminum, but not sure if that is actually the same boat.

Boat is in pretty rough shape but the hull and rig is in good shape. Decks are ply and need some work but not too bad. Most of the interior will need to go. We are still finishing up our Chilean trip on or current boat, but we left our boat in Uruaguy for the summer and are back in the USA so I will be able to get started on the new boat.

Some pictures are here: https://picasaweb.google.com/bwedlock/Zealous

Anyone here know any history?

 

Got some info from Royal Huisman,

The boat is a Nantucket 33' designed by Gurney and hull number 2 of 8 that where built, originally named Doxy.

They also sent copies of interior and rig drawings. Should be helpful for the rebuild.

Still interested if anyone knows anything, I will put up info as I find it.

 

Pretty!

Windward Passage was fast for the same reason all fast boats are fast: it was as light as it could be. Otherwise, it and other Gurneys, like Islander 36, were nice, but not outstanding, with a heavy helm because of the skeg, but will probably track well with the tiller tied off or under autopilot.

Your boat looks to have sweet lines, and RH has a great reputation. Should be a tough but rewarding project. Redo the deck and interior in foam/glass, you might save nough weight to float on the intended lines when loaded for cruising.

 

yep, she sails quite nicely, very balanced.

Plan is to keep the interior as light as possible, decks will remain plywood since most of it is still good and it takes lots of work to make something lighter than a good plywood deck.

We will be sailing engine-less so we have already saved a pretty good pile of weight by pulling out the Yanmar. Sadly, adding insulation will likely add a good chunk of weight, but no way around that.

Our current boat was in similar condition when we bought it so well aware of what we are getting into. Have plenty of time to put this one together and do it just how we want.

 

That´s not quite correct.
Passage was fast because of her brilliant hull design.
Another Gurney design, Great Britain II, is moderate to heavy displacement, and is also fast, because of her ingenious hull design.

Light displacement IOR boats, for example, were/are fast and competitive only in heavy air, while moderate to heavy displacement IOR boats (with more sail area) always will beat light IOR boats in light airs. This sounds paradoxically, but is true.

 

I remember the prototype which WAS aluminum and a very successful racer. (won it's class a few times at the SORC during the late 1960's.
It was displayed in an ad for Hood sails for a time.
(Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the boat.)
I'm going to see if I can find the ad at least.
I wonder who made the glass version.
It is such great looking boat, especially considering it's age.

 

Interesting, could you possibly be thinking of Hotfoot/Hotspur? She was a pretty successful racer in the late sixties that looks very similar, may be the same hull design, but was built in wood. Possibly hot or cold molded of some sort? I found some info on her and a contact for the current owner so will be getting in touch with him.

I would love to see that ad...

 

I'm not sure about construction, but I think you are right, that 'Hotfoot' was the name. It was of fairly light displacement for the time.

rb

 

Nantucket 33

I owned that boat from 1978 to 1983 and sailed her down island in the Caribbean, to Europe and back across the Atlantic. Please fix her up. It almost makes me cry to look at the photos you have posted. She was a great boat.

 

Nantucket 33 - Hotfoot

I found this in 'Boating' magazine, August 1968. Unfortunately, not the greatest quality. This is Google's scan.

 

I would love to hear some stories about your trip and the boats past.

She is pretty rough now, but we should have her back to life in a few years. The hull is good, but the entire interior and deck needs to be replaced. We are going to gut her to a bare hull and start from there. The last owners did nothing in the way of maintenance or taking care of the boat since about 2009.

 

Are you sure the original name of this Nantucket 33 is Doxy and not March Hare? According to a book I have on the history of Royal Huisman (Royal Huisman 125 Years) yacht number 238 was March Hare and yacht 239 was Doxy. March Hare was built for my Uncle and I sailed on it a young child in Maine. Her home port was Southport, CT. Just curious to know if this is indeed his old boat. If you can confirm I can send you a photo of her from the early 70's. She was a great boat!

 

I had the hull number wrong in the original post, just checked the plaque (it's sitting next to my computer) and ours is 239. Would still be cool to see some pictures of March Hare though.