It's a Seahorse!(Van De Stadt that is)... opinions please.

There isn't any specific text in the book about Sea Horse unfortunately. She is typical of the plywood hard chine line Van de Stadt designs from the period. All of them are light, fast boats. Some, as Sea snake and Sea falcon are quite extreme, lean, performance designs. Here is the design that I like a lot, Sea snake, grand father of the modern sport boats.

Milan

 

Thank you Milan,
You have probably saved me a fair bit of money as now I have little reason to buy the book.
Of course later on it would definatly be a nice book to have, but for now the need has passed.
That Sea Snake looks nice.
What year was that?

p.s. from the Seahorse plans you have posted (and the ones I have), mine is a bit different,
first off it has a lead keel (meaning that if follows the slimmer profile of the deadwood- not seen on your plans),
also the inner cabin layout is fairly different- the galley is in the same spot, but the head is on the same side but up towards the bow past the mast instead of in the center.
And the removable navigation table is more of a nonremovable navigation shelf (opposite the head).

p.s.

She is a lovely boat, after restoring her (almost finished) we finally got to sail her last week to her new home, a swing mooring.
Under main only she perfectly steered herself through the 15 knots and 2 meter waves. She often seemed to do a better job on her own than when I tried to help her.
Since then we haven't even seen her,
after three months full time restoration, through the winter rain and winds, my partner desperatly needed a break. Also our inflatable that we bought instantly sprung a leak upon the first use, so now with a new one (much better- sevylor HF 360) in hand, we will probably see her again this weekend.

Thanks again,
Hans.

 

If you are interested only in the Sea horse, there is no need to by that book. But book is interesting for people with general interest in the Yacht design. Price is not very high when you consider that with a book comes a CD with study plans drawings for hundreds of boats.

Sea Snake was designed in 1956. She had many original ideas, for example one option was totally transparent cabin from perspex on the aluminum profiles frame and inside steering for offshore sailing in rough conditions. E. G. van de Stadt was very pleased with her and considered her his favorite design. She is still very fast boat even by modern standards and in her time was a real rocket, sailing circles around competition.

Milan

 

I am pretty much only interested in the Seahorse as it is the boat that I have.
Of course, I would like the book for an adition to the bookshelf, and when I have a bit of extra money (???) I just may get it.
Thanks again.
Hans.

 

Hi SeaSpark,

Can you please try to find out if the Van de Stadt book has any info on the Dogger and Super Dogger?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,

Rose and Paul (and Minx II)