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John Spencer's designs

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by Milan, May 20, 2005.

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Location: Flattop Islands

Tad Boat Designer

Spencer 32 Framing and Arrangement

http://www.tadroberts.ca
http://www.passagemakerlite.com
http://blog.tadroberts.ca/

Tad, Dec 27, 2010

#61

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Location: Canberra

Bosun Bird Junior Member

CT 249 said: ↑

Hi BB

You must have bought Lollipop - she ended up in BB some time after my own Serendipity returned to Sydney from the Bay.

I have a copy of April 1972 Modern Boating magazine with a test of the 'glass Serendipity, and a copy of Spencer's brief article about the boats in a '69 MB.

The SA Serendipities were initially built by MFG Boats, a powerboat builder I think, with rigging and marketing by Duncanson. The plug came from a boat home-built by a former Kiwi, John Rochfort. The first 'glass boat, Koa Atea was launched around early '72 and owned by Rochfort. I think she is now in Victoria, fitted with a bigger rig and a different rudder I think, but not going as well as she did under the previous owner when she was competitive with Thunderbirds, Sonata 8s and similar craft from the handicaps I saw.

The 'glass Serendipities are quick strongly built according to the magazine article, with some 1" of chopped strand and woven rovings at the keel, dropping to 3/8" at the chine and 1/4" at the topsides. If the MB article is correct, the 'glass boats weighed in at 2.8 tons which is well above the design weight of about 2.2; however I think the given waterline is identical so the dimensions are a bit suspect. My own boat is double-diagonal oregon and when weighed at BB for AMS rating came out at about 2050kg, which may be more of an issue with the weighing procedure as few 30+ year old timber boats end up underweight!

I think Lollipop, from what I have seen, is a standard boat although then again, they seem to have a wide variety of interior layouts. She was formerly owned by a business associate of my former father-in-law and was strictly a social sailing boat on Sydney Harbour. I can find no earlier information about her.

Others have done a fair amount of racing, including Melbourne-Devonport (Rouseabout, which won its IOR division in the mid '70s), Coffs Harbour (Anenome, a home-made timber boat that was very nicely built and normally a moderate performer) and Brisbane-Gladstone events (Conqueror, a GRP boat that my family used to own and may have been built lighter; El Encierro, a timber boat; and Rush, a timber boat built by El Enc's former owner with about 1" added to each section to stretch her to about 29 feet and a bigger rig). My boat did a bit of racing from Sydney and Lake Macquarie, but after fitting an old Etchells rig the JOG class put us in the same division as the new boats so we gave up. We did do the inaugural Sydney-Batemans Bay regatta, finishing 2nd of the 10 or so half tonners behind a Farr, which we were pretty happy about considering she hadn't raced for eons and lots of bits fell off or didn't work. With less weight than most Serendipities, a bigger fractional rig and a spade rudder, she is not your standard S28!

Some of the standard GRP ones go quite poorly, to be frank, as while they are a very, very forgiving and safe boat to sail, they are not particularly easy to extract the best pace from. With a small rig they lack sail power, and although extremely stable at high angles of heel they lack form stability at low angles of heel. If you do not trim them well, they seem to lose more pace than most other boats but always remain very easy to sail.

I don't know how many S28s were built in Oz. There's about 7-8 timber boats, at least. Some were built in 'glass in the UK (not many, I believe) and there's at least one in South Africa, built in timber. I only know of three other glass ones in NSW and Victoria and a couple in QLD, but there are several others in SA, including Mystic (racing from Port Adelaide SC) and one racing in a country club. For some reason they are often referred to as 29 footers in SA but the test and plans clearly say 28, as does my boat's measurement certs!

I've been meaning to scan some Spencer plans for some time - drop me a PM to remind me over the next few days.

Good luck, it's a great boat!

Chris
Click to expand...

Hi CT 249/ Chris

Yep, that's right we bought Lollipop. Thank you for the information you provided. It's funny she was once a social sailer on Sydney Harbour because the lads at the BB marina keep telling me how fast she was when she was a regular racer in BB. I'm afraid her racing days are up... we're more interested in pleasant day sailing and short coastal trips so she's getting prettied up inside and out and a new roller furler installed. I think she's a very well designed boat and as you say, very forgiving but also no slouch once she hits her groove.

I will try to track down the articles you mentioned in MB.... with luck the National Library might have them. Thank you again.

Fair sailing!

Bosun Bird, Jan 5, 2011

#62

Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4
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Location: Adelaide, Australia

craig69 New Member

Whispers II Short film Doco

Just found this great Doco on Stagg and Whispers II

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-hum-1974

craig69, Jan 12, 2011

#63

Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 104
Likes: 1, Points: 18, Legacy Rep: 13
Location: Australia

Ramona Senior Member

CT 249 said: ↑

Hi BB

My boat did a bit of racing from Sydney and Lake Macquarie, but after fitting an old Etchells rig the JOG class put us in the same division as the new boats so we gave up. We did do the inaugural Sydney-Batemans Bay regatta, finishing 2nd of the 10 or so half tonners behind a Farr, which we were pretty happy about considering she hadn't raced for eons and lots of bits fell off or didn't work. With less weight than most Serendipities, a bigger fractional rig and a spade rudder, she is not your standard S28!

Chris
Click to expand...

Chris I think we may have met a few years ago. There was a Serendipity holed up in Greenwell Point for a few days on her way from Batemens Bay to Sydney. It had an Etchells rig and a piece of ply over one cabin window. I gave the owner a bit of a hand with the battery. Next morning as I came home from work I met this Serendipity at the entrance as the sails were hoisted, the Etchells rig looked particularly good.

In my home town in South Australia there was a Serendipity used by a professional fisherman as a fishing boat in the Whiting handlining sector. The Whiting were just kept in eskies. Always a pleasant sight watching him sail home in the afternoons.

Graham
Fortunate owner of a Currawong 30
South coast of NSW
Australia

Ramona, Jan 13, 2011

#64

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Location: Canberra

Bosun Bird Junior Member

Serendipity indeed!

Hi Craig 69

Thanks for the stories about serendipity and Serendipities!

Bosun Bird

Bosun Bird, Jan 13, 2011

#65

Joined: Mar 2011
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Location: Indonesia

Gandalf57 New Member

Milan, if you are still interested in John's designs I have a number of Sea Spray articles and quite a few pictures of his boats.
I can scan and email these to you if you like.

Gandalf57, Mar 25, 2011

#66

Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 41
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Location: Northland , New Zealand

Kanfish Kansai Fishing Company

Milan said: ↑

I'm interested in the John Spencer's keelboats designs. Can someone point to the sources of information's? I only found info about his dinghy designs. http://www.sailingsource.com/cherub/idx-chistory.php

Milan
Click to expand...

You might find a good source of information re Spencer from Bev Davidson.
Bev was a staffer at Sea Spray magazine for a number of years when John Malitte was editor and I think interviewed John Spencer for various articles she wrote for the magazine.
Spencer had a few designs in 12' skiffs too ie; Bondi Tram and a couple of others I think too. Axalottly or something like that??
Bev would be contactable via www.sparklingacreas.co.nz ( an Appaloosa Breeding Stud that she and my eldest daughter, Petra, operate ) in the Whangaripo Valley district of Wellsford, Northland.

Kanfish

Kanfish, Mar 25, 2011

#67

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Bosun Bird Junior Member

Spencer 37 FOR SALE

Dear All

Just in case anyone's interested, please see

http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/spencer-37/87924

Best wishes

Bosunbird

Bosun Bird, Apr 4, 2011

#68

Joined: Jun 2011
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Location: Auckland

Gav501 New Member

John Spencer Plans

I have an origional set of plans for a Spencer Adrian 24'6 keeler that i got when i purchased my boat. They are hand written and signed by John Spencer and look to be a complete set. I would like some indication of the value of the plans if someone can help me with that.. Thanks..

http://worldboatauctions.com

Gav501, Jun 10, 2011

#69

Joined: Mar 2002
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Location: Flattop Islands

Tad Boat Designer

Here's an interview with John Spencer I found this morning......

View attachment spencer_seaspary.pdf

http://www.tadroberts.ca
http://www.passagemakerlite.com
http://blog.tadroberts.ca/

Tad, Jul 4, 2011

#70

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Bosun Bird Junior Member

John Spencer Interview

Fascinating reading...thanks for sharing Tad.

Bosun Bird, Jul 5, 2011

#71

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Location: Canberra

Bosun Bird Junior Member

John Spencer 40' Classic up for sale

Just in case anyone is interested... here's a Spencer up for sale.... It looks like a big sister to my Spencer Serendipity 28. I love the silhouette of these boats... they look like they're straining to move forward.... lovely boats to sail....

http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/1968-classic-spencer-40-yacht/99287

Bosun Bird, Sep 30, 2011

#72

Joined: May 2009
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Location: Cocoa, Florida

Doug Lord Flight Ready

Tad said: ↑

Here's an interview with John Spencer I found this morning......

View attachment 58557
Click to expand...

===========
Thanks, Tad!

yes, it is a Revolution
Fire Arrow Foil System/ 3D SAILING
WOLF https://sailwolffoiler.com/wolf/

Doug Lord, Oct 1, 2011

#73

Joined: Dec 2011
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Location: Auckland

old salt New Member

John Spencer Plans

I used to own a very nice round bilge Spencer 26 keel yacht and search for info, plans etc. Peter Tait has all of the Spencer boat plans and is very helpful in selling copies to interested people at a reasonable price. It certainly helped with the restoration work I had to do.

old salt, Dec 17, 2011

#74
Advertisement:

Joined: May 2012
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Location: Gawler, SA

rouseabout New Member
CT 249 said: ↑

Hi BB

You must have bought Lollipop - she ended up in BB some time after my own Serendipity returned to Sydney from the Bay.

I have a copy of April 1972 Modern Boating magazine with a test of the 'glass Serendipity, and a copy of Spencer's brief article about the boats in a '69 MB.

The SA Serendipities were initially built by MFG Boats, a powerboat builder I think, with rigging and marketing by Duncanson. The plug came from a boat home-built by a former Kiwi, John Rochfort. The first 'glass boat, Koa Atea was launched around early '72 and owned by Rochfort. I think she is now in Victoria, fitted with a bigger rig and a different rudder I think, but not going as well as she did under the previous owner when she was competitive with Thunderbirds, Sonata 8s and similar craft from the handicaps I saw.

The 'glass Serendipities are quick strongly built according to the magazine article, with some 1" of chopped strand and woven rovings at the keel, dropping to 3/8" at the chine and 1/4" at the topsides. If the MB article is correct, the 'glass boats weighed in at 2.8 tons which is well above the design weight of about 2.2; however I think the given waterline is identical so the dimensions are a bit suspect. My own boat is double-diagonal oregon and when weighed at BB for AMS rating came out at about 2050kg, which may be more of an issue with the weighing procedure as few 30+ year old timber boats end up underweight!

I think Lollipop, from what I have seen, is a standard boat although then again, they seem to have a wide variety of interior layouts. She was formerly owned by a business associate of my former father-in-law and was strictly a social sailing boat on Sydney Harbour. I can find no earlier information about her.

Others have done a fair amount of racing, including Melbourne-Devonport (Rouseabout, which won its IOR division in the mid '70s), Coffs Harbour (Anenome, a home-made timber boat that was very nicely built and normally a moderate performer) and Brisbane-Gladstone events (Conqueror, a GRP boat that my family used to own and may have been built lighter; El Encierro, a timber boat; and Rush, a timber boat built by El Enc's former owner with about 1" added to each section to stretch her to about 29 feet and a bigger rig). My boat did a bit of racing from Sydney and Lake Macquarie, but after fitting an old Etchells rig the JOG class put us in the same division as the new boats so we gave up. We did do the inaugural Sydney-Batemans Bay regatta, finishing 2nd of the 10 or so half tonners behind a Farr, which we were pretty happy about considering she hadn't raced for eons and lots of bits fell off or didn't work. With less weight than most Serendipities, a bigger fractional rig and a spade rudder, she is not your standard S28!

Some of the standard GRP ones go quite poorly, to be frank, as while they are a very, very forgiving and safe boat to sail, they are not particularly easy to extract the best pace from. With a small rig they lack sail power, and although extremely stable at high angles of heel they lack form stability at low angles of heel. If you do not trim them well, they seem to lose more pace than most other boats but always remain very easy to sail.

I don't know how many S28s were built in Oz. There's about 7-8 timber boats, at least. Some were built in 'glass in the UK (not many, I believe) and there's at least one in South Africa, built in timber. I only know of three other glass ones in NSW and Victoria and a couple in QLD, but there are several others in SA, including Mystic (racing from Port Adelaide SC) and one racing in a country club. For some reason they are often referred to as 29 footers in SA but the test and plans clearly say 28, as does my boat's measurement certs!

I've been meaning to scan some Spencer plans for some time - drop me a PM to remind me over the next few days.

Good luck, it's a great boat!

Chris
Click to expand...

Hi all, I am a new member to this forum and own a Spencer 30 built in Adelaide out of the John Rochford mould. I think there is a bit of confusion in the post above in that the Spencer 28 and the Spencer 30 are very different. The Rouseabout mentioned is my Spencer 30, she did lots of long distance racing in the 70's. I have attached (I hope!) a Sea Spray article. What I would love to get hold of is a line drawing, any help would be appreciated
Attached Files:
- spencer.pdf
  
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  Views:
  
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rouseabout, May 15, 2012

#75

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