Stephens Waring Yacht Design

Spirit of Tradition Yachts Designed In Maine

What’s so flippin’ cool about expedition yachts?

and filed under Design, Spirit of Tradition

It’s so true, we have to say it again: What’s so flipping cool about expedition yachts? Sturdy, serious-looking and able, it seems like everybody loves a yacht that feels like it can circle the globe not once, but time after time. We sure do. And we’re not shy about just waiting for the right person to come through the door and ask us to make one. Here’s why: That Hard Body, Expedition Look. What speaks to us about expedition yachts most, is their ability to take on whatever duties the captain asks them to do.  They’re not dazzle and speed, […]

A Camden Classic Cup Profile: The Dolphin 24.

and filed under Design, Racing

If your plan is to roll up to the bar and lay down a Dolphin 24 story, yours better be up to the competition: This Sparkman & Stevens 24-foot racer-cruiser, built for George O’Day back in the heyday of the 1960’s Midget Ocean Racing Club circuit, is long-considered a classic yacht. Yes, the design dates from 1958, and these boats are rated in the Classic Class under Camden Classic Cup notice of race. They were also among the first mass-produced boats to be built of modern materials. In this case, fiberglass. The design spawned a species of something like 300 easy-to-sail, yet fast […]

What Ben and Steve Have To Say About Boatbuilding.

and filed under Construction, Design

Steve Van Dam really did get his wife Jean, to “volunteer” to help him build his first boat shop. It was in 1977 and the young couple was living in a single-wide mobile home on a small woodlot outside of Harbor Springs, Michigan. “I wanted to build boats,” is how Van Dam likes to describe his approach to business. And today, almost 40 years later Steve, and now his son Ben, are still building some of the finest all-custom, handcrafted vessels on Earth. We sat down with Ben and Steve for a talk about their philosophy on boat building; how […]

Marine Engineering 105: Why My Boat Costs What It Costs?

and filed under Boat Nerd Tech, Construction, Design, Marine Engineering

Pricing dreams is the no-win gig in yacht design. No matter how hard we try, we never seem to be able to get away from the hard fact that the magic of enjoying a boat only displaces a fraction more than the frustration that comes with pricing that boat. It’s not rocket science as to why new boats are hard to cost out: The only thing posing more variables when building a yacht, is the owner’s evolving expectations in creating that yacht. Assisting clients in pricing their priorities is tricky. We have evolved two methods to get at an early approximation for […]

The 3D Boat Designer In Your Pocket.

and filed under Boat Nerd Tech, Design

Designing boats is about to go mobile. One of our most interesting side gigs is collaborating with the next generation of younger yacht designers. Two of our most promising Web student collaborators are Cassio Neres, a teaching assistant up at The Landings School in Southern Maine. And a naval surveyor named Matthew Knoll who has a terrific idea for a 30-foot swamp racer/chill boat he’s self-designing down in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.   While both are working on their designs that we will be sharing in full detail when they are ready, we got an excellent question from […]

Marine Engineering 104: What keeps what’s inside my boat, inside my boat?

and filed under Construction, Design, Marine Engineering

What is it with interiors? Those inner, untalked-about bits of boats that never seem to see the light of nautical-chat day. Does anybody, anywhere brag about the size of their cabin sole? Or compare the space-age materials in their staterooms or galleys? Has anybody ever said “High-performance head” on any boat in any century, ever? We doubt it.  “Interior denial” is a sort of sad fact of boat-design life. That’s too bad because what’s going on inside your boat is a driving factor for what’s going on outside your boat: How long she is; how beamy; how big the sails […]

“De Nederlandse Yacht Factor:” Early Thoughts on How the Dutch Rule the Marine Design Seas.

and filed under Boat Nerd Tech, Design, Marine Engineering

When it comes to dealing with fluid molecules of hydrogen and oxygen, the Dutch have water down cold. The small low-lying nation-state that is The Netherlands leads the world in many marine-oriented categories. It is the global master of large-scale flood management and wetlands maintenance projects, like the Zuiderzee or Delta Works. The Dutch crush it in water-generated power and industrial energy applications. And closer to our floating world, the Dutch yacht design and engineering economy is filled with storied operations like Royal Huisman, Dykstra Design and Hoek Design. Studying these great outfits work is one of the humbling parts […]

The Spirit of Tradition “Guest Cottage:” The Most Exclusive Marine Environments on Earth — But at a Fraction of the Cost.

and filed under Boat Nerd Tech, Construction, Design, Immerst, Marine Engineering, Spirit of Tradition

It’s been a bit spooky out here on the sidelines of the Tiny Floating House wave. We love the charm of smaller homes that float. But it’s scary how seemingly unaware smaller floating home makers are of the nautical engineering realities of self-contained little, floating human worlds.   On many levels, “Floating Homes” are different than yachts. They do not need to be easily driven through the water. They do not carry sails. Most don’t have motors. And often, floating homes have more consistent and lower-cost access to shoreside infrastructure. But these miss the point — and risks — of […]

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