HURRICANE

HURRICANE is a Concordia motorsailer, designed by Wilder B. Harris and built by the Casey Boatbuilding Company in Fairhaven, MA in 1938. She was named for the 1938 hurricane that devastated the New England coast and destroyed Waldo’s father Llewelyn Howland’s beloved sailboat (Colin Archer double-ender ESCAPE) providing the impetus for the design of the first Concordia Yawl.

The cabin house profile, head to port galley-aft layout, the knotty pine paneling and cabinetry, offset drop leaf table, and heating/cookstove would all find their way into Concordia Yawl #1 Escape, (built concurrently at the Casey Yard in the winter of ’38) and all the subsequent yawls.

HURRICANE’s history is quite well documented.  She was requisitioned by the Coast Guard in 1943, painted black and entered into service patrolling the New England coast for U-boats.  After the war she was recommissioned as a yacht and had a number of owners living principally in York, ME and Manchester MA.   

In 1994 HURRICANE was brought to Crocker’s Boatyard in Manchester, MA for a significant two-year refit, where she recieved a new glass over plywood deck, new transom, new rudder, rebuilt teak cockpit, and considerable frame, deck beam and planking replacement.  She was repowered and all systems replaced. 

In his well-known book “A Life in Boats” Waldo Howland says HURRICANE, “has most of the good qualities of a cruising sailboat and of a displacement powerboat.  In general, she has the easy motion, the seaworthiness, and much of the sailing ability of the former.  At the same time, she has the lesser draft, the larger accommodations, and the greater powering efficiency of the latter.  For certain requirements, HURRICANE is a complete and first-class unit.  She is one of my favorites.” 

HURRICANE is a handsome and exceedingly practical, classic New England cruising boat.  What she sacrifices in windward sailing performance she makes up for in comfort with her large cockpit, protected wheelhouse and spacious interior.  Her restoration was carried out thoughtfully, retaining her character and original details as much as possible while adding the all the features and conveniences one would expect on a modern boat.  HURRICANE is in storage for the winter in Belmont, Maine and there is a recent survey available.

Construction:

Mahogany Planking

White oak frames, floors, deck beams and centerline timbers

Bronze fasteners

Dynell over marine plywood deck

Paneled pine interior

Mahogany cabin house, wheelhouse and hatches

Lead Ballast

Propulsion:

John Deere D4505 75 hp Marine Diesel engine

Borg Warner reduction gear

Stainless shaft

3 blade bronze feathering Max Prop

Rigging:

Laminated Sitka spruce spars

1×19 Stainless wire with swaged ends

Furlex roller furler

Molich bronze primary winches

Bronze turnbuckles

Systems:

Dickerson Diesel cook and heating stove

Top load Alder Barbour Refrigeration unit

Ideal 12v windlass

Saltwater washdown pump

Engine tied hot water heating system

Electronics/Nav:

Garmin GPSMAP 741 XS plotter

Garmin GPSMAP Radar

Standard Horizon Matrex AIS VHF

Autohelm autopilot, depth finder

Raymarine wind instruments

5” Danfourth compass

Weems and Plath clock and barometer

Tankage:

2x 35 gal monel fuel tanks

1×30 gal Stainless water tank

1x 10 gal polyvinyl blackwater tank