Long White Cloud

Long White Cloud

LONG WHITE CLOUD is a 1930’s L. Francis Herreshoff’s, designed Mobjack ketch. A design, whose beautiful lines and pedigree, along with a proven offshore capability, has made her the perfect choice for a cruising yacht. She would take us six years to build.

We constructed her in a purpose built temporary shed on our property in Hamilton NZ. Having the project right there at home meant less disruption to family life and enabled us to work evenings after the children went to bed.

The construction method was a cold moulded timber laminate. Four layers of 8mm thick New Zealand kauri planking placed diagonally at 90 degrees to each other over kauri stringers on laminated kauri frames. Due to the tight curves and the tumble-home aft many of the frames consisted of up to 25 laminations and the planking in this area required steaming before they could be bent into shape.

We started the project in late 1989. That’s about the same time as George W Bush’s daddy was chasing the Iraqis out of Kuwait.

We added 4” of additional free board to ther original design in order to make her drier on deck at sea, the interior more spacious and allow for generous headroom without the addition of a step-up in the main coach roof.

Once the four layers of planking and additional keel and stem timbers had been fitted, the hull was faired and sheathed with 10oz. fibre glass cloth and epoxy resin. A keel plug was constructed to make the mould for the lead keel, undercoats applied and the hull turned over. To turn the hull over was a relatively simple affair. We removed a section of the roofing, hired a large mobile crane, and with the use of two long webbing strops, which were laid under the hull, we picked her up and rolled her over.

Next came the structural floors to carry the tremendous keel loads and reinforcing for the mast steps, rigging chainplates and engine beds. The interior timbers were all coated in epoxy resins and special epoxy paints were applied to the bilge areas. The water and fuel tanks, all manufactured from stainless steel were installed in the space between the structural floors to save space later and keep the centre of gravity low.

Next the bulkheads were installed and the deck shelf also fitted. Whilst we were keen to keep to Herreshoff’s plans the original interior of the a 1935 design did not suit our live aboard needs. We decided to move the coach roof forward of the main mast in order to have a forward cabin with standing headroom. We also moved the after end of the coach house forward and gained a larger cockpit without loosing usable space within the boat. The result is a spacious airy interior with three separate sleeping cabins, a large saloon, galley, two heads and a large functional navigation station. All of this was achieved without spoiling the lines for which Herreshoff’s designs have become famous. With the engine, tanks and plumbing installed the interior work began in earnest.

A lot of research is required to build a new boat, whilst at the same time trying to capture and retain a feel for the period in which she was designed. Numerous visits to libraries and bookshops, countless copies of classic and wooden boat magazines were purchased borrowed or stolen from friends. The amount of information soon became confusing. There was no end to the ideas and features we could incorporate into our classic yacht. In the end we adopted a simple philosophy… ‘No one single feature or aspect of her construction should dominate or overshadow any other’. In other words, everything must remain in harmony to create a singly attractive and functional yacht.

Building a boat of this size and complexity is a very big undertaking. Even more so when your time is divided between family, work and actually having a life. The launching date looked an awful long way off. It is at this point that many home boat-building projects go off the rails. Fortunately for us at this stage we were introduced to Lawrence Giles a young talented boatbuilder with a real flare for detail and loads of experience with wooden boat construction. Lawrence agreed to work on the project and we would work with him and double our efforts to keep the money coming in to pay for it all.

Despite New Zealand’s reputation as a world-class yachting and boat building centre and access to products from the world’s best manufacturers, recreating a classic yacht had its challenges. Much of the deck hardware, cleats, fairleads, ports, wheel and hatches were simply not available and had to be custom made.

The making of the 7.25 ton lead keel was typical of many of the challenges undertaken during construction. As was often the case the thinking and planning behind the work took almost as long as the work it’s self.

It was decided after talking to a number of people who had attempted this feat, handling molten lead, especially 8 tons - allowing for waste - should be done with a healthy respect for gravity and things extremely hot!!

We decided the safest way was to construct a female mould from concrete set in the ground. After convincing a friend on a rural block to lend us the corner of one of his paddocks, and despite a local fire ban due to a long hot summer (yes NZ does have these occasionally) we got to it. First a hole was dug and the male plug - the one that was made from a combination of plywood and foam and faired to fit the hull (built the previous summer) - placed in it. The idea was to pour a weak concrete mix around the plug that would later be discarded leaving the perfect shaped mould to pour the lead into. However we forgot that concrete in its mixed state is mainly water and the plug kept trying to float away. We eventually prevailed by driving huge stakes in the ground and tying it down. Once the mould was complete and dry we borrowed a large metal tank, which had been used for a similar exercise. We then proceeded to melt the 8 tons of lead we had earlier purchased from a local scrap metal dealer. Using lots of old unusable timber recovered from a demolition site, some waste oil and a couple of blowers (vacuum cleaners in reverse) we made short work of melting the lead. It took almost an hour to pour the contents of the tank into the mould and it was hot and nauseating work. All that was now required was to hire a truck with a crane, lift it out of the ground, and take it back to the boat where we would plane and drill it ready for fitting. After waiting several days for it to completely cool we attempted to lift the keel using the steel wire strops we had placed under the mould. It wouldn’t budge. The suction from the ground prevented it from lifting and we broke the strops.

We had our keel, but it was buried in the ground. After much digging and jack hammering it eventually came free, was taken to the boat and cleaned up, to wait patiently for launch day.

During the last two year we would employ two more workers, Chris and Derrick, as the amount of work to complete the finishing stages was staggering. It would take 6 weeks just to sand and apply the 6 coats of varnish to the 48 cabin and cupboard doors!

She was launched December 12 1996, and we estimate 14,000 man hours went into her construction.

We are understandably proud of our small ship, she has to date carried us, without fuss, over 20,000 miles around the world and, she’s even managed to win the odd regatta for us.

Details and Specifications

Home Port Vessel:	Auckland, New Zealand
Design:	L Francis Herreshoff (Mobjack)
Length on deck:	13.43 metres
Length O/L:	16.9 metres
Beam:	3.85 metres
Construction:	Timber cold-moulded double diagonal, New Zealand Kauri
Tonnage:	18 Ton
Rig:	Ketch
Type of Engine:	90HP Perkins, Diesel