Sea Witch Plans Page


Dedicated to the Ongoing 
Legacy of
Hugh Angelman and Charles Davies

When Hugh Angelman passed away in 1967, full rights to the Sea Witch design presumably passed to co-designer Charles H. Davies. Mr. Davies passed on in 1998. So it is now impossible to obtain plans of the Sea Witch from the designer – and, of course,  it is no longer possible to obtain the expressed consent of the designers in order to use, display, or build with the aid of the plan images displayed on this page.
     The webmaster feels, or at least hopes, that Mr. Angelman and Mr. Davies would approve of our intent and purpose in posting images of their design plans – provided, of course, that any boats that may be built as the result of images displayed here do honor and justice to both the designers and their design.
     The webmaster makes this material available in order to honor and perpetuate the legacy of Hugh Angelman and Charles Davis' and their Sea Witch design. He does this under the presumption that any interested heirs of both designers would, or do, approve. If any heirs or interested parties would like to communicate with me with regard to the material made available here, they are cordially invited to write webmaster@heritech.com.

 



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SEA WITCH STUDY PLANS

 sailplan.jpg (60354 bytes)

 arrang.jpg (65624 bytes)


Specifications

One of the main purposes of creating this web site was the webmaster's desire to find and obtain a set of plans for the Sea Witch. They have not been commercially available for many decades, since before Hugh Angelman passed away in 1967.
     Co-designer Charles Davies passed away in 1998, and apparently, Mr. Angelman, and Mr. Davies, made no arrangements to insure that the Sea Witch design (or perhaps any of their designs), would survive them. Whether this was due to a lack of interested on the part of heirs or by intent, I have no way of knowing. One of the results, of course, has been that no Sea Witches have been built, to our knowledge, since 1974 when the Sea Drift was built in a back yard in Whittier, California.
     It would be a shame if, during the twenty-first century, the Sea Witch design simply disappeared from the high seas.
     A few sets of plans have undoubtedly survived and perhaps languish forgotten in drawers, files, or stacks of old plans somewhere. But we didn't have a clue where to look. Yet bits and pieces have survived in incomplete form, in the possession of a few Sea Witch owners, and these began to slowly come out of the woodwork in October 2006, only about four months after this site first appeared on June 21st.
     The first breakthrough was provided by Janet and Dave Peters, then owners of the Sea Mist. They had a lines drawing in their possession and sent a copy. This was not an actual copy of an Angelman or Wilmington Boat Works drawing, but apparently a copy of a builder's drawing done by a draftsman at the Jensen Boatyard in Denmark where the Sea Mist was built. They also had an authentic copy of a Wilbo plan for a Sea Witch shipping cradle (dated 1949), which they also sent, and this became the first genuine Wilbo blueprint this webmaster ever set his eyes on – and, so far (as of February, 2010), the only one.

 

or-lines.jpg (17904 bytes)
Lines of Sea Mist.
Post 1960 Lines.

cradle_2.jpg (73693 bytes) cradle_tag.jpg (30785 bytes)
Above: Designer's label from the Sea Witch shipping cradle plan.
Left: Part of Ship- ping Cradle Plan.

    About the time Janet Peters first contacted this website, Greg Jordan (owner of the Sea Spirit "Lobo de Mar"), became involved in the search for  Sea Witch plans. His efforts soon began to bear fruit. George Hylkema, owner of the Sea Dragon, allowed Greg to copy a few sheets he had. This included the main construction plan sheet, the midship section construction drawing, the main mast plan, and some other plan details (see below). These plans are dated 1945, and are the plans that produced the Wilbos built after Sea Witch and Sea Rover, and were sold during the 1950's to both individuals and boatyards.


     Another unexpected windfall appeared in November of 2006, as a result of Greg's continuing efforts in the quest for plans. Robby Coleman, of Southern Cross fame, sent Greg and myself an "almost complete" scanned copy of the "table of offsets" for Sea Witch. Robby also provided a scanned copy of the 1937 Sea Witch lines, which had been published along with his article on Hugh Angelman in WoodenBoat magazine #147.

     Then, in February of 2010, we had a great breakthrough when we heard from Roger Marlin, a former owner of the The Golden Hind. Roger had seven plan sheets including the lines and offsets dated 1956. He kindly had them scanned and sent us images of all seven sheets which are featured below.
     The lines drawing appears to be of the final lines used in all later Sea Witches built in the Far East. The Golden Hind, launched in 1959, was the last Sea Witch build at WILBO, and was perhaps the first Sea Witch built to the new lines.
     Significantly, while the lines show the standard offset propeller shaft, the profile construction plan shows a centered propeller shaft, which is how the Golden Hind was configured. It's curious that subsequent Sea Witches were not built with the centered shaft, as it seems to me, the centered shaft would be the preferred power configuration. The offset shaft was the only thing about the Sea Witch design that I didn't particularly like.
     When it rains, of course, it pours. Just about the time we received the images from Roger Marlin, Mark Robertson, owner of the Sea Mist, sent some more images, including lines, he had obtained from the builder in Denmark. These are also dated 1956, and include drawings that Mr. Marlin didn't have, including a clearer image of the Deck Plan, some of the deck joinery, and the plan for the worm steering gear.


The illustrations below are made available thanks to the generous assistance of Dave and Jan Peters, Greg Jordan, George Hylkema, Robby Coleman, Roger Marlin, and Mark Robertson.
     With Roger Marlin's contribution, we finally have the lines and a clear and complete table of offsets that should permit a builder to reproduce a Sea Witch hull. 
     We believe the 1956 lines and offsets provided by Mr. Marlin and Mark Robertson are the ones used for all the later Sea Witches built, and reflect the changes that we previously thought were made circa 1959-1960, and were used by American Marine in Hong Kong and other Far East yards. We have noted no significant differences in the sail, rigging, or accommodation plans when comparing the variously dated plans.
     It should be noted that the original 1937 lines (also presented below), have significant differences from the 1945 plans and offsets, and that the 1956 lines incorporate the final changes to the keel profile. It is my personal opinion (thanks to information received from Hank Whittier, present owner of the Sea Witch), that the original Sea Witch, and "possibly" Sea Rover, were the only boats built to the 1937 lines as shown. (For a discussion on the variations in the Sea Witch design, see
Quest for the Lines of the Sea Witch.)

     Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger view of plan sheets, or text links to see image of detail drawings.


Main hull framing
Construction Plan
consts5.jpg (86965 bytes)
Mid-Section
Construction Plan

sw1937lines.jpg (190586 bytes)
1937 lines of Sea Witch, as redrawn by R.D. Kalajian

deckpln.jpg (28975 bytes)
Deck Layout Plan
Unfortunately very
faded copy
offsets2.jpg (82884 bytes)
Table of Offsets
Wilbo 1945

or-lines.jpg (17904 bytes)

Miscellaneous
Main Mast Plan
St. Room Door
Fwd Grating
Pin Rail/Belaying Pin

The 1937 lines do not correspond with the 1945 plan drawing. The difference is in the keel and rabbet.

ABOVE: Lines of
the Sea Mist, shown here as cut and pasted scans.

 

1956 LINES OF SEA WITCH

 

Images of 1956 Plan Sheets Contributed by Roger Marlin, former owner of the The Golden Hind.

1956_lines.jpg (113950 bytes)
Lines & Offsets>
larger image
1956_offsets.jpg (216534 bytes) deck_const.jpg (130068 bytes)
Deck & Section
sail_plan.jpg (403007 bytes) rigging_plan.jpg (152570 bytes) layout_plan.jpg (205813 bytes)
Sail, Rigging,
and Layout
gh_const_profile.jpg (127136 bytes)
Profile Const.

Note that the Profile Construction plan, shows a centered propeller shaft, as per the Golden Hind. Most Sea Witches had the shaft offset to starboard.

 

More 1956 Plans (Sea Mist) Contributed by Mark Robertson - From Jansen Boat Builders, Denmark
sm_lines_.jpg (225713 bytes)
Lines & Offsets
sm_deck_Plan.jpg (303926 bytes)
Deck Plan
sm_rev_const_profile.jpg (364933 bytes)
Revised Const.
Profile
sm_deck_joinery.jpg (164807 bytes)
Deck Joinery
Except for the lines, the drawings Included here are the ones that don't duplicate those above. sm_worm_steering.jpg (138566 bytes)
Worm Steering

 

All plan illustrations reproduced on this page are presented in the spirit of honoring the legacy of Hugh Angelman and Charles Davies, with a focus on what the webmaster and many others consider their crowning artistic achievement – the Sea Witch.
     Of course, as mentioned above, we would also hope to make it possible for new Sea Witches to be built in the future, giving their legacy a potential material degree of "immortality" beyond the life of any existing Sea Witch. It would be a shame if the Sea Witch design should be allowed to simply disappear from the high seas. Hopefully this page will eventually contain enough information for some future Sea Witch enthusiast to build a Sea Witch.

This web site may contain copyrighted material not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available on a nonprofit basis for educational and general interest purposes – in in the interests of disseminating information on the Sea Witch. It is believed this constitutes "fair use" under section 107 of the US Copyright Law. For more information see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

 


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