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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.
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 |
Mid-Section
Construction Plan |
1937 lines of Sea Witch, as redrawn by R.D. Kalajian
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Deck Layout Plan
Unfortunately very
faded copy |
Table of Offsets
Wilbo 1945
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Miscellaneous
Main
Mast Plan
St. Room Door
Fwd Grating
Pin Rail/Belaying Pin
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The 1937 lines
do not correspond with the 1945 plan drawing. The difference is
in the keel and rabbet.
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ABOVE: Lines of
the Sea Mist, shown here as cut and pasted scans.
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| 1956
LINES OF SEA WITCH |
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| More
1956 Plans (Sea Mist) Contributed by
Mark Robertson - From Jansen Boat Builders, Denmark |
Lines & Offsets |
Deck Plan |
Revised Const.
Profile |
Deck Joinery |
Except
for the lines, the drawings Included here are the ones that
don't duplicate those above. |
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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