This handsome little motorsailer design, named for a mountain on the west coast of Labrador where she was used, shows how skilled Walter McInnis was at drawing good-looking boats. She’s a husky creature as well; more motorboat than sailboat, but nevertheless carries a decent rig. Off the wind, with a feathering propeller, I expect she’d give you good speed as well as a very fine ride, the latter no matter what the conditions.
She’s arranged differently from most yachts in that there’s no main saloon. In her, you sit across from the galley with its wood-burning stove nearby. (A clue to her cool-climate usage.) There’s the usual stateroom with toilet, lavatory, drawers and hanging lockers up forward that can sleep four in a pinch, and another stateroom (with two berths) on the port side aft of the galley and under the trunk cabin, with an enclosed head opposite to starboard. And if more than six berths is ever needed, it looks as if there’s space outboard of (or over) the dining table, across from the galley. She was built to carry salesmen, so the writeup tells us, but there’s no mention of how many were aboard at any one time. (Might have given “party boat” an entirely new meaning!) But instead of traveling salesmen, it seems to me that she’d be perfect for a big family—or even a small one.
Motorsailers are great, and I speak from making many deliveries aboard the 58′ motorsailer BURMA between Maine and Connecticut when I often blessed her sheltered wheelhouse. It’s a real nice place to be during a blustery October nor’wester. This boat’s underwater profile looks a lot like BURMA and if she handles half as well, she’ll be a dream to use.
Another Walter, Walter Pinaud, built GROS MORNE. This Walter learned the trade from his father, Martin, and his brother and one-time partner, Jack, who I believe worked in the Boston area for both Geo. Lawley and John Alden. The old Pinaud yard, established in 1937, is now called Cape Breton Boat Yard and owned by OCH Guide Ben Fuller’s cousin Henry. Small world, when it some to boats!
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Robert Sosnowski says:
Hi Maynard, this craft is very similar to my boat and I have been waiting years for some information like this to show up. I went to the Mystic site and wasn’t able to find anything on the Tamerlane, my 40′ Eldredge McInnis motor sailer. I do know it was built in ’64 in Hong Kong at American Marine. Any suggestions on how I can find out more about the history of my craft would be welcomed. the builders plaque in the aft cabin states the above and that it was built for George Knowles who was apparently commodore of the New Bedford Yacht Club at one time. If you are ever in southwestern Michigan you should make an effort to see this boat. Bob
William Jacobs says:
Maynard,
What is the status of Burma? Does Michael McMenemy still own here? My wife sailed on her for a couple of days some years ago. Lovely boat, that one.
Maynard Bray says:
Burma sold last year to Jeff Boal who moors her near Newport at the north end of Conanicut Island. She is indeed a lovely craft.
Richard Heilman says:
Perhaps I missed it, but what is the date of construction of Gros Morne ? Was it 1958 as suggested by the date of the plans in the Rudder article ? Have any other boats been built to these plans?
Maynard Bray says:
Hi Richard,
Because she was Canadian built, she doesn’t show up in US registers, so I’m not sure of her building date. I presume it was around 1958, but Mystic Seaport, where the Eldredge-McInnis drawings are preserved, might be able to pin down more about this great design.
Maynard
Brian Mosher says:
Looks like a captsan of some kind, maybe for towing.
David Tew says:
Thanks, Maynard. Do you know what the device mounted on deck just aft of the pilot house is?
Maynard Bray says:
Hi Dave,
I have no idea, but the detailed drawings probably identify it.