PEGGY BAWN is a rare thing indeed. The number of surviving vessels from pioneering Clydeside yacht designer George Lennox Watson’s lifetime (1851-1904) can be counted on a careless carpenter’s fingers. Long gone are his huge America’s Cup challengers and “Big Class” racing yachts, and only two of the fleet of palatial steam yachts – the superyachts of their day – from his Glasgow drawing boards are known to survive, in fabulous condition although barely recognisable from their original appearance. It is left to PEGGY BAWN to carry the flame for Watson’s groundbreaking mid-1890s work in setting the standard for moderation in sailing yacht design, work that has never been challenged – only endorsed by those who followed his lead through the 20th century, especially Olin J. Stephens, who was a self-confessed Watson fan. PEGGY BAWN’s gilded “fiddle” bow was anachronistic even at her launching in 1894, partly a past fad, partly practical, undoubtedly beautiful – an interim stage in the development of extending immersed waterlines for faster sailing when heeled with a more buoyant hull – but it conceals the fact that when her award-winning restoration team began assessing what they’d found in a County Waterford hay barn in 2003, they quickly realised that the “numbers” – yacht designer speak for the various ratios that define a hull – were simply a scaled-down version of those for Watson’s famous royal racing cutter Britannia of 1893. Her name gave rise to the so called “Britannia Ideal”, as she was and is considered the epitome of sea kindliness. PEGGY BAWN's present owner can vouch for that from fourteen seasons of racing and cruising aboard her in northern and Mediterranean Europe, and east coast USA. PEGGY BAWN is quite simply the best behaved yacht any of them had had the pleasure to sail. And her rebuild and restoration set new standards for documentation and authenticity. She's special.
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<h4>Brokers Comments</h4>
PEGGY BAWN is a rare thing indeed. The number of surviving vessels from pioneering Clydeside yacht designer George Lennox Watson’s lifetime (1851-1904) can be counted on a careless carpenter’s fingers. Long gone are his huge America’s Cup challengers and “Big Class” racing yachts, and only two of the fleet of palatial steam yachts – the superyachts of their day – from his Glasgow drawing boards are known to survive, in fabulous condition although barely recognisable from their original appearance. It is left to PEGGY BAWN to carry the flame for Watson’s groundbreaking mid-1890s work in setting the standard for moderation in sailing yacht design, work that has never been challenged – only endorsed by those who followed his lead through the 20th century, especially Olin J. Stephens, who was a self-confessed Watson fan. PEGGY BAWN’s gilded “fiddle” bow was anachronistic even at her launching in 1894, partly a past fad, partly practical, undoubtedly beautiful – an interim stage in the development of extending immersed waterlines for faster sailing when heeled with a more buoyant hull – but it conceals the fact that when her award-winning restoration team began assessing what they’d found in a County Waterford hay barn in 2003, they quickly realised that the “numbers” – yacht designer speak for the various ratios that define a hull – were simply a scaled-down version of those for Watson’s famous royal racing cutter Britannia of 1893. Her name gave rise to the so called “Britannia Ideal”, as she was and is considered the epitome of sea kindliness. PEGGY BAWN's present owner can vouch for that from fourteen seasons of racing and cruising aboard her in northern and Mediterranean Europe, and east coast USA. PEGGY BAWN is quite simply the best behaved yacht any of them had had the pleasure to sail. And her rebuild and restoration set new standards for documentation and authenticity. She's special.
<h4>History</h4>
Designed by G L Watson and built by John Hilditch in Carrickfergus for the Commodore of the Carrickfergus Sailing Club, J. Alfred Lepper, PEGGY BAWN was launched in 1894. Watson was the pre-eminent yacht designer of the period, having designed BRITANNIA for the Prince of Wales in 1893 as well as numerous others. He also personally raced in comparably sized yachts to PEGGY BAWN.&nbsp; The yacht was very little altered and generally lightly used for most of her life. By the end of the 1990s and out of commission an abortive start on her restoration was made. The current owner purchased her in the winter of 2002-03 for complete restoration. The owner, Hal Sisk, has previously owned and restored several sailing yachts. His project manager, Iain McAllister, is a professional yacht captain and had known of PEGGY BAWN since the early 1980s. The boat builder was Michael Kennedy, a very experienced shipwright who led a small team of other craftsmen. The consultant naval architect was the late Theo Rye, who specialised in restoration work of wooden sailing yachts. The marine engineer was Harry Hannon. The restoration / rebuild was over two years, from April 2003, and took place in a modern, roofed and well lit workshop at Rathmoylan, Dunmore East, Co Waterford. Featured on the front covers of “Classic Boat” and “Wooden Boat”, this exemplary restoration was covered in 9 successive articles in Classic Boat. She was winner “Restoration of the Year” Germany 2006. Today she is competitive under CIM and Baltic Racing Rules.
<h4>Restoration Rebuild Refit and Maintenance</h4>
The restoration / rebuild was over two years from April 2003 at Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Ireland, by a team of boatbuilders led by Michael Kennedy with coordination by Iain McAllister and naval architecture by the late Theo Rye. Prior to starting the rebuild, two months were spent recording the dimensions, construction processes and materials of the original, and a full size lofting took place, recorded on CAD. In general the original work and the rebuild were done to standards exceeding those of Lloyd’s Register Yacht &amp; Small Craft rules (although there is no evidence the yacht was ever classified). PEGGY BAWN has been completely rebuilt to the extent that she has a completely new hull and deck atop the original lead keel. Certain sound non structural parts of the original were retained and re-used such as the fore hatch, skylight, companionway hatch, cockpit seating, the majority of the interior furniture, the tiller and rudder head and most of the rig. Since restoration she has continued to be professionally maintained. The electric engine installation was novel at relaunch in 2005 and has proven very successful. In 2019, given the improvements in battery technology over the previous 14 years, the opportunity was taken to replace the original 8 x AGM batteries weighing 240kg with 4 x lithium batteries, all on top of the keel - reducing the battery weight by about a third, with the result that PEGGY BAWN sits on her true waterline again.
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<h4>Construction</h4>
This is a summary of the essential construction elements. Comprehensive details and descriptions of materials used – and in the restoration are available on request. - Pitch pine carvel planking over grown oak frames and intermediate steamed timbers - Rudder of teak stock with teak and oak blade - Bronze and copper fastenings - New nickel aluminium bronze floors - Eastern white pine deck over larch and Douglas fir beams - Teak top strake, covering board and cockpit, oak deck house - Lead keel (50% ballast ratio) - Bronze deck fittings - Original iron tiller and engraved brass rudder stock cap
<h4>Accommodation and Domestic Equipment</h4>
90% original interior - Interior accessible via the companionway or fore hatch - From aft, the companionway steps lead down to the accommodation below - Under the companionway is the electric motor, screened from view but not separately boxed - Matched pair of sideboards port and stbd; drawers and stowage accessible from forward - 2 x Full length settees fwd with stowage under and outboard via lift out and hinged panels - Small fold up edge piece to extend the seat width for sleeping - Removable bare boarded cabin sole&nbsp; - Panelled full beam bulkhead forward of the seats - 2 x forward opening doors set in the middle for access forward - Foc’sle simply laid out - Plate rack to starboard - Bench seat to port; 2 x simple lockers aft; stowage shelf starboard - Teak Chain locker on original base
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<h4>Rig Spars and Sails</h4>
The rig is gaff cutter; the mast, bowsprit, boom and spinnaker pole all well built spars, solid and built up of nice lengths of timber; scraped and refinished. The gaff and topsail yard are new solid spars from Collars Ltd. The retained fittings of galvanised iron or steel include the gooseneck bands, gaff throat straps, mainmast irons and sheave. New galvanised mild steel items include the gooseneck straps and boom clew iron. There is a new bowsprit cranse iron in cast bronze. The bobstay hull fitting is a forged bronze fitting, screwed to the stem, linking to a forged and adjustable bronze bobstay rod. The mast is stepped by a simple tenon and there is a bronze bar deck strut under deck. The standing rigging is unpolished 7 x 7 stainless steel hand spliced with collar and shackle eyes aloft and custom bronze bottle screws below. The rigging was all specified and fitted by Peter Martin, ex of Spencer Rigging Ltd, a professional rigger specialising in traditional work. The all new running rigging is a tan-coloured three strand Polypropylene There is provision for a mainsail, staysail, jib, long roper jib, topsail and spinnaker. The staysail is set on a forestay, where the jib is set flying on a traveller to the bowsprit end. The \"long-roper\"" jib is a full hoist on the topmast forestay light airs ghosting sail with sheet lead via the leeward mainsheet cleat.&nbsp; Dacron sails by Ratsey &amp; Lapthorn - Mainsail (with two reefs) 383 sq ft / 35.58 sq m - No 1 jib 117 sq ft / 10.87 sq m - No 2 jib - Long roper jib&nbsp; - Staysail 75 sq ft / 7 sq m - Jackyard topsail 86 sq ft / 8 sq m&nbsp; - Balloon jib Similar set of cotton sails purchased with the yacht, made by Perry’s of Dún Laoghaire, dated 1957 and 1958, but little used and in remarkable condition. There is no cotton long roper CANVASWORK - Hatch covers - Boom cover

Wood

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4322954_20190220032805472_1_XLARGE

G. L. Watson Yachts

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Name	Value
Maker	G. L. Watson Yachts
Maker website	https://www.glwatson.com
Model	Cutter
First built hull	1994
Price	300,000 €
Boat type	Sail
Hull type	Other
Hull material	Wood

Name	Value
Length overall	10.97 m
Draft maximum	1.88 m
Draft minimum	1.88 m

1994 G. L. Watson Yachts Cutter

Boat Overview

Type

Maker

Hull type

Hull Material

Wood

Category

Boat length (LOA)

10.97 m

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Overview

Specs

Performance & Ratios