bigbirdxx

Does anyone know where I could purchase plans for old Americas Cup yachts from the "great 90 footers" era. Im interested in yachts that raced between 1887 and 1903.
Here is a list of yacht names.

volunteer 1887
thistle 1887
valkyrieII 1893
vigilant 1893
valkyrieIII 1895
defender 1895
columbia 1899
shamrock 1899
columbia 1901
shamrockII 1901
reliance 1903
shamrockIII 1903

I would really love to build a model of one of these boats but cant find where to buy plans for them. Its also hard to find good reference images. I have found a few low res photos and paintings on the web (I guess their cameras and scanners were of limited resolution back then )

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

Tony

Al Stein

Two months now... any clues?

I don't have any actual pointers, but Id try thre Herreshoff Museum. I'm sure they're a good source of the plans for the J-boat era, but the boats you're looking for with the more complex rigs and near-unmanageable presses of canvas, well the Herreshoff's might be a starting point at least.

flyme2moon

My Feedback: (1)

Try MIDWEST they had a kit of the RANGER this an older design known as the ' J" series 1920 thru 1940 big boats

pblix

Try the Herreshoff museum:

www.herreshoff.org

Edit: As already suggested. Oops.

KenC

My Feedback: (13)

Why not try going to www.theamya.org and looking under the J boat heading. It will also give you a link to the J Boat Class page. Lots of J boat builders/sailors as well as reference mat'l.

peas

I contacted Sparkman and Stevens who drew up Ranger. They were willing to send me a lines plan for about $40 USD if I recall correctly. Definitelyavailable though. And with the low dollar... well its a good time! I was looking around for some time, even the local J boat club in Christchurch only had molds, no drawings.