Details

Frank Lloyd Wright said, “The devil’s in the details”, and it’s as true for yacht architecture as bricks and mortar.

Since we fully expect any new PAINE 26 to become an enduring boating legend we’ve spared no effort to sweat the details for your benefit. Here are just a few examples:

1. The one thing that most defines a yacht is its hull shape. In order that your new life’s playmate might become a legend, that shape must be perfect. At my advanced stage in life I have been called an expert at boat shaping and I agree I’ve learned a lot. Nat Herreshoff’s models for the H 12 ½, Herreshoff FISH, and Marlin were near perfect. I’ve slavishly copied the parent model, faired it to fourth order perfection using computer fairing, and introduced NACA researched foils and appendage trailing edges that were impossible when the material of construction was simple unreinforced wood.

2. The rake of the cockpit coamings must be just right to permit the coamings to cradle your back at just the right angle when seated- and to match the timeless aesthetic that Nat Herreshoff perfected a century ago.  Too vertical and the top of the coamings cuts into your back. Too slanted and the bottom does likewise. I and my employees have measured everything that has been built to the point of exhaustion. As designed you simply can’t do better.

3. In order to be easily singlehanded the PAINE 26 jib is self tending and controllable from the helmsman’s position. You let go of the furler line, pull in on the outhaul― all from the safety of the cockpit― and away you go, never having to touch a jibsheet even when short tacking up a narrow channel. But in heavier airs this arrangement might have the disadvantage of the jibboom lifting and spilling air from the leech. To counter this I invented the “D.V.T.”  (Dang Vang Thangs).  They’re springy carbon fiber straps that are sewn into the jib and keep the clew from rising. Since they are parallel to the luff they have no effect upon roller furling nor the airfoil shape of the sail. Best of all they’re truly unobtrusive― you hardly notice them, unlike some of the unsightly and dangerous alternatives.

4.  One of the joys of boating is swimming – a fact some boatbuilders seem to have forgotten. We’ve invented a simple transom door and swim ladder that gets you from the cockpit into the water in a trice for hours of aquatic fun. And incidentally (incidentally?) if you ever fall overboard from any of the existing fleet of yachts, new or used, you’ll have a few minutes to think about maybe having bought the wrong boat― perhaps an hour if you’re a strong swimmer. If you build a PAINE 26, you’ll pull a little latch, the door will fall open, and you’ll be back on board after a pleasant little unexpected swim. And go sailing tomorrow.

5.  We chose 26 feet because it’s really all the sailboat most folks ever actually use. Larger boats spend their lives languishing in marinas for lack of crew, smaller ones lack the seaworthiness to venture very far out into open ocean. The PAINE 26 cockpit, where all the fun happens, is half the boat- larger than that on most forty footers. The interior, with its (optional but don’t omit it) companionway tent in place, gives you the possibility of a winter in the Bahamas. There’s a stove for cooking, toilet, and four comfortable bunks. All you need to escape urban reality and love summers again.

6. I’m getting on and have seen the vagaries of an economy unsustainably on the rise and then gone predictably amok. You have but one life to live, on this planet at least. Paper money is an invention that may have run its course― certainly paper stock certificates have. I’d love to help you exchange, while you still can, some of this paper for something of real value that can bring joy to your life.  Build a PAINE 26 and enjoy life to the fullest. I’ll be proud to have helped and to know you are thriving.