John Alden Schooner

When and If named by General George S. Patton because of his own uncertain destiny.He had planned to resign from the army if he was passed over a third time for promotion and go sailing.

This legendary schooner was built by F. F .Pendleron in 1938 and designed by Clifford Swaine of John Alden's office.She is design # 669 and carries 1,770 square feet of sail in her four lowers.Her hull is double planked,with cedar inside and mahogany outside.The engine and sails are new.

She has had a significant amount of work done and herewith are the OWNERS COMMENTS

"Here is a summary of the work that I have done to the boat over the last two and a half years; all work was done with the finest materials and to very high yacht standards.

As you know the first summer I used the boat in New England and then took her to upstate New York where we hauled her, built a custom building around her and spent the next year and a half going completely through her structure.

It was quite obvious that her transom and deck were completely shot, so the first thing we did was to take very careful measurements of her hull for reference and then tear her apart, first her transom, horn timber, aft 1/3 of her hull planking and the aft deck and deck frame.

We also removed all her deck houses and furniture in preparation for a complete deck replacement.

We discovered that her transom at some point had been repaired and in the process had been shortened by about 10 inches, getting her transom shape back to original was a very complicated task, thank god we had made the measurements to the hull for reference.

Once the design work was complete the hull started to go back together, we laminated all the major timber for extra strength using Angelique and locust timbers and arodux 500 glue.

The aft 1/3 of the hull was re-planked with double Mahogany planks, and fastened with #24 , 4 inch bronze screws.

Along with a new double planked transom we also replaced the aft 3 frames again using lamination for strength.

We also replaced all the floor timbers that sat on the horn timber with welded 316 stainless steel.

With the hull section done we moved to the deck, All the original teak was removed and minor repairs were made to the forward deck framing, the aft deck framing along with all the cockpit framing was replaced with very high quality white oak and of course fastened with bronze hardware.

With the deck framing finished we laid a new teak deck down to the original scantlings, fastened with bronze screws and caulked traditionally.

With the decks complete we made repairs to the houses and put them back in place and of course all the deck hardware went back down with new bronze hardware.

This was the jist of the restoration but we also invested another couple thousand hours doing the following work.

Complete replacement of the cockpit, teak staving and caps, steam bent oak comings and a new teak wheel box; we also rebuilt the steering gear and added a beautiful teak rim to the bronze steering wheel.

We did a major refastening below the waterline replacing thousands of screws with new #24, 4 or 5 inch screws at the same time we reefed and re-caulked all the single bottom planks.

The rudder was removed and reworked then reinstalled with all new hardware, the prop shaft was removed and the stuffing box refastened, new bearing installed and all put back together with a nice 25 inch Luke feathering prop.

We replaced all the rusty exhaust hardware with new hose and bronze fittings, at the same time we tidied up a lot of stuff in the engine room and gave it a new coat of grey paint, the general would be proud!

With the onset of warm weather we completely stripped the hull, re-faired, re-caulked, replaced another half dozen planks, replaced the aft 17 feet of bulwark and rail caps, sanded and painted, easier said than done!

While this was going on outside, in the storage shed we completely dismantled, stripped and varnished the masts booms and gaffs and spreaders, repairs were made as needed and all hardware was reinstalled with new.

Also it goes without saying that we refinished all the hatches, houses, blocks and everything else saving as much original stuff as possible.

At this time we re-launched and the boat stayed in the water for the winter while we replaced all the batteries, four 4 d for the house and new starting batteries as well. We also installed a new electrical panel and really cleaned up the wiring

This spring we will replace all the plumbing, re-fair and paint the hull, bottom and top.

Also on the list for this spring is all new life lines, fire extinguishers, a new engine room fire system.

When delivery is ready in the spring the When and If will be better than she has been in 50 years and ready for another 100 years of service."

The photos shown on this site were taken prior to the restoration.We do have photos that documents the work done and a Facebook site we can direct you to.

Boat Name
WHEN AND IF

Specs
Full keel