Murray Petersen Schooner

A fine little schooner built by an experienced Scottish boat builder to a 1934 American design. Massively constructed this little ship is capable of taking anything thrown at her. Her sister ship worked as a charter yacht, sailing back and forth across the atlantic for many years. Gaff schooner rig, 8 berths with a solid fuel stove, this is a virtually new boat at a fraction of the build cost. Just under going a thorough spring refit.

Murray Petersen 1934 design, built in Scotland in 1997 by Peter Matheson.

The design is based on the American East Coast working schooners with a clipper bow, distinctive counter stern and generous beam.

For many years the builder operated a boat yard in Caithness in the very north of Scotland before retiring to Glasgow where he was soon involved in a youth boat building project and built the yacht in Wishaw, south of Glasgow.

Since launch, she sailed in the 1999 Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race and ran charters for youngsters on the West Coast of Scotland skippered by her builder.

A sistership, Mary Bryant was built in Fowey, Cornwall in 1980 and the builder sailed in her many times. One of his boat builders crossed the Atlantic in the Mary Bryant thus bringing practical knowledge of the design to the building of the yacht.

The yacht currently has a Code of Practice Cat 2 Certificate (60 miles from safe haven) for 8 people.

This is a very robust construction with scantling slightly in excess of the designer’s spec – for example an 8” moulded oak keel rather than the 6” specified in the drawings.

Planked in 1 3/8” larch. The top 3 strakes are thicker at 1 ¾”

The frames are sawn oak in pairs with 4 steam bent intermediate timbers on an oak back-bone.

The planking is fastened to the sawn oak frames with galvanised boat nails and with copper rivets and roves to the stem bent timbers.

The beamshelf is constructed with shelf and clamp to give a very strong girder

Long external iron ballast keel cast by Iron Bros of Wadebridge, Cornwall

14 stainless steel keel bolts in pairs.

Oak floors with stainless steel brackets between floors and keel bolts to tie them together.

The deck is laid in 1 ¾” iroko, caulked and payed in pitch and sealed with linseed oil, yacht laid to the white-painted iroko cover-boards.

Iroko deck beams, half beams and carlings with bronze tie rods between carlings and beamshelf to stop spread.

6” step in the deck midships just forward of the main mast gives extra head-room in the main accommodation.

12” bulwark all round on oak stanchions through the cover-boards, separate from the frames, with varnished iroko capping rail.

Twin, waist-high guard-wires from the fore mast rigging to aft round the permanent main boom crutch.

The cock-pit is formed by a large, self-draining foot-well with seating on the deck.

Locker doors in the vertical sides to the well to generous stowage under the side decks and access to aft.

Wide bridge deck between the well and the aft coach-roof which shelters the crew in the cock-pit.

Wheel steering on Edson bronze double screw gear to the rudder stock is positive and sensitive.

Massive oak twin, bronze-capped Sampson posts in the after corners of the cock-pit take the mooring lines.

Massive oak bronze-capped Sampson post on the fore deck takes the heel of the fixed bowsprit and the fwd mooring lines.

Twin coach-roofs with painted plywood coamings fitted with rectangular fixed windows.

Roofs formed by 2 x ½” ply, epoxy-glass sheathed, varnished iroko margin boards with nicely moulded edges and rounded corners.

Pair of bronze opening ports in the coamings either side of the hatch and another pair in the forward facing coaming.

After coach-roof with sliding hatch and wash-board cabin entrance from the cock-pit into the aft accommodation.

Dorade vents either side the hatch and a further pair on the coach-roof deck fwd.

Forward coach-roof built the same as the after coach-roof with varnished iroko sliding hatch and washboard entrance.

Between the two coach-roofs is a square coaming with opaque grp roof to give light and head-room to the midships cabin below.

Gaff schooner rig on varnished solid pine masts.

Pole fore mast. Main mast set up to take a fidded topmast.

Varnished slab-reef booms on twin galvanised steel mast bands, the mainsail boom extended over the counter.

Varnished pine gaffs with leathered saddles.

Galvanised wire standing rigging set up with square-rig splices to galvanised rigging screws to external galvanised steel chain plates.

Twin lowers to both masts with sheer poles fitted with belay pins. Cap shrouds to the main topmast.

Fixed bowsprit with twin chain bob-stays and fixed guys to rigging screws.

Running back-stays to the main mast hounds on tackles.

Inner and outer fore stays.

Fixed triatic stay between the mast caps.

Sails.

1200sq’ in fore sail, mainsail, jib and staysail.

Mainsail by Nicholson Hughes in cream duradon, 2 seasons old.

Fore sail by Nicholson Hughes in cream terylene.

Boomed staysail from the Mary Bryant.

Jib in cream terylene from the Mary Bryant.

Big reacher jib in cream terylene, used only once.

Main topsail

Fisherman staysail sets between the masts

Winches.

Pair of bronze, top-action winches on the deck by the cock-pit take the back-stays to windward and the jib sheets to port.

All halyards on block and tackle.