Bruce King 41ft Ketch Sophie Wackles, previously "Unicorn"

[Tom Simmat]

My wife and I are the new owners, custodians of the 1975 Bruce King ketch Sophie Wackles a truely beautiful mahogany yacht. We found a thread on this forum May 11, 2011 with posts by Martin King. She was sailed to Australia about 2013 by the previous owners. We are undergoing an extensive but gentle refit and rebuild. There is a lot of old redundant electronics and other over specified stuff on board which we are taking out. We want to take her back to Bruce Kings' original concept a basic nice yacht. The mahogany hull is still very sound, and all the original joinery below is in excellent condition, but the cabin sides need replacing and also some minor ply bulkheads and deck areas including samson post.
We need to pull the masts out and replace the standing and running rigging. The original rigging plan seems to have been retained. There is a compression spa between 3/4 up the mizzen and the main mast back stay. To keep the mizzen stable fore and aft the back stay has to be bar taught, which I don't believe is good for the mahogany hull around the chain plates. We intend to replace this with fore and aft mizzen lowers.
Are any of the Ericson Boats ketch rigged and have a similar compression spar arrangement?
Does "Warm Rain" which I believe is a sister ship have this arrangement.
Any help would be appreciated
Tom

 

[Christian Williams]

Wow!

Bruce King 41' - heavy weather

I would welcome any views on the suitability/performance of the Bruce King 41' design as translated into 'Unicorn' and 'Warm Rain', for blue water cruising including heavy weather. Cas (Australia):)

ericsonyachts.org

Compare to Ericson 41 (Bruce King)

 

[Dave G.]

My wife and I are the new owners, custodians of the 1975 Bruce King ketch Sophie Wackles a truely beautiful mahogany yacht.

Congrats ! Welcome to the sight ! Wish I could help you with some related info but alas I have none. Please keep us updated on your progress and pictures pretty please.

 

[Tom Simmat]

I will try and send some photos of Sophie Wackles Bruce King 41ft Ketch. I am not good at that; Any way if they are posted, At Anchor you can see the mizzen spa to the mainmast backstay, on the slip and an interior. We have left the wood stove inside but not yet used it. It can be cold enough here but worried about soot on the sails and cabin top.

 

[Loren Beach]

Thanks Tom. Your boat looks like new!
Graceful and fast.

 

[Dave G.]

Thank you, she is gorgeous ! I would be hesitant also about using the wood stove for a few reasons but maybe you can fit an alternative in the same location if heat is needed.

 

[Christian Williams]

We had a wood stove on a Herreshoff when I was a kid, and I don't remember any soot issues. Here is the Charlie Noble.

..

I added the photo under sail because, as Chris commented below, it was a beautiful boat. Herreshoff Design #30, a little bigger than the H28. All wood. Sitting headroom. Canoe stern. No lifelines. Canvas decks, which leaked despite her overall perfection of maintenance. A family of four cruised for weeks with no complaints about tight spaces. Spaces? There were none to complain about....

 

[southofvictor]

Wow, beautiful boat!!!