A Willard for Eric Henning

I probably should have put this down in the Willard section but I don't know if anyone ever scans down that far.

This small (approx 30' LOD) motorsailer has been in an adjacent slip to ours for the eight years we've been on this dock, but I did not find out until last weekend that it's a Willard. It's not a Willard like any I've ever seen before, and a relative of the boat's owner told us yesterday it's a very rare configuration for a Willard. The only Willard's of this size I'm familiar with are pilothouse, power-only models. So I took some photos today in the event Eric, our resident Willard guru, might like to see them and can confirm that it is or isn't a rare Willard configuration.





-- Edited by Marin on Monday 4th of May 2009 12:03:59 AM

Nice job Marin!

Marin,
Ya caught me sleepin. Been real busy last two weeks w nice weather (76 degrees on Saturday). So I haven't been very attentive to this web stuff. Guess your'e* sleepin too Marin. Have you noticed Doug's Fales looks just like the motorsailer in your pictures? It's the same boat* ..* hardly any difference at all. I don't know the Fales model name but the Willard motor sailer is the "Horizion".* My Nomad has exactly the same hull and in addition there are three other models, the Searcher, the Voyager and the sailing model called the 8 Ton. All W30s displace 16000lbs. Your Willard in Bellingham is not rare. There are about equal numbers except for the 8 Ton ( about 30 each).* The white boat in your pics looks like a very good example and that model, the Horizon, has been considered the most seaworthy of W30s due to it's lower profile but I don't think anyone has considered the windage of the mast and rigging. It would be very hard to capsize a W30 anyway as they all have 4000lbs of deep ballast. From a standpoint of seaworthyness the Horizon LOOKS most seaworthy. My Nomad looks (in comparission) a bit like a party barge and the Searcher looks more like a fish boat with a dash of toot toot. The Voyager looks like a miniture Krogen 42. All the common Willards (Yachts) have the large and full rounded stern. The 1st was the 36, then came the 30s and later the 40' boat. The 36 is closer in size to the 40 than the 30. The 36 is also unique in that it was designed by Bill Gardner. The 36 has by far (in my opnion) the best hull, the 40s are the best porportioned and most proper looking boat. The W30 is wonderfull because of what you can DO with them and how little they cost. One must be content at a tad over 6 knots but rewarded w a fuel burn of .9 gph. If any of you are interested enough in Willards to read about them join the Willard boat owners group* .. in Yahoo groups. There are over 10000 posts and none of them are over the deep end.

Eric Henning

Eric---

Thanks for the info. I only know Willards by their reputation as a well-built, seaworthy boat. But I knew nothing about the different models until your post.

Marin, did you look at the header pic of this whole forum???? Smack dab in the middle.....ohhhhhh.....whooooops.....that is a Fales......a Willard knock off.'''''looks exactly like the pic posted without the sailing rig.

No, I never did closely examine the header photo. I just sort of accepted it as a photo of "boats" and pretty much ignored the kind of boats.