Eric---
I wasn't talking so much about the superstructures of* boats like "Gold Dust" and our boat, but of the similarity of their hull aesthetics above the waterline (below the waterline the two hulls are very different).* Same basic sheer, the caprail "break" ("Gold Dust's" is more subtle and farther forward but it's there), the almost-plumb stem, and so on.* The transoms are very different, of course.* Ours is almost flat with sharp corners where "Gold Dust's" is much more rounded (I've seen a photo of" Gold Dust" out of the water taken from behind the boat).
Cuddy cabins are common on all sorts of fishboats, particularly the classics from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. In fact, in my observation they are the norm on this style of boat, not the exception.* Note the first photo of "Donna," a typical northwest salmon troller from the 1940s.* In the wider shot, it looks like there's a big windlass on the foredeck and no cuddy cabin.* But look at the second shot of "Donna."* This is what almost every troller and gillnetter of this basic style I've ever seen looks like in terms of the cabin configuration.* Even on the east coast, all the lobsterboats have cuddy cabins.
One of the most famous builders of trollers, gillnetters, and seiners on the BC coast was the Wahl family in Prince Rupert.* I bought a book about their boats last year and at least half the boats pictured incorporate cuddy cabins ahead of the wheelhouse.
Of course, the clincher is the statement by American Marine itself which says that the GB36's design was "inspired by the sturdy working fishing boats of the day," or something like that.* I don't know who drew the lines for the production GB36.* The protoype, proof-of-concept boat "Spray" was designed for American Marine in 1962 by Kenneth Smith, and for all I know he may have designed the cabin configuration for the production version, named the Grand Banks 36, too.
"Spray's" Ken Smith hull was unchanged on the production GB36 except for the caprail/bulwark "break" which he added after he designed "Spray."* Other than that, "Spray's" hull and our hull are identical in dimensions and configuration except "Spray" is a single engine boat where ours is a twin.* The production GB36 was of course, available either way.* The original hull and superstructure molds for the fiberglass GB36, introduced in 1973, copied the dimensions and configuration of the original wood version exactly, even to the cove lines between the hull "planks."* These molds were used until 1988* when new molds were introduced and the boat got a bit longer, wider, and quie obviously taller.
I'll grant you the production GB36's superstructure design has a lot less in common with the basic working boat design than "Spray's" did, but they weren't trying to copy a working boat anyway, only using it for "inspiration."* The GB was designed from the outset to be a recreational boat.* Or in the words of American Marine, a "dependable diesel cruiser."
Interestingly enough, American Marine (and later Grand Banks, LLC) never once used the word "trawler" to describe their boats. For many years the term used to describe the GB line of boats in advertisements was "Dependable Diesel Cruisers."* And they coined the names of the individual configurations---- "Classic" for the tri-cabin like ours, "Sedan" for the no-aft-cabin model, "Europa" for the sedan with boat deck overhangs, and "Motoryacht" for the full-width aft cabin version.* But never "trawler."* Somebody else came up with that term for this type of boat.
-- Edited by Marin on Friday 25th of June 2010 01:55:16 AM
