Navy Luders 44 - Alert

[Innocent Bystander]

Original pulpits were nothing to get excited about. Good opportunity to do some nice once. For stanchions, try Garhauer. 

 

[Tanton Y_M]

In my view, Luders had it best of  all the sheerlines associated with classic boats of that era.

 

[[email protected]]

Although we tend to think of sheerlines as aesthetic, if one uses a seakeeping computer program to determine the local freeboard necessary to maintain a specified level of deck wetnesses, for a vessel in head seas, the line looks much like the traditional sheer, curved with ends up and raised more in the bow that the stern.

Karl 

 

[Lex Teredo]

I think the displacement specs above are wrong by at least an order of magnitude. 

Those boats are famously heavy and stable.  You couldn't make one weigh "2340 lbs./ 1061 kgs" if you made the hull out of silk and the masts out of papier mache.  I'm not sure the SA/D of 81.90 is correct either.  The boat would be amazingly fast, but you'd have to reef *a lot* to go upwind in anything other then 2-3 knots.     

 

[RKoch]

I think the displacement specs above are wrong by at least an order of magnitude. 

Those boats are famously heavy and stable.  You couldn't make one weigh "2340 lbs./ 1061 kgs" if you made the hull out of silk and the masts out of papier mache.  I'm not sure the SA/D of 81.90 is correct either.  The boat would be amazingly fast, but you'd have to reef *a lot* to go upwind in anything other then 2-3 knots.     

You're probably right. Likely it should be 23,400lbs on the 30' WL.  The S&S Finisterre class were about 22,000 on a 27.5' WL, IIRC.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

We weighed NA-11 and 12 for IOR certs in 1975. Wish I could remember the numbers but I think 23,400 would be optimistic. Those boats are absolute tanks. 

 

[RKoch]

We weighed NA-11 and 12 for IOR certs in 1975. Wish I could remember the numbers but I think 23,400 would be optimistic. Those boats are absolute tanks. 

Would not surprise me a bit if the boats were a bit heavier, or gained weight with age.

 

[Bob Perry]

I think 23, 400 lbs would be realistic. We had several of them racing in Seattle when the first Valiant 40's were launched. Pretty boats with short DWL's. They may have been built with Hetron resin so you should check for blisters.

 

[Rvatrundler]

When I got Alert it weighed 26,250 after 5-6 truckloads of wood and add ons removed it weighs around 22100. Not sure on the sail displacement.

Getting some quotes from all over for new main and mizzen. Foresails will be used for a while. Anyone got a hank on foresail sitting around collecting mold?

 

[fastyacht]

Well it's time to ask the group for help-

Back in March I traded two motorcycles and a handle of rum half finished to two pirates for a 47' sailboat that had been heavily modified.

After haulout, sanding and new paint it was realized it is the 1963 Luders 44 yawl named the Alert that served as an Academy trainer and racer for years. I am working on getting pictures posted to imgur and will include the link with more pics once finished but here is a start.

Traded Rum and Motorcycles for a US Navy Academy Yawl https://imgur.com/gallery/KiGJ6

My crew and I busted it back to the fiberglass base and started the work. After pulling around 500 deck screws out of the boat there was a lot of little holes to fill. With the help.of youtube sailing forums like this one we finished rebuilding the Westerbeke and we motored around and felt salt in the bow for the first time in at least 2 years. 

Now comes the help. We need sails. Bacons up in annapolis has some but I'm in need of a mizzen and main. As I am new to the site and area I would love feedback to some sail makers or even some tips on used sails to get us running until new ones can be ordered and made.

The Yawl is in deltaville, Virginia I am in Richmond, virginia...the world is the oyster.

The recent history of Alert is it was sold by the navy sailing club at pax river in auction and bought by two ex navy programmers who put thier own twist on it. After restoring their twist the Alert is back in her red, white, and blue...ready for the Bermuda race in June..well will be ready to at least spectate.....Below is some data pulled from navy operating manual, still need mizzen measurements. Thanks for reading.

 

LUDERS 44​

 


Hull Type:


 Long Keel


Rig Type:


 Masthead Yawl


LOA:


 44.00' / 13.41m


LWL:


 30.10' / 9.17m


Beam:


 11.00' / 3.35m


Listed SA:


 900 ft2 / 83.61 m2


Draft (max.)


 6.00' / 1.83m


Draft (min.)


 


Displacement:


 2340 lbs./ 1061 kgs.


Ballast:


 


Sail Area/Disp.1:


 81.90


Bal./Disp.:


 


Disp./Len.:


 38.31


Designer:


 A. E. Luders


Builder:


 Luders Marine Construction/Uniflite Corp.


Construction:


 Wood/FG


Bal. type:


 


First Built:


 1939


Last Built:


 


# Built:


 12


RIG AND SAIL PARTICULARS  KEY


I(IG):


 52.50' / 16.00m


J:


 16.50' / 5.03m


P:


 46.50' / 14.17m


E:


 18.00' / 5.49m


PY:


 


EY:


 


ISP:


 


SPL/TPS:


 


SA(Fore.):


 433.13 ft2 / 40.24 m2


SA(Main):


 418.50 ft2 / 38.88 m2


Sail Area (100% fore+main triangles):


  851.63 ft2 / 79.12 m2


Sail Area/Disp.2:


 77.49


Est. Forestay Length.:


 55.03' / 16.77m


DESIGNER


More about & boats designed by: 


 Alfred E. Luders


SEE ALSO:


Related Boat: 


 ANNAPOLIS 44


NOTES



Built for the US Naval Academy by Luders Marine Construction. (AKA NAVAL ACADEMY YAWL/NA 44) Originally of wood planked construction (1939). Replaced with a fiberglass version (by Uniflite) in 1963 with a slightly different hull/rig design and different interior layout. (4 went to the US Coast Guard)
A few of the FG version were sold to individuals as sloops/cutters. (See ANNAPOLIS 44). Naval Academy boats were passed on to the US Coast Guard Academy for a few years before being sold off to individuals. 
(Replaced in 1985 with the NAVY 44/DEFIANCE CLASS by McGurdy & Rhodes and again, in 2000, with a Dave Pedrick designed 44 footer.)
The layout shown here is for the original wood version.
Thanks to Mainbrace 76, and several 

Great project!

That sailboatdata article is a bit off on when the M&R replaced.  It wasn't until 1991. They had been delivered before that, but for intercollegiate racing (McMillan and Kennedy Cups) the Luders were still the fleet through Spring 1991.

 

[Ajax]

I think the displacement specs above are wrong by at least an order of magnitude. 

Those boats are famously heavy and stable.  You couldn't make one weigh "2340 lbs./ 1061 kgs" if you made the hull out of silk and the masts out of papier mache.  I'm not sure the SA/D of 81.90 is correct either.  The boat would be amazingly fast, but you'd have to reef *a lot* to go upwind in anything other then 2-3 knots.     

Somehow, the data got mangled. The Annapolis 44 is a sister based on the Navy 44.  The numbers here appear to be much more realistic:

http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=2188

Displacement of 22,500 and SA of 15.88.

 

[Lex Teredo]

Somehow, the data got mangled. The Annapolis 44 is a sister based on the Navy 44.  The numbers here appear to be much more realistic:

http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=2188

Displacement of 22,500 and SA of 15.88.

That seems much more realistic.  Nice boat.  The design is somewhat legendary - it seems like every sailor who is a USNA grad between the ages of 40 and 70 sailed on one of these.  They did pretty well in some point to point races if there was a heavy blow and the sailors speak pretty fondly of them - though I've heard remarks about them being a bit clapped out below decks and of an inordinate number of crew being crammed into small berths. 

 

[Innocent Bystander]

That seems much more realistic.  Nice boat.  The design is somewhat legendary - it seems like every sailor who is a USNA grad between the ages of 40 and 70 sailed on one of these.  They did pretty well in some point to point races if there was a heavy blow and the sailors speak pretty fondly of them - though I've heard remarks about them being a bit clapped out below decks and of an inordinate number of crew being crammed into small berths. 

Initial fitout below is nothing yachty. Stacked pipe berths in the bow. Steer and pilot berths in the salon and a quarterberth. Basic galley and head. Standard crew was something like 9 and you would sleep aboard on race and return weekends such as Oxford or Queenstown  

Back in the day, every midshipmen got an orientation and overnight on the yawls or, if you already had a sailing background, one of the Class A boats.  Basically everybody got a sailing card for the knockabout (cabinless Rainbow) and a yawl intro.  Solid sea boats. As noted, good in a blow. Until the Naval Station upgraded their service organization under Capt Alex Grosvenor in 1974-1977, the maintenance was pretty haphazard and they survived it pretty well. 

 

[kinardly]

The San Diego Navy Sailing Club had a couple of the wooden Luders in the early 70s along with some of those Knockabouts. The progression from basic dinghy sailor to crew on one of the 44s was very tedious, involving a year or more of "box checking" on the smaller boats. I deployed long before I would have gotten to sail one but those Knockabouts were terrific training and pleasure sailing vessels, also built like brick shithouses. A chance to buy and restore one would be well worthwhile. 

 

[Lex Teredo]

The San Diego Navy Sailing Club had a couple of the wooden Luders in the early 70s along with some of those Knockabouts. The progression from basic dinghy sailor to crew on one of the 44s was very tedious, involving a year or more of "box checking" on the smaller boats. I deployed long before I would have gotten to sail one but those Knockabouts were terrific training and pleasure sailing vessels, also built like brick shithouses. A chance to buy and restore one would be well worthwhile. 

The armed forces have a way of sucking the fun out of pretty much everything in life.  Jumping out of planes, shooting on the range, camping and hiking and working on vehicles - things I have loved in civilian life - were simply soul-killing if there was a green suit on them.  Playing with the big things that went boom were always fun but that's only because there are some things so tough, that even Training and Doctrine Command couldn't wreck the fun.   

As for those little knockabouts - the Rainbow is still a great little boat.  I've been told by old salts that Sparkman and Stevens were asked to make a design that could get six guys who'd drunk six beers each safely back from Kent Island to Annapolis during a 30+ knot blow.   Many of these boats are still sailing out of the Academy and in use at the Annapolis Sailing School.  I had no idea until recently that funny looking little boat was an S&S design...

 

[Rasputin22]

I had just joined the Navy Sailing Club on the Silver Strand just south of Coronado when those wooden Luders Yawls showed up. As a 11th grader who had breezed through the NSC Long Beach's Coronado 15 and Coronado 25 fleet qualifications in a single summer the allure of the venerable 44's was a quantum leap and I couldn't wait to get involved in the program. I had crewed for another Navy brat who was racing one of the 5 Flying Dutchmen the San Diego NSC had in their fleet and he told me that I should forget the 44 Yawls program because of the long period of refurbishment that was ahead for those boats and that as a teenager I would get worked hard yet never attain any status in the hierarchy of the Yawl crews. He pointed at a long unused tomato red Schock FD and told me that if I filled out the requisition papers with the club manager for new deck gear and running rigging with his help, I could totally re-rig the FD and having done the work myself I would be a the top of the list when regatta dates came up. He said it would essentially 'my boat' as long as I made proper reservations ahead of time. 

    Gary, the FD fleet chairman was going to college and had Navy club privileges as long as he was still in school and was very helpful and made similar offers to other 'Brats' and soon had all the FD's squared away with dedicated youth crews. This was in '70 to '72 and with the upcoming Olympics the FD class was going strong. Lowell North and Carl Eichenlaub had joined the FD class and it was great for a kid like me to be essentially sponsored by the Navy and get the opportunity to compete against such big names in the sport. 

    Gary could podium on a fairly regular basis and the rest of us 'gremmies' would have an occasional good day and join him on the podium. One of Lowells young sailmakers came up with the idea to use our 5 boat fleet to build a 'graduated' set of five sails for our boats that ran from 'light to heavy' and were designed with the aid of computer, the first in the trade at the time. I think that was the beginning of Tom Schakenberg's early forays into computer drafting sails.

     They gave us a absurdly low price for the set off five sails but the catch was to give them some feedback and all of us combine the numbered jibs and mains and find the best combination. Gary settled on a #3 main and #2 genoa since he was the best of our group and I raced with the #2 main and #3 Genoa since I outweighed Gary and was taller and could use the extra power and drive of the fuller #2 main. My height led me to helming from the wire unless it was a San Fran regatta for which we would go across the street and Shang-Hai some unsuspecting SEAL candidate for the brutal SF conditions. That is a story unto itself I'll put to pen soon!

    I'm glad I followed Gary's advice and spent my youth and agility on the demanding FD and was able to sail one of the FG Luder NA Yawls many years later.

 

[Zach]

Nice! 

I've got a 1964 Annapolis 44 down in Beaufort, NC doing a refit on her.

 

[Deadhead]

1977 Offsoundings aboard a USCGA Luders 44.  Fog, rain & fairly miserable.  1978 was a bit better.  Then discovered the Grateful Dead and processed out.

 

[WillUSNA78]

I just joined the SA forums, so I'm late to this party, but it's a topic that's close to my heart...

I was at USNA from 1974 to 1978, learned sailing there during my plebe summer on the "Knockabout" small sloops and the Luders 44s, and fell in love with sailing. I competed on NA-12 Vigilant in the 1975 Annapolis-Newport race, and went on to compete with the offshore sailing team on board a Swan 48 and an S&S 69. I capped my sailing career at USNA when I gained my Class D skipper's qual and commanded one of the Luders 44s. I have a lot a good memories (and a few unfortunate ones) of my times on those boats, but one thing for sure, they were tough as nails (as they had to be as sail-training boats for inexperienced sailors).

For any of you who would like more detailed information on the USNA sailing program in general or the Luders 44s (both the wooden and fiberglass versions), I highly recommend Bob McNitt's 1996 book Sailing at the U.S. Naval Academy: An Illustrated History. My copy is one of the most treasured books in my personal library. Not all of you would want to spend $30 on a "collectible" copy, but there are used copies available for under $12 dollars on Amazon (https://smile.amazon.com/Sailing-U-S-Naval-Academy-Illustrated/dp/155750573X/).

 

[Trickypig]

There is a couple in the Pacific Northwest who cruised one up and back from Alaska several times. They wrote a cruising book which included ideas about the boat

google may help....