16' Original Lawley Yacht Tender (1913)

This is a 16′ lapstrake yacht tender, built by George Lawley & Sons in 1913. It is perhaps one of the finest examples of a large-ish tender I’ve seen, in terms of its basic design and the execution of its construction.

It’s scantlings are very light, with mere 5/16″ thick planking and 1/2″ x 5/8″ bent frames. The only nod to “frills” are two very functional teak gratings, one in the bow and one in the stern.

It showed up on a trailer at the 2019 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, having been pulled out of a barn on Shaw Island three weeks earlier where it had languished for about 80 years. It is owned by the San Juan Preservation Trust (SJPT) which would like to find a new home for it. If I had the space I would have bought it, but instead I borrowed it for a while and created a set of lines and construction drawings. It’s a simple yet elegant boat.