Luders Marine

[Georg Moe]

Hello

A few months ago i bought the book 'Yachts in a hurry' (commuter yachts) and saw a few pictures of yachts designed/built by Luders. Does someone out there know where one could obtain more information and possibly drawings of these good looking boats?

:) Georg

[ahp]

Goerg,

I cannot help very much, but I lived near and worked near Luders in the 1960's. Sometimes I would wander around their yard during my luch hour. They were located in Stamford, Connecticut and I don't believe they exist any more.

They built minesweapers during WWII and were very busy then. Then after the war they designed and built at least three classes of sail boats, using a hot molding process which was quite unique. The best know of these was the L16. They were about 28 feet long on deck, 16 feet water line, lead keel, and quite slender. They were essentially a trainer for meter class racing. There are still some L16's around, and you might look for L26's also. There was a racing fleet on Lake Winnapsaulkee, in New Hampshire, about 20 year ago and it may still be there.

Art

[Georg Moe]

BTW, during the '20s and '30s they designed/built some incredibly good looking commuter yachts, as shown on the web pages of Mystic Seaport (http://www.mysticseaport.org/uia-bin/uia_doc.cgi/list/4?mwd=3&uf=objects.ldb&key=rosenfeldcomm&noframes=x&page_len=9&hr=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysticseaport.org%2Fresearch%2 Fru-rosenfel dgallery.htm&nd=6)

:) Georg

[A. Mason]

Luders not only built boats to their own designs, but in decades past they also built boats to the specifications of a wide variety of designers , including S&S and Rhodes.

Back in the 1920s and into the 1930s, commuter yachts [cruisers] were popular with all designers, and most of them tried their hand at designing at least one.

Old issues of "The Rudder" would be a good source, so would "Motor Boat" and possibly "Yachting."

American Car Foundry [acf] had quite a few commuter yacht production models advertised in the magazines of the late 1920s.

[Georg Moe]

...and where can I find old issues of 'the rudder', motorboat and yachting?

:) Georg

[A. Mason]

Well Georg, being in Norway could be a problem but I would suggest contacting WoodenBoat about old issues of "The Rudder" since they bought the remains after "The Rudder" went bankrupt. They have all the old issues and such.

Another source might be Mystic Seaport's Ships Plans Department. They have all the original drawings for many of the leading designers of the period when commuter yachts were popular. I'm not up to speed on how well they are able to locate stuff, but it's worth a try.

Consolidated produced a great many boats, and a lot of their drawings are at Mystic. My father salvaged them from a dumpster after Consolidated went bankrupt. After carrying them around for decades, Al finally donated the lot to Mystic. There might be something you like in that collection.

Someone else on the forum might know of other museums or libraries that have collections of the old magazines.I haven't a clue if those organizations would do a search on a boat type, rather than a designer's name.

Hope this helps, Anita

[Georg Moe]

Thanks a lot, Anita!

:) Georg