History

History and Evolution of Douglas and Hullmaster S/Vs

TED BREWER'S DESIGN - The Douglas 31 was Ted Brewer's first design after he left Bill Luder's shipyard In 1967 and established Brewer, Wallstrom & Associates, Inc. in Brooklin, Maine. The design is based on concepts Ted formed while working and sailing with Bill Luders on STORM and the Luders 33. Ted's partner, Bob Wallstrom subsequently founded the Yacht Design Institute, and is now part of the Maine Maritime Academy at Castine Maine."

CCA INFLUENCE - The design was heavily influenced by Cruising Club of America (CCA) offshore racing rules. As such, they have narrow beams, a relatively heavy displacement, moderate ballast and the graceful overhangs that were prevalent among boats of the era. The result is a beautiful, sea-kindly boat that is initially tender, but which firms up once heeled. Heeling provides more hull in the water, and this additional waterline results in greater speed. She is given high marks for seaworthiness, has made several successful ocean crossings, and has weathered big storms.

DOUGLAS MARINE CRAFT - Douglas Badgley commissioned Ted Brewer to design the original Douglas 31s. His company, Douglas Marine Craft, built them in Port Stanley, Ontario, starting in 1967. Around 1970-1971 Douglas Yachts went out of business, the hull and deck molds were reportedly seized by creditors, and subsequently sold to North American Fibreglas Mouldings, and Hullmaster Boats.

NORTH AMERICAN FIBREGLAS MOULDINGS - Jeffrey White of North American Fibreglas Mouldings Ltd. in London, Ontario acquired at least one set of Douglas 31 hull and deck molds, and modified them with a reverse transom designed by Ted Brewer to create the Douglas 32.

COMMAND YACHTS - In 1974, North American Fibreglas went into receivership and emerged as Command Yachts with the same crew and president, and a new model - The D-32 MKII. Station Omega, shown at the left, outfitted with a cabin heater, A/C & refrigeration, was boat of the show in the under 40 ft. class at the Annapolis Boat Show. Command Yachts was purchased by De Leuw Cather Canada who dissolved the boat building division around 1976.

BRUCE PENINSULA YACHTS - Apparently, the D-32 molds were then acquired by Bruce Peninsula Yachts, who produced Douglas 32 MK IIs in Port Elgin, Ontario (See brochure on left), featuring a different cabin configuration.

HULLMASTER BOATS, LTD. It appears that Roy Brooks of Hullmaster Boats, LTD also acquired one or more of the original Douglas 31 molds when Douglas Marine Craft went out of business. Hullmaster built Hullmaster 31s in Picton, Ontario about the same time as North American Fibreglas Mouldings was building D32s. The latest Hullmaster 31 I've found was built in 1979.

Link: navalmarinearchive.com - hullmaster_31

Add for the Hullmaster 31 in Cruising World 1975

THE FIRST "KIT" BOATS- I understand that when Hullmaster went out of business, Doug Smith acquired the Douglas 31 molds and produced what has been referred to as "kit boats" - empty hulls that owners finished.

J&C FIBERCRAFT - One story goes that Doug Smith sold his business to Jed & Carol Benoit of J&C Fibercraft. J&C had D-31, D-32 and Classic 37 hull molds, but only built D-31s and Classic 37s. The brochure to the left implies that J&C D-31s are direct descendants of Hullmaster. Either way, fine custom yachts and kit boats from the D-31 molds were built by this company in Barrie, Ontario.

Alcona Fiberglass Mfg, Ltd. in Barrie ON constructed at least one Douglas 31 from these molds. One is registered as 'Plover', built in 1978, registered in Charlottetown, to Richard LePage.

HINTERHOLTER - By some accounts, the last six D-31 hulls were built and delivered as kit boats by Hinterholter Yachts out of Ontario around 1982. However, we recently found a J&C Fibercraft boat built in 1984, and so it appears that both companies were building D-31s simultaneously.

MOLDS - A mold set consisted of left hull, right hull and deck/cabin top. I have not found any information as to how many sets of molds existed. Nor is there a lot of information about their location. There is some speculation that a mold set is located somewhere in Cape Breton.

A Cape Carib under full sailCAPE CARIB - Ted Brewer was commissioned by an Ottawa client to design a 32 foot clipperbowed ketch, Carib, to be built of wood. He used the D31 hull lines with minor changes, a new cabin, rig, etc. About 6 of them were built in Gdansk, Poland and exported to the US. A few are still cruising; not bad for 25 year old wood yachts. Cape Yachts in Hong Kong was building another Brewer design, the Cape North 43, and wanted a smaller boat to compliment their line. Mr. Brewer converted the Carib to GRP, and Cape Yachts put her in production. Later they took off the clipper bow and offered her as a sloop, essentially a D31. Yachting Monthly from the UK ran a story of how one of these sloops survived a fierce storm in the South China Sea while on a passage to England. Quite a compliment to the design and the construction.

THE CLASSIC CONNECTION - Several references, including a widely circulated article in Canadian Yachting, stated that the Douglas 31/32 design was later renamed the Classic 31/32. According to Bob Skene and others, nothing could be further from the truth. The Classic 31 was designed by Peter Van Dine of Annapolis MD. Grampian built the Classic 31 in the late 60s and early '70s, and by all reports, the resemblance is uncanny. However, according to Ted Brewer, this design had no relationship with the Douglas/ Hullmaster 31/32s.

THE BREWER BITE - The same Canadian Yachting article suggests that Douglas hulls were given the "Brewer Bite," and repackaged as Hullmasters. The Brewer Bite was a Ted Brewer design concept that is essentially a compromise between the traditional full keel with attached rudder design, and the fin keel with skeg-mounted rudder design that was gaining favor among racers. I have not found any evidence that that Hullmasters 31s featured this design, though I find it unlikely as Mr. Brewer has repeatedly stated that he had no formal/financial relationship with Hullmaster on their 31s. However, a letter written by JP Leblanc quotes Mr. Brewer as having stated that he did design the Hullmaster 27 with the "Brewer Bite.".

FLEET SIZE - With the different builders and models, it's difficult to determine how many of these boats were built. Few of the builders reported production numbers (or paid royalties) to Ted Brewer, and he has stated that he doesn't really have any idea how many were built. I have read estimates ranging from 24 to 155. The former is obviously wrong, and the later is probably closer to the truth, if hull numbers are a fair indicator of production runs. The latest Command Yachts, Douglas 32 I've found is Eudaimonia II, hull number 71. Tachyon, a Hinterholter D-32 is hull number 154, and reportedly the second to the last D-31 hull built by them. According to Stephen Newberg, the builders at Hinterholter claimed that the total run of all types and manufacturers was 155. Others have reported that builders were somewhat arbitrary in assigning numbers - perhaps rendering any assessment of fleet size by hull numbers meaningless!

Link to Wikipedia: Douglas 32 sailboats on Wikipedia.org

* The facts surrounding the history of these boats are elusive. I am diligently working to paint as clear a picture as I can. If you have any information, please email me.

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