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John G. Hanna

Best remembered for his TAHITI KETCH. A prolific writer, Hanna contributed numerous articles to boating magazines. His designs often appeared in ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ and ‘How to build 20 boats’. A Book called ‘John G. Hanna and his Yachts Designs’, by Steve Doherty appeared in 1987.

2 Sailboats designed by John G. Hanna

Dreadnought 32.

Tahiti Ketch

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Tahiti Ketch

Discussion in ' Wooden Boat Building and Restoration ' started by TerryOz , Jun 8, 2003 .

TerryOz New Member

I am happy to have discovered a forum that is shared by people who are interested in the preservation and enjoyment of wooden boats. I live in Australia and am in the process of buying a 42' L.O.A, Marconi Rigged Tahiti ketch named "Serenity" which is lying at a Marina in Fiji. She is a pretty rundown state and I intend sailing her to Australia and restoring her to something like her "former self" I believe she was built in 1960 at a yard in Boston MASS. Is Mahogany planked with a coachouse and interior also of Mahogany, Teak decks etc.....I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this old beauty? There may be previous owners I could contact out there etc etc. If anyone is interested I will get some pictures organised and post them along the way. I am going to be looking for some good advice as it starts to get under way so hopefully this might be a good resource for Serenity and me!  

trouty Guest

Welcome aboard Terry from another Aussie. I'm a sandgroper in Sth West WA. I'm also a timber miller & cabinet maker / joiner, so happy to provide any advice thats relevant when the need arises. As it happens - I mill & kiln dry Swan River Mahogany (Jarrah) (used in a lot of West Aussie carvel style hulls), however my log contract with the Govt expires in Nov this year - not likely to be renewed, so if you anticipate needing anything MAJOR like one piece keel in mahogany etc then for goodness sakes let me know early and I'll put something aside for you. I also mill and kiln dry a lot of West Aussie sheoke, for the commercial boat building trade - tuna longliners, cray boats and liveabard charter boats in the Kimberley etc. Mainly used as fancy trim for cabins, berths, bunks etc etc. Again - same thing - if you anticipate needing anything let me know well before Nov and I'll put some aside for you. Sent some sheoke to a fella restoring a yacht in Sth Oz earlier this year, not that hard to find backload space cheap on a truck across the nullabor from here usually. Sounds like you have yourself a project and a half there in front of you. There is a crowd here in WA (Fremantle) called the wooden boatworks - located in the "E shed" at the Fremantle wharves, who ALL build / restore wooden vessels - conduct classes etc etc...might be a handy contact for you, maybe do a web search and see of you can get in touch. Best of luck with it - be nice to see a photo or two of her. Cheers!  

Nice to hear from you mate, sounds as though you are just the type of person I might need. I shall certainly make use of your "Swan River" Mahogany if and when the need arises. I spent the first year of my Naval "career" at HMAS Leeuwin, in 1970 and went for my first sail in a whaler on the Swan. I also had the pleasure of cruising over to Garden Island fairly regularly, when the only Naval buildings were old huts that we would camp in for the weekend and the only company was a mob of "Kwokkas" (If spelt incorrectly please forgive me, it was a long time ago) I shall get some pictures and post them on this site soon, thanks for the tips re the E shed. TerryOz  

Jeff Moderator

I don't have any great advice to give you at the moment, but I always love to see an interesting project unfold. So as your project progresses, please do post some photos here in the forums and/or in the gallery - that would be great! Welcome to the forums  

Mike H Junior Member

Welcome Terry, I look forward to seeing the project develop  

pellerin mi New Member

serenity we only saw your message today ... but we probably know about "Serenity", at a time we were looking for a "Carol ketch" ; we were in contact with Larry Sipe. Too far for us any way ... but we found one in France and we were surprised that you called her "Tahiti ketch" ! If you are still interested, we'll be very happy to talk about John Hanna's marvellous boats. But hurry up !!! ... because we'll live on board in three months without computer facilities. Living in France for the moment before sailing around the world, we hope that our english is not too bad ... looking forward to hear from you Mireille and Michel Pellerin TerryOz said: I am happy to have discovered a forum that is shared by people who are interested in the preservation and enjoyment of wooden boats. I live in Australia and am in the process of buying a 42' L.O.A, Marconi Rigged Tahiti ketch named "Serenity" which is lying at a Marina in Fiji. She is a pretty rundown state and I intend sailing her to Australia and restoring her to something like her "former self" I believe she was built in 1960 at a yard in Boston MASS. Is Mahogany planked with a coachouse and interior also of Mahogany, Teak decks etc.....I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this old beauty? There may be previous owners I could contact out there etc etc. If anyone is interested I will get some pictures organised and post them along the way. I am going to be looking for some good advice as it starts to get under way so hopefully this might be a good resource for Serenity and me! Click to expand...

A necessitated change of "plan" Michel and Mireille Nice to hear from you, as you can see by my header, there was a change of plan....Serenity was returned to the water after a fairly long period on a slip, when released from the travel lift she was left unattended overnight and she sank to her caprails, there is an ongoing argument between Vuda Point Marina and Larry about compensation and repairs. This effectively put me off and I didn't go ahead with the purchase. However a month ago I found a similar vessel in Sydney and recently sailed her to Pt Adelaide in South Australia, where she was originally built in 1949. Named "Setanta" she is a 44'LOA double ended Ketch, described as a "Bailey" design. She is planked (1 1/2") in an extremely rugged Australian hardwood called Jarrah, on six inch Jarrah centres, an extemely strong old girl! Bermudan rigged, with varnished Oregon masts and spars. We had a good introduction to her whilst sailing her home, in that we struck some pretty heavy weather in some treacherous seaways (particularly Bass Strait), but she proved to be eminently seaworthy and felt very safe. She is in much better condition, new Hood sails with a furler mounted Genoa, a recently installed 38hp Yanmar Diesel, a complete new Mahogany and Beech interior, all new rigging etc etc. Of course she was a lot more expensive than "Serenity", but I do prefer the Jarrah (very highly rated boatbuilding material) to the Mahogany hull and of course I would have had to spend a lot of money to bring Serenity her up to par. I would have liked the challenge, but am enjoying the sailing, as Setanta is in a maintenance cycle as opposed to needing a big restoration! If you like I can get a picture to you, but I am sure you know what she looks like. I hope you take the time to answer this and let me know about your boat and your trip! Thanks Terry  

John Farmer Guest

Tahiti Ketch caught my attention. My father, naval architect Weston Farmer, was instrumental in the original publication of the plans for Tahiti by John Hanna when Dad was editor for Fawcett's "MODERN MECHANICS" magazine. Over the past couple of years I've been disposing of his nautical library that was left to me on his passing. In his files I find photo copies of the original article that appeared somewhere around the year 1930. If these would be of interest to you, I'd be pleased to send them to you for the reimbusement of the postage. In any event, happy sailing. John (Mike) Farmer  

Much Appreciated John What a great thread to receive, I would be honoured to have a look at these photocopies and anything that you may have of interest. My Email address is [email protected] perhaps you can contact me there Thanks again Terry O'Riley John Farmer said: Tahiti Ketch caught my attention. My father, naval architect Weston Farmer, was instrumental in the original publication of the plans for Tahiti by John Hanna when Dad was editor for Fawcett's "MODERN MECHANICS" magazine. Over the past couple of years I've been disposing of his nautical library that was left to me on his passing. In his files I find photo copies of the original article that appeared somewhere around the year 1930. If these would be of interest to you, I'd be pleased to send them to you for the reimbusement of the postage. In any event, happy sailing. John (Mike) Farmer Click to expand...

Official boat noodler Terry - - tried the e-mail address you sent me ([email protected]) And since no return mail to date, presume I didn't get through. Need your postal address for mailing. John Farmer [email protected] 56241 Highway 41 Calumet, Michigan, U.S.A. Zip: 49913  

Bernard Vignon New Member

TerryOz said: I am happy to have discovered a forum that is shared by people who are interested in the preservation and enjoyment of wooden boats. I live in Australia and am in the process of buying a 42' L.O.A, Marconi Rigged Tahiti ketch named "Serenity" which is lying at a Marina in Fiji. She is a pretty rundown state and I intend sailing her to Australia and restoring her to something like her "former self" I believe she was built in 1960 at a yard in Boston MASS. Is Mahogany planked with a coachouse and interior also of Mahogany, Teak decks etc.....I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this old beauty? There may be previous owners I could contact out there etc etc. If anyone is interested I will get some pictures organised and post them along the way. I am going to be looking for some good advice as it starts to get under way so hopefully this might be a good resource for Serenity and me! Click to expand...

Victoria New Member

I've been trying to help my friend Gregory sell his beloved Sequestor which led me to the study of other wooden boats on the Sausalito waterfront which led to the publication of a book called the Sausalito Wooden Boat Tour . Now Sequestor is becoming quite famous, but she is still dancing around her mooring trying to attract a new fella. At $19,500 she is a steal as it would cost someone a great deal more to restore or build this boat, besides Sequestor has the most romantic lines of any boat in Sausalito. I don't understand why she hasn't sold, but when she does there will be a big part of me that will miss her very much. She needs a set of sails and engine hook up, but otherwise aching for a trip - She's never been outside the Golden Gate! Take a look at photos and survey at www.butterflute.com/tahiti_ketch.html  

Kiernan New Member

Nov04- I've just discovered a "Tahiti Ketch" (TK) laying in Florida. She is fiberglass with alu. masts and a 20hp yanmar diesel, don't know the year yet. I call her a TK because I am one of those those kids that saw them all over the Pacific when I did my time as crew and skipper for private yachts in my 20's. So does anybody know much about the FG boats, who may have build them and does anyone have fairly detailed photos I could look at and come up with a concept as to how to redo her interior? The present owner has spent a good amount of time in cleaning her up so re-assemble is more the mode I'll need to take to bring her back up to sailing condition.  

B. Hamm Junior Member

Got any measurments of this boat? Bill H.  

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karl shearer New Member

Hi Terry This is Karl Shearer I built a tahti ketch 30 ft I have some pictures I can send you if you would like to see them My E Mail is [email protected]  

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Ketch sailing: Jib and jigger

• Philippa Park
• July 14, 2015

This week our blogger Jonty Pearce recounts the benefits of ketch sailing

Jonty Pearce

Carol and I are both admirers of the ketch rig. Some Yachting Monthly readers may have seen my article on the rig (Six reasons to sail a ketch, May 2014) so I won’t repeat all I wrote then apart from briefly mentioning some of the basic advantages of ketches – their sail plan options, heavy weather versatility, ability to set a riding sail at anchor, use of the mizzen boom as an outboard crane, and the handiness of the mizzen mast as a handhold and mount for kit such as a radar or wind generator.

Much as we enjoy the prettiness and practical aspects of our ketch, the ability to sail ‘jib and jigger’ outweighs all other benefits. For those lazy days when we can’t be bothered with the mainsail or when the wind is higher than for comfort we love to sail with just a foresail and mizzen sail. It does away with the big heavy flappy mainsail attached to a heavy boom crashing from side to side and leaves us with a beautifully balanced sail plan that we can easily control without leaving the cockpit. OK, there is no countering the argument that sailing without a mainsail leaves the boat underpowered in lighter winds, or that the loss of the slot effect between the genoa and the main lessens Aurial’s pointing ability, but for days of high wind or when we just want to drift the absence of the mainsail outweighs the disadvantages.

All too often we have found ourselves on passage when the forecast underestimated the local wind strength, or when we have decided to battle on through adverse conditions with a deadline to meet. When it comes to needing to reef we start by taking in a couple of rolls in the genoa before pulling down the first and then second reef slabs in the main, with progressive reduction of the genoa to match. With further wind increases, we put in the third deep reef in the main or more likely drop it altogether, leaving us sailing jib and jigger under foresail and mizzen alone.

Eventually we might put a reef in the mizzen and change the genoa to a stormsail, but usually the foam luff in our new genoa keeps the reefed sail flat enough to avoid the trip forwards on a bouncing foredeck to rig the inner forestay. Thus dressed and beautifully balanced we can make over 7 knots in a force 6 or 7 with a light helm and little fuss. And because our mainsail reefs at the mast, the accessibility of the mizzen just behind the cockpit means that we never need to go out on deck. Much of the stress of high wind sailing is averted – less heel, no fighting weather helm at the wheel, and making the coffee becomes a pleasure.

On our first sail of the season we were in a relaxed mood and the wind was fitful. I had woken with a bad back, so we ended up drifting up Milford Haven in a variable wind with just the genoa and mizzen. The sun shone, Carol helmed, and I sat back against the cushions while we coasted along. In such lazy moods without the option of the mizzen we would probably have ended up motoring – instead we were free to listen to the wildlife along the shore and had time to sink into the peace of the lovely countryside. Yes, we do relish the joys of ketch sailing!

Posted 2024-09-16 13:30

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1964 Tahiti Ketch - $14,000 (san rafael)

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1964 Tahiti Ketch - boats - by owner - marine sale - craigslist

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