Sam Devlin’s boat designs always major in strength, practicality, and versatility. But Sam is an artist, a complicated, self-contradicting, cigar-smoking romantic, and frequently he can’t help himself: He draws a boat that’s as unapologetically cute as it is strong. This describes the Winter Wren, one of his older designs (the earliest example dates from 1980), and the one that lured me down a life-changing path a decade back.I had already built a smaller and simpler Devlin boat, the 13′6″ Zephyr daysailer, a project that seemed plenty challenging at the time. The Winter Wren, while employing the same stitch-and-glue composite construction that I’d begun to get comfortable with, added the complications of cabin, outboard motor, electrical system, much more structure, and vastly more rigging. Listen, this rig is stout. One day I was scrutinizing a 24′ production sloop whose owner was embarking on a bluewater cruise to Hawaii, and I noted that the much smaller Winter Wren’s standing rigging was far more robust. This gave me a warm feeling. The Winter Wren II will take an outboard between 2 and 4 hp. The transom motor-mount cutout—the author's design and not in the plans—does allow about 15 degrees some swiveling in each direction, which is used in concert with the rudder for maneuvering inside marinas.
Lawrence W. Cheek
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I’ve always felt that Sam Devlin does for plywood what L. Francis Herreshoff did for plank-on-frame. Practical, useful, designs that manage to be beautiful.
Great article and boat. Sam Devlin has certainly found a niche in building so many different designs in plywood.
Wonderful article, Larry!
I really enjoyed your article. I had to laugh as I read your last paragraph. I read it to my wife and she grinned, knowing the money I have poured into boats over the years!