1978 Herreshoff 28 For Sale

L. Francis Herreshoff designed this beauty and the seller purchased copies of her original drawings from Mystic Seaport in 2007. She was built by Brinkley Boats at the Greg Hudson & Company in Huntington, Long Island, New York in 1978.

Orion sleeps four, the main cabin accommodating two in single bunks on either side. The v-berth forward sleeps two. There is no galley as is the tradition. The head is a cedar bucket. The woodwork is teak and holly sole with pine ceilings.

There have been many improvements over the years; the following description identifies these improvements (with dates) within various categories..........

CABIN INTERIOR

- Floor is varnished teak and holly.
- Side trim and bulkheads are varnished pine and teak.
- Ice box was custom built into space designed for a wood stove and is finished in varnished teak with bi-fold top that serves as a chart table.
- Storage locker opposite also custom built into boat with varnished teak bi-fold top and very spacious shelving.
- Stainless sink with foot pump for single spigot (all plumbing replaced in 2012).
- Hanging locker.
- Two shelved storage lockers; large hull locker and book shelf along each cabin berth.
- Newly installed bulkhead sconces above each berth for reading.
- Ceiling lamp in v-berth and two in main cabin for night time lighting.
- Custom built and matching berth pillows and bumpers in traditional marine fabric and pattern.

DECK AND HULL (FIBERGLASS)

- Deck is white non-skid
- Topsides are black (Awl-gripped in 2012).
- Bottom was soda-blasted and sanded to bare fiberglass and professionally coated with 6 layers of paint (top-coats are Interlux micron CSC Green).
- Cabin top is 1" varnished teak with bronze oval opening window ports with screens.
- Toe rail and cockpit seats/backs are varnished teak.
- Mast is sitka spruce (professionally stripped and layered with 8 coats of varnish in 2010).
- All deck hardware is bronze
- Lifeline stanchions and bases are bronze
- Lifelines are parcelled and seized with traditional tarred seizing.
- Cockpit sole is custom built teak floor boards.
- Cockpit seats are varnished teak locker covers with varnished seat backs in teak.
- A new tiller tender stored in the starboard cockpit seat locker can be quickly set up and provide hands free passage on most tacks except close-hauled in a seaway.

ENGINE and MECHANICAL

- Fresh Water Cooled
- Sea Strainer: Bronze Internal
- Exhaust System: Raw Water Cooled through Hose and FRP Water Lift Muffler
- Electrical System: Alternator
- Ventilation: Natural
- Reduction Gear: Volvo
- Engine Beds: Oak
- Instruments and Monitoring (New Stewart Warner Gauges)
- Controls: Volvo Single Lever Cable

RUNNING GEAR

- Shaft: 1" Aquamet
- Coupling: Steel Flange
- Stuffing Box: Bronze/Flax Packing Gland
- Bearings: Cutlass Strut, Cast Bronze
Propeller, 3 blade Maxi-Prop

ELECTRONICS

- All wiring was replaced and new breaker panel in 2007.
- VHF
- Speed
- Compass
- Knot Log Depth
- Furuno Chart Plotter
- Tiller mate (Raymarine)
- Custom Electric Windlass installed 2007
- Running Lights
- Anchor Light
- Interior Cabin lights
- 2 12 volt (DC) Batteries
- New engine panel in 2004.

RIGGING

- Sloop Rig with mast step on deck.
- All hardware for mizzen mast and mizzen boom available (if desired) with step for mizzen in place; all running rigging and mizzen sail with cover to match main and jib.
- Professionally modified self tending custom jib (Roller Furling and Forestay Foil available in separate inventory if desired).

SAILS

- Dacron Mainsail (good condition, professionally cleaned and repaired every season).
- Three reef points on main.
- Custom built (Sperry Sails) self- tending jib new in 2010.
- Matching sail covers in traditional buff Sunbrella fabric.
- All running rigging is traditional white 3-strand line appropriately sized.
- Two cockpit winches, one on each side mounted outboard of the seat coaming.

CUSHIONS

- All interior cabin/berth cushions custom built [new] in 2007
- Cockpit cushions custom built [new] in 2007.
- Covering is buff Sunbrella

ANCHORING

- Three anchors available - Traditional Danforth installed on cabin top.
- Custom bronze windlass designed and manufactured for Orion by Ideal Windlass in East Greenwich, CT (electric controls at the helm and foot switch forward next to the windlass).
- 300 feet of 3/8 inch chain in chain locker fed through custom chain pipe with cover;
bronze chain stopper and custom bronze bow roller.

OTHER EQUIPMENT

- Plow, Fisherman's Anchors
- Fenders
- Horseshoe Ring
- Boat Hook
- Dock-lines

OTHER NOTES

The engine make is a Volvo diesel. The engine has two alternators; one each for the engine battery and the house battery. There is a Life-sling battery charger.


***RECENT NOTES (Feb 2015) FROM SELLER***

The only features that might be added are: a custom designed and installed Ideal electric winch with an all chain rode and deck step controls forward plus separate control at the helm. The propeller is a bronze three blade folding maxi-prop. I mention these because they were expensive and very useful installations that contribute to the fact that this little cruiser is very carefully maintained and is in show room condition. Also, the top sides were awl-gripped in the winter of 2012 and set off by the plentiful varnished teak trim, cabin-top and spars. Orion is always one of the prettiest vessels in any harbor she visits. I am fully aware that the market for this vessel is very limited.

She is one of only three that has a fibreglass hull. Thousands of H-28's were built in wood as they were designed to be built. Those vessels are all over the world, especially in Australia and New Zealand. But they have no standing headroom and are confining. Orion has full standing headroom and very spacious storage and living space in the cabin because of the glass hull. It is a completely different boat below compared to the traditional wood build-out. The other feature of the glass hull coupled with the period of her construction is that she is heavy for her size (12,000 pounds). That weight makes Orion the best heavy weather boat I have ever sailed. An experienced sailor and I sailed her west in Vineyard Sound and tacked through Quick's Hole into Buzzards Bay and up the bay to Marion Harbor in a 50 mph northeast gale that began the night before. The boat loved it but it was a wild ride. The other feature of the weight is that she is slow until the wind picks up. Any sailor whose home environment has frequent strong wind and wants to be out in it will love this boat. Another feature of Orion that appealed to me and motivated me to purchase her is that she almost none of the typical systems of small cruising sailboats; no head, no galley, no plumbing except a foot pedalled fresh water pump. Her electronics are limited to cabin lights, running lights and a few simple navigation instruments. And, all the wiring was completely replaced with a new panel in 2006. With the spacious and accommodating ice-box Orion is a perfect week-ender or a week if you are not cruising to uninhabited islands. I have mounted an electric water pump on a piece of 5/8 thick plastic (for ease of handling) and with a plastic shower head attached to a short piece of discharge hose and the the intake hose pushed into the water tank fill pipe I have a refreshing shower sitting on the cabin top at a sunny anchorage. (No plumbing; no systems; just the water pump that is stored in a locker!)

Her well-maintained condition makes her a 'MUST-SEE'!!!

Engine was removed from the boat in 2003. The work done includes.....

- New shaft and cutlass
- Exhaust upgrade
- New engine mounts

Orion has been professionally maintained for more than a decade by two local boatyards, Parkers in Cataumet and Wooden Tangent in Mattapoisett.

All Coast Guard required safety equipment has been acquired and put aboard the vessel; new anchor and attendant rode ([chain and line), man-overboard rescue system. Additionally a portable Freon horns, a rechargeable and direct wired search lights and new fire extinguishers.

NOTES ON MAINTENANCE

Fuel System: Fuel Hose, Racor Filter, Shut Off at Tank
Fuel Filter: Primary (next to tank) Raycor 500FG (fuel/water separator); Secondary (at rear of engine).


OTHER MAINTENANCE (May 2015, from seller)

My plans are to get the boat in the water at the end of June and to photograph it thoroughly. I have a professional photographer and have made arrangements for a chase boat to carry the photographer while Orion is under sail. Also plan to photograph her on a mooring against a flattering background. Also will take numerable photos of the interior which is very pretty with lots of varnished wood.

The only upkeep necessary is to buff out the topsides and lay up a couple of coats of varnish on the exterior bright-work. The mast and other spars are perfect. The mast was professionally stripped to bare wood and then eight coats of varnish a couple of years ago.

This was done again in the fall of 2018. Orion is ready to splash....