Gannon & Benjamin 38 ft Gaff Ketch 1990/2020

Designed and beautifully built in 1990 - and maintained through her life - by one of the US East Coast’s preeminent traditional boat building yards, Gannon & Benjamin, ENCORE was conceived as an easy to sail, elegantly simple, seaworthy and fast coastal cruiser. And that’s exactly what she’s done for 35 years in two ownerships. ENCORE’s ketch rig has been enlarged and made easier over recent years by Myles Thurlow, enabling her to be easily sailed by a couple. ENCORE is a balanced and sea-kindly vessel that has comfortably cruised from Maine to the Bahamas.

- A provisional set of details for a new listing
- Updated specs to be added in the coming weeks

- Major refits by Gannon & Benjamin 2010 and 2020

I designed ENCORE in 1990 for a client on Cape Cod to sail with his sons and grandkids. We built her at G&B with wana and white cedar planking over steam bent white oak frames, bronze fastened. The backbone is Angelique with a cast lead keel about 5600 lbs. Her deck beams and carlins are black locust.

The interior arrangement is traditional with four berths -- a v-berth forward and two pilot berths aft, enclosed head, and aft galley with propane stove, 12 volt refrigeration, hot and cold pressure water and a hand-held shower in the cockpit. The interior woodwork is carefully selected old-growth cypress with mahogany trim, finished bright. The deck is teak, cabin sides and hatches mahogany. Spars are sitka spruce, and sails in dacron by Sperry.

Encore is easily managed with all sails self-tending, a balanced helm, and a comfortable cockpit for 6. Encore has been used for daysailing, coastal, and offshore cruising. She has proven to be a very capable vessel and is in excellent condition.

NAT BENJAMIN DESIGN NO. 12
GANNON & BENJAMIN HULL NO. 8

In 1989, ENCORE was commissioned by the nascent Gannon & Benjamin boatyard as a coastal cruiser for a local couple. Within a month of completion, the boat was destroyed in a tragic fire that consumed the boatyard and left nothing but ash and a pool of lead from the original boat’s ballast. In the wake of the disaster, hundreds of community members, including the musician James Taylor, offered their support, labor, know-how, and time to rebuild the yard and a new commission of the boat started soon after. Given the events and her rebirth, the boat was named, ENCORE.

The recommission would still be a ketch but it would be a new design by Nat Benjamin – a 38 foot, gaff main, Marconi mizzen ketch that would be sailed for many years in and around Buzzards Bay and the Vineyard sound by the original owner.

Acquired by her current owner in 2010, ENCORE was rebuilt from the ground up, again by Gannon & Benjamin, adding a new Beta Marine engine, Raymarine electronics, and a new layout designed by Nat Benjamin. During this work, her rigging and design were contracted to Myles Thurlow who made several changes to the rig. A custom tender was also designed and built and fits on her deck for longer passages.

In 2019, after a winter of cruising from Vineyard Haven to the Bahamas, she was hauled out for the summer and left in Marsh Harbour. It was soon after that Hurricane Dorian hovered over the island at category 5 strength for twenty-four hours. Encore was no match for the 185 mph winds and flooding water and was knocked off her cradle. It is a testament to how well she was built that the only damage she sustained was limited to a few broken planks and few cracked frames. Floated over to Florida and trucked up to Gannon & Benjamin, she again went under a rebuild.

Her hull was repaired, systems updated and the fuel tank enlarged. Her damaged rig was discarded and a new one built by Myles Thurlow, including new masts, an enlarged sail plan and an automatic jib furling system that made her faster and yet easier to sail.

- Carvel planked
- Wana below the waterline
- White cedar topsides planking
- Steam bent white oak frames
- Angelique backbone
- Bronze fastenings
- Angelique beam shelf
- Bronze hanging knees
- Bilge stringers
- Lead ballast keel c 5600 lbs/ 2.5 tonnes
- Bronze keelbolts
- Teak deck on black locust frame
- Mahogany/ wana superstructures

FROM AFT
- Varnished teak taffrail
- Bronze fairleads each side with cleat
- Teak decks
- Lazarette with storage and steering and autopilot gearing
- Hot/cold handheld shower in lazarette

COCKPIT
- Bronze and wood helm wheel
- 4 x Lewmar bronze self-tailing winches
- Teak sole and seating each side
- Cockpit storage
- High cockpit coamings
- Brass steering compass binnacle and handhold
- Mizzen mast with winch storage
- Offset main companionway with hatch with sliding roof

TRUNK CABIN
- 12 x Bronze opening ports
- Grab rails port and starboard
- Sliding companionway hatch
- Bronze and hardwood main boom gallows
- Abeking & Rasmussen pattern butterfly skylight over main cabin
- Fisherman anchor in cradle

SIDE DECKS
- Midships bronze deck cleats and chocks
- Navigation lights on boards at shrouds

MAIN MAST POSITION

FOREDECK
- 2 x Gas tanks for galley stove at mast
- Pressurized wash down (through hull)
- Forehatch
- Large bollard and chocks
- Panama fairlead to port
- Bowsprit

GROUND TACKLE
- Ideal 12 V remote vertical windlass
- Chain gypsy and warping drum
- Galvanised Lewmar 'Claw' 15 kg / 33 US lb bower anchor
- Custom stowage/ launcher starboard of stemhead
- Galvanised chain

SUMMARY
- Accommodation for 4 persons in open plan saloon
- Joinery in carefully selected old-growth cypress; mahogany trim
- Access by sliding hatch mid deck and companionway steps down to saloon
- Berth reading lights and deckhead lights throughout
- Cushions and custom sheets for all berths and seating

AFT
Navigation Station to Starboard
- Chart table with refrigeration under and to sides
- Raymarine repeater
- VHF Radio
- Ship's electrical panels
- Tank tender display
- Chart reading light
- Large quarter berth
Galley to Port
- Gas 2 x Burner hob
- Top loading Isotemp refrigeration
- Hot/ cold fresh water sink
- Ample food stowage
- Foul Weather gear locker aft of galley

SALOON
- Lockers port and starboard side
- Settees port and starboard
- Pilot berth to port outboard
- Good lighting with red light option
- Skylight over saloon and head

PASSAGE FORWARD
- Shelves and closed stowage to starboard

HEAD COMPARTMENT TO PORT
- Manual Head (through hull) with storage tank
- Wash basin with pressure hot and cold tap
- Ample stowage and towel hanging

V-BERTH FORECABIN
- Custom mattress and sheets
- Stowage under
- Access forward to chain locker

RIG
Ketch rig by Myles Thurlow Rigging
- Gaff main - Marconi mizzen
- Spruce main and mizzen masts, booms and gaff
- Bronze mast and spar fittings
- Galvanized standing rigging
- Bronze SR fittings
- 2 x Bronze Lewmar self-tailing halyard winches on main mast
- 1 x Bronze Lewmar self-tailing halyard winch on mizzen mast
- 1 x Bronze Lewmar self-tailing reef winch on main boom

SAILS
Dacron by Sperry Sails (2021)
- Mainsail
- Mizzen
- Boomed jib

CANVASWORK
By Sperry Sails (1921)
- Boom covers for all three sails

MECHANICAL
Auxiliary power
- Beta Marine 30 hp (at 3600 rpm) diesel (2010)
- TMC 40 gearbox
- Stainless steel propeller shaft
- Maxprop 3-blade propeller
- Cruising speed 6 knots
Steering
- Bronze worm drive

MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL
- Balmar DC 120 amp alternator

ELECTRICAL
- Mastervolt Combimaster 12 V 2000 W 100 A charger inverter
- 2 x Lithium ion house batteries
- 1 x Gel engine starting battery
- AC Shore power (US and European)

TANKAGE
- Tank tender system for all tanks
Fuel
- Plastic fuel tank under cockpit: 30 Gals / 114 L
Fresh water
- 3 x Interconnected plastic tanks under settees and v-berth
- 80 Gals / 303 L total
- Hot and cold pressurized water
- Head Holding tank: 30 Gals / 114 L

NAVIGATION
- Ritchie Powerdamp magnetic steering compass in binnacle
- Raymarine GPS
- Raymarine Radar
- Raymarine and Lewmar Autopilot
- Raymarine AIS and other misc. systems (depth, speed, etc.)

COMMUNICATIONS
- Standard Horizon Matrix DSC VHF Radio
- Kenwood audio receiver/ USB

- Rule electric bilge pump
- Edson manual bilge pump
- Dyneema lifelines and stations
- MOB equipment and spares
- 3 x Fire extinguishers
- Lifejackets
- Searchlight
- Liferaft
- EPIRP
- Flares and rescue kit
- Ship's bell
- Horn