Basic Boat Info
- Make
- Alerion
- Year
- 2008
- Condition
- Used
- Category
- Sail
- Construction
- Fiberglass
- Boat Hull ID
- ALE
- Has Hull ID
- Yes
Dimensions
- Length
- 26 ft
- Length Overall
- 26 ft
- Waterline Length
- 21.75 ft
- Beam
- 7.58 ft
- Max Draft
- 5.17 ft
Engines / Speed
- Engines
- 1
Engine #1 Specs:
- Make : Yanmar
- Model : 1GM10
- Fuel : Diesel
- Engine Power : 10 hp
- Type : Inboard
- Total Engine Power
- 10 hp
Other
- Heads Count
- 1
- Boat Class
- Daysailers, Other, Sloop
Additional Info
Standard equipment
Hull & Deck
Vacuum bagged cold-molded hull with fiberglass covering set in epoxy.
Cedar hull skin, one layer 3/8" thick white cedar with
tongue and groove edges; 3 layers 1/8" thick Spanish
cedar; 10oz cloth sheathing.
Douglas Fir backbone, framing, and floors.
Bulkheads 1/2" mahogany plywood (1088).
Hull painted with epoxy primer and two-part top-coat
system, owner’s choice of standard colors.
External lead ballast.
Inside skin coated with resin, visible hull varnished or
painted white at owners discretion.
Plywood deck (1/2" thick), covered with 10oz cloth ,
painted with non-skid, and v-grooved underside to give
the impression of a planked deck from cabin. Owners
choice of standard colors. Bright oak deck beams.
Traditionally constructed mahogany cabin-trunk with
brightly finished sides and painted cabin top. Coaming
constructed of mahogany and finished bright. Cockpit
floor oiled teak.
Herreshoff style mahogany toe-rail, finished bright,
with integrated chocks and drains.
All bright-finished pieces are of clear grained wood and
finished with 8 coats high gloss varnish.
Deck Hardware
Herreshoff (Reineck) bronze chocks on bow
Custom jib boom pedestal.
Herreshoff (Reineck) bronze bow cleat.
Herreshoff (Reineck) bronze jib traveler, sheet lead aft
to cockpit cam cleats
Herreshoff (Reineck) bronze halyard blocks (2) at foot
of mast.
Halyards control lines lead to Herreshoff (Reineck)
bronze cleats and cam cleats on cabin top
Harken mainsail traveler aft of cockpit, purchase lead to
cockpit cam cleat
Bronze pad-eyes (two) on aft deck for dock lines
Mahogany flag pole with socket.
Mahogany “scissor style” boom crutch.
Rig
Aluminum spars, painted buff. Stainless steel wire
standing rigging.
Jib-boom universal deck connection to allow for rollerreefing operation. Harken roller-furling headsail foil.
Bronze chainplates.
Dacron running rigging
Steering
S/S rudderstock
Bronze rudder head
Laminated ash tiller, varnished
Fiberglass covered rudder blade
Interior
Raised panel bulkheads.
Varnished mahogany trim with Hatteras off white
panels.
Electrical
Two group 24 batteries
3 position battery switch
Six breaker circuit panel with voltmeter
Bilge Pumps
(1) Electric bilge pump (500 GPH)
Manual bilge pump (Whale Titan)
History of Alerion 26 model
It was around 1977 when he called to say that he missed Alerion and asked if we could build him a slightly smaller version of that
boat in fiberglass, Halsey says. ?It was one of my father?s last projects and we used Sadies lines, but adjusted the size
down.(Halsey pointed out it was ?11/12ths of 3/4 of the Newport 29.?) All these iterations gave the modern-day Alerion 26 its
size and mien, a touch shorter than Capt. Nat?s original, but with a fixed keel.
But Merriman?s influence also was felt way past the commissioning of this retro-style daysailer: While Merriman was taking delivery of his new Alerion in Key Largo, Fla., Halsey?s mother, Rebecca, managed to convince him to donate his estate to the fledgling Herreshoff Museum, which put it to good use by acquiring some of the old buildings that once housed the operations of the
Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Merriman, Halsey remembers, was an emotional man. He liked the new Alerion very much,
but sold it to one of his good friends, who took it from Florida to Nantucket. There the boat created a healthy interest that warranted the start of a production.
Subsequently, the boat received a taller Marconi rig ? which improved light-air performance ? a small auxiliary inboard engine
and a special setup for the self-tacking club-footed jib, so it could be used with a roller-furling system.
Unlike the modern classics that combine retro looks with contemporary design and technology (i.e. fin keels, spade rudders and
carbon rigs), the Herreshoff Alerion 26 sticks to its guns, with few concessions (inboard engine and aluminum rig) to the modern
era. By and large, it is still informed by Capt. Nat?s original idea of a simple boat that he could sail on a moment?s notice and all by
himself.
Reprinted from Soundings Publications LLC and company brochure
Evolution of Design
By Dieter Loibner- company Alerion 26 brochure
The Herreshoff Alerion 26 evolved from some logical sources and one serendipitous incident. First, it possesses the genes of Capt.
Nat’s personal daysailer, the Alerion III, which was built in 1912 (he had two others before). “Right around that time my grandfather started spending winters in Bermuda, so he designed a boat that he could sail there,” says Halsey Herreshoff. “My father, Sidney, had worked on Alerion III, so he asked Capt. Nat how he liked it. My grandfather expressed satisfaction with the sailing
abilities, but found it a touch too tender and wet in choppy conditions.”
So Capt. Nat added some ballast to Alerion and modified the half-model to increase beam, forward volume and overall length by
about 1 foot. This boat was built in 1914 (No. 732S) for Elias Cornelius Benedict, a Wall Street investor who named it Sadie. It was
one of Herreshoff’s most beloved designs, with a long and successful career under various owners.
At the end of her sailing career, Sadie was donated to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, but eventually found its way back
to the Herreshoff Museum where she was restored to mint condition and is taken out to sail again.
Also in 1914, Capt. Nat scaled up the modified Alerion by a third, which became the Newport 29 cruising class. That boat was 36
feet overall with 29 feet of waterline. It had a fixed keel while the original Alerion and Sadie had centerboards and external ballast. The yard initially built three (Dolphin, Mischief and Comet) in 1914 and a fourth one, Paddy (now known as Teaser), in 1926.
Comet was lost in the Hurricane of 1938, but the three survivors still are cruising and participate in classic regattas. An updated
version of the Newport 29 also is on offer by Herreshoff Designs and Brion Rieff Boatbuilders.
The last piece of the development puzzle for the Alerion 26 came in the person of Isaac B. Merriman Jr., a Herreshoff supporter
and the last owner of Capt. Nat’s Alerion III, which he donated to the Mystic (Conn.) Seaport.
