Sunbow

In Festival Boats 2017

Sunbow is a Constant Camber 35 mid-cockpit design capable of coastal and ocean cruising. The design is a successor to design partner Jim Brown’s Searunner series, which were built from sheet plywood. She is cold molded in sections laid up on a single mold with identically spiled strips. The panels are then butt spliced together and covered inside and out with glass fabric. Epoxy glue is used exclusively. This results in an extremely strong monocoque construction. The eggshell style curvature also makes for an very puncture resistant structure.

She was built in the Mojave Desert by Dick White, a machinist, while he worked for Burt Rutan’s exotic airplane company, Scaled Composites. The boat was built in three sections, trucked to Oxnard on the coast, completed and launched in 2002 after 10 years of construction.

I bought her in San Diego and sailed her up the coast-upwind in mostly heavy weather- to the NW. Since then we have been cruising the San Juans and Canadian gulf. When I got her she was only minimally complete. I have since finished fitting out the interior and exterior and replacing and upgrading the rig.