Sam Devlin designed the Song Wren in 2011, but this first example was completed and launched in 2019. I made a few minor alterations in the design, most notably using hollow birdsmouth construction for the Sitka spruce mast and integrating the mast tabernacle into the cabin front for both strength and aesthetic reasons. The cabin interior is outfitted as nicely as possible in a 21′ sailboat (see “Elegant Accommodations in 60 Square Feet,” WoodenBoat magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2019) with sleeping accommodations for three. Although the Song Wren plan has a centerboard option, this boat has a fixed keel with 900 pounds of lead ballast so the cabin is not afflicted with a centerboard trunk. The sail plan provides an extremely generous 301 square feet of sail area spread across gaff mainsail, staysail and jib for those notorious light-air days in Puget Sound where the wind never exceeds 4 or 5 knots. Three reefs in the mainsail manage heavier air. As with all Devlin designs, the construction is stitch-and-glue marine plywood with fiberglass sheathing. Construction required about 4500 amateur person-hours spread across two years and eight months.
