Lions Whelp: An Alden-Designed Schooner Reinforced for Offshore Cruising

In 1986 a hull was started in California that would later become Lions Whelp, the 65-foot schooner designed by Alden that brothers Phin and Abbot Sprague purchased more than a decade later and finished for serious offshore cruising. The hull had been built with strip planking and cold-molded wood, but construction stopped and the boat sat exposed with the bilge full of water for 12 years. That is how Phin and Abbot found her in 1998.

They had been searching specifically for a schooner because of the type’s reputation for seaworthiness and its ability to handle heavy weather without the compromises that come with designs tuned to class restrictions. The hull fit their criteria, aside from rot around the garboard caused by prolonged standing water. They bought the hull, trucked it to Portland, Maine, and allowed it to dry for a year while Phin worked with Alden’s original designer, Niels Helleberg, to plan the interior and deck layout.

Hull integrity was a primary concern. Phin emphasizes that when you cruise at 9 or 10 knots at night you cannot always spot a submerged hazard such as a log, container debris, or a large buoy. After a 2003 hurricane, for example, telephone poles and a 10-foot-diameter buoy were reported loose in the Bermuda area—objects easily large enough to sink an unprotected yacht. Faced with those risks, the brothers chose to reinforce the hull to increase the odds of survival rather than rely on luck.

To address the rot and create a hull capable of resisting impacts, they sliced the boat horizontally and replaced everything from the keel up past the turn of the bilge: new wooden floors, planking and the lower sections of frames. After repairing the garboard area, they built impact-test panels—one constructed like the original hull and two backed with 3-inch-thick Nida-Core, a structural plastic honeycomb core. They then dropped a 150-pound railroad-track section onto the panels from 30 feet. The conventional panel showed a deep indent and cracked. The Nida-Core-backed panels showed barely visible indentation and no structural failure, even after repeated drops.

That testing informed their build method. Instead of leaving a void between outer planking and inner ceiling, they bonded 3-inch Nida-Core to the inside of the planking using WEST System epoxy, then glassed over the Nida-Core from sheer to sheer to create a smooth inner skin. Over that they epoxied a 5/8-inch fir tongue-and-groove ceiling and painted it. The result is effectively a monocoque structure—continuous and highly rigid—combining the strength of an I-beam with substantial impact resistance, thermal insulation and sound dampening.

The Nida-Core lining also contributes positive buoyancy. While not enough on its own to guarantee flotation in an absolute worst-case scenario, it slows flooding and gives the crew more time to control and repair damage. Phin notes that the yacht displaces about 84,000 pounds and contains roughly 54,000 pounds of positive buoyancy integrated into the hull through wood and Nida-Core, making it far less prone to sinking than many traditional wooden or fiberglass boats.

Structural reinforcement continued with 3/8-inch stainless-steel floors and strapping bent over the frames, acting as stiffeners and forming integral supports for mast steps, plus heavy stainless-steel engine beds and I-beam mast steps. The joinery and finish work are high quality: mahogany interior and deck furniture built by Belfast, Maine boatbuilder French and Webb was installed in Portland and polished to a fine standard.

Systems installation was executed with practical access and redundancy in mind. Major components are positioned for rapid removal and even sized to fit within the available cabin spaces while servicing machinery. The brothers spared no expense, and attention to detail is evident throughout the yacht.

They also reduced vulnerability to through-hull failures. The original design included 28 through-hulls; the refit consolidated most services into internal manifolds, cutting the number of through-hulls to nine and effectively creating sea chests. That approach lowers the probability of a catastrophic leakage from a failed fitting. Additionally, a powerful 220-volt, 380-gallon-per-minute Piranha dewatering pump is installed to manage large inflows should they occur.

Mast and sail systems were chosen for practicality and reliability. The carbon-fiber masts are finished to resemble wood while remaining hollow, stiffer and lighter than timber masts; they also function as ventilation ducts for the engine room. Sails are raised with traditional block-and-tackle systems rather than powered winches, keeping complexity and reliance on powered systems down.

Although commercial or rescue vessels would use multiple watertight compartments to survive bottom damage, that level of subdivision is impractical for a pleasure yacht. Instead, Lions Whelp combines a forward collision bulkhead, significant built-in positive buoyancy and a high-capacity pump to improve survivability after damage. These elements shift the odds toward keeping the crew and vessel safe in extreme conditions.

Propulsion comes from a 120-horsepower Perkins engine, allowing 8.5 knots under power. The owners plan conservatively for worst-case scenarios—calculating fuel needs to motor long passages such as the 628 miles from Newport to Bermuda—so they will not depart unless they are confident the yacht can withstand likely weather and sea conditions. That cautious planning is part of the vessel’s overall strategy for offshore safety.

Since launching Lions Whelp in 2003, Phin has sailed her over 20,000 miles, including multiple cruises from Maine to the Caribbean and Bermuda. The yacht is currently in covered storage and is offered for sale due to the economic conditions of recent years. For information, contact Portland Yacht.

This article originally appeared in the November 2010 issue.