Djinn
If you’ve stopped into the boat yard at any point over the last two years, odds are you were greeted by a mammoth-sized project in the main shop. That project was Djinn, the total restoration of a 1963 Sparkman & Stephens motor sailer. Now, Djinn is on her way to Boothbay Harbor after being launched on a foggy, misty day in June (2023) complete with new hull, interiors and systems.
There are undoubtedly different levels of restoration an owner can consider when restoring a wooden boat. Such was the ever-increasing scope of restoring Djinn’s worm-eaten underbody and renewing her worn-out deck, interior, deck structures, powerplant, and systems that two years were needed to accomplish it. The result is spectacular, and prolonging the life of this classic was supremely satisfying to BBY as well as to the owners and their project-managing skipper.
Brian Larkin, BBY President, likes to call some restorations “shadow restorations,” as they require restoring (or replacing) everything but the shadow of a boat. While Djinn wasn’t quite a shadow restoration (she still has her original teak deck for example), she was close.
Originally designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built in 1965 by Minneford Yacht Yard for Commodore Henry Morgan of the New York Yacht Club, the East Coast was Djinn’s first cruising ground. She later sailed around the world as Cascade under a subsequent owner. Then came California, the Caribbean, Florida, and finally Brooklin for an unusually thorough restoration. Now, better than new, and to be cared for by a perfectionist skipper, we’re honored to have helped set up Djinn for her next 60 years. She’ll go down as one of our most historic restorations, and we will treasure the experience and opportunity she provided.
Djinn