Fiberglass Production Buchan 37s
A few years earlier, fiberglass boats were becoming an important part of the sailing world. In late 1962 Bill Sr. decided that he would join the new trend and construct fiberglass molded sailboats. This was just after launching Thunder in that year. Son John used the same modified jig for the 37-footer to build a precision plug boat in preparation for the fiberglass production Buchan 37s. The plug boat was built during the winter of 1962 and spring of 1963. It was made of 3/4 inch red cedar planking, edge nailed and glued, making a very smooth plug. The plug boat was then used to make a strong mold for the production boats which were initially built in the shipyard at Houghton-Kirkland. The later Buchan 37s were built in their own Buchan Boat Co. production facility in the Totem Lake area of Kirkland.
The first fiberglass Buchan 37 was built in the summer of 1963 for Phil and Sam Peoples. It was named Salute. Phil completed the interior and the rigging for the boat at his dock in front of his Lake Washington home. Phil's new boat proved her speed in her first important showing, winning First Place in the 1964 Vashon Island race. She was light and fast just as Bill Sr. had predicted.
I remember racing in Salute with Phil in his first Swiftsure in 1965. That was a wild ride, at times surfing downhill over huge seas with a full spinnaker, but we didn't broach once! Once I went below and found water over the cabin floor! "Big Trouble, we are taking on water!" I called to Phil who was on the helm. A moment later I tasted it — it was FRESH water. Phil's water tank had cracked and broken loose in the forward cabin where he had made a poor bond from the tank to the fiberglass hull — so we were not sinking after all! Most of the early owners of fiberglass boats knew very little about the critical details necessary to make a proper bond to cured fiberglass.
After Salute the Buchan 37 orders from friends came in thick and fast. First came the number one hull, Phil Peoples, BB-602 Salute (the BB was for a CCA class designation at that time in the Northwest and is now replaced with a "9" before the number), then came BB-604 for Beaman Brockway; BB-606 Vamose for Bill Lieberman; BB-608 Big Mir for Bryan Mahon; BB-610 Fugitive for Fran LeSourd; BB-612 Pursuit for Don Fleming, BB-614 Thrust for Bill Barnard; BB-618 Gamin in August 1965 for Lon Robinson (now sail number 9618); BB-620 for Earl Miller; BB-622 for John and Charles Day; BB-700 GiGi for Carl Sahlin; BB-800 Mara for Bill Buchan Jr. (now 9800); and on and on, until about 50 hulls were made from that same fiberglass mold. These Buchan 37 hulls went to various places on the Pacific Coast including Hawaii.
The new Buchan 37 boats were beginning to make sailing history. The Buchan family had a big year in 1967at the Swiftsure. Bill Jr. came in First Overall in his new red fiberglass Buchan 37, Mara, named for his daughter. Brother John came in Fifth Overall in his Warrior, the original cedar plug hull for the Buchan 37 which had been finished now as a full sailboat. And Bill Sr. came in Seventh Overall in Thunder, the wooden prototype Buchan 37. As the competitive sailing fleet soon found out, it is hard to keep ahead of the Buchan family in a sailboat. The Buchan 37s became a familiar sight at the front of the racing fleets.
Bill Jr.'s Mara currently sail number 9800 is still sailing and has been winning races for many years, skippered by Bob Liston of the Corinthian Yacht Club. My own Buchan 37, Gamin sail number 9618, has also been sailing and winning races, and was awarded "Boat of the Year" at the Seattle Yacht Club in 1980.
The Buchan 37 although heavy by today's standards, still sails quite well in light air and is very sea-kindly in big seas at the Swiftsure. My son, Larry, and I have sailed Gamin in 30 Swiftsure races with the same two co-skippers and same boat, and that may be a record. We have made all the possible mistakes in the Swiftsure, but have learned to avoid the obvious earlier mistakes and stay flexible. We completed 14 Swiftsure races going out and around the Lightship for the 136 mile race and in 1979 we were Second Overall. There was often very light air out in the Pacific, so we then switched to the shorter Swiftsure Flattery races going out to the entrance to the Straits and back for a 100 mile race. We completed 14 of the Flattery races, often First, Second, or Third in class for those races.
Buchan 37 Design Summary
The construction details for the Buchan 37 were never completely documented. However, when Gamin was being built in August 1965, my son and I made many measurements on the mold and on the major bulkheads. These were made at the shipyard in Kirkland where the early Buchan 37s were produced. I did some "reverse engineering" with all of our measurements to produce some reasonably accurate Buchan 37 lines.
The deck, cockpit and house for Gamin and the later boats were made of fiberglass from a mold planned by Bill Sr. and fabricated by Charles and John Day.
The hull with deck installed, as we received it from Bill Sr., was empty except for major bulkheads. A Grey Marine 4-91 gas engine also had been installed, as was the interior lead ballast of 5500 lbs. The same Gray 4-91 engine is still in Gamin and is very functional with over 6000 hours of running time on it.
The interior layouts on the Buchan 37's were adapted and planned by the owners; no two were exactly alike. Each owner had his own idea of what was most convenient in the way of a layout in the cabin interior.
Gamin's interior layout was designed, with Robinson "family consultation", using some plywood mock-ups to check out the galley details. The layout was rather conventional with two bunks in the forward cabin. The head was midships on the starboard side, with a closed-in hanging locker just opposite. In the main cabin the dinette was on the starboard side with a table that dropped down to make two rather small berths. Opposite that on the port side was a full bunk with a long bookshelf above. The galley was on the starboard side with a stove and oven built-in, and a large ice box and sink just aft of that. A large quarter berth was opposite on the port side.
Gene Waddams fabricated the interior according to the various detail plans that were made as the work progressed. We used teak extensively on the interior to avoid the cold look of some fiberglass finishes.
The rig for Gamin was designed following the prototype Buchan 37, Bill Sr.'s Thunder. The spruce mast was 47 feet tall and stepped on heavy floor frames, glassed to the hull. Later Buchan 37's often used 50 foot aluminum masts made from heavy aluminum drainage pipe and compressed to a suitable oval shape with hydraulic rams.
Our light wooden mast didn't last too long. We were dismasted on our first Swiftsure race in 1971 along with six other boats (including John Buchan's Warrior and Bruce Hedrick's Six Pack ) in very heavy conditions. Gamin was then refitted with a strong 47-foot aluminum production mast which has since proved adequate.
The fore-and-aft trim on a Buchan 37 is a critical factor for best boat speed. There is a mold line just 4 1/2 inches above the nominal 27.2 foot waterline for a Buchan 37 weighing 12,800 pounds. The mold line had been carefully scribed into the fiberglass mold so that line could represent the upper edge of the boot top when finally painted on a completed boat. That reference was the way Thunder had been trimmed as verified with a color slide, which I had made years ago.
On Gamin we installed a very sensitive bubble level fore-and-aft, which we used to tell when we were exactly on our lines, parallel to the original mold line. Too often Buchan 37s had been sailed stern down which is slow going to weather and in light air.
The bow section lines show a rather full bow, which is good for lifting when plunging into a heavy sea. However, the full bow sections cause somewhat more drag when going through a small choppy sea. The stern section lines show a very flat run aft which has some advantages under spinnaker runs and allows some surfing on large seas.
When going to windward, heeled over from 15 to 20 degrees, the quarter wave is very small and the drag is minimal. Since it is a full length keel with a rudder attached to the aft end, it is not as close-winded as the more modern fin keel designs with aft rudders. The full keel, although not a high lift configuration, makes for a very forgiving, sea-kindly hull in messy, heavy seas as are often found in the middle of the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Swiftsure races.
The Buchan 37 does not like to be pinched to weather and it makes no sense to pinch up with a fin keel competitor. We find that coming off a few degrees will make up with a better VMG (progress to weather), and the Buchan 37 will perform better.
Buchan 37 Epilogue
At this time, many of the Buchan 37s have retired from racing; however, they still make a very effective cruising sailboat. I have found out that one of the earlier fiberglass boats, which at one time had belonged to Bill Sr., is now in the process of being refurbished and rebuilt with a new interior. It is the Buchan 37, MacDuff, which is now owned by Ray Booth. This is a confirmation that those fiberglass hulls were and are strong, solid hulls. And to the best of my knowledge none have ever experienced the delamination problems that plagued so many boats of that era.
MacDuff will now join Mara, Gamin and other Buchan 37s who carry on Bill Buchan Sr.'s sailing legacy to the sailors of the Pacific Northwest.
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