Having suffered a fire on his previous boat retired airline pilot Damian McGlone gathered the salvageable parts, purchased self-build plans for a Yukon ‘Grand Banks’ type trawler yacht and in 2016 he began building the ‘Blue Marlin’ in his back garden.
After spending two and a half years building in his back garden a crane and slings were used to lift the finished hull to a new position in the front garden. Once in position the internal fit-out, cabin and all associated works could begin.
The Grand Banks trawler yachts originated in south east Asia in 1962 when American, Robert Newton at that time living in Hong Kong, began the ‘American Marine’ company with his sons, John and Whit.
As Robert was at the time the manager of the Bireley’s soft-drink bottling plant it was the logical move to establish the boat building yard nearby, which led to the business being established in the yard where the company’s delivery fleet were parked every evening.
Within a short period of time the expanding ‘American Marine’ company had moved to Junk Bay, Hong Kong where the Newton family enterprise built heavy sailboats and big motor yachts.
What is widely regarded as a ‘Grand Banks’ style effectively began at the beginning of the 1960s when the company launched the ‘Chantyman’ – 34’6” in length and diesel-powered. The Grand Banks styling cues were higher bulwarks than was common at the time and a raised pilothouse. Further development of the trawler yacht led in 1963 to the launch of ‘Spray’, designed by Kenneth Smith which became the ‘prototype of a category that would take the marine world by storm – the finely built, 8 knot trawler.’ After making an immediate impact on the marketplace the Newton family switched their business model from building custom yachts to concentrate on producing a line of trawler yachts that would become the Grand Banks or more commonly known as GB36s.
In 1973 the company progressed again and decided to move away from wooden hull construction and concentrate on vessels built from fiberglass.
According to the Grand Banks company website; ‘since 1965, when the first models were launched, 1,124 GB36s have been built.’ Their website also states; ‘The GB42, conceived shortly after the GB36, was retired in 2005 after 1,560 had come off the production line.’
The ‘YUKON’ trawler yacht design came from Glen-L Marine, founded by Californian Glenn L Witt in 1953. Glen–L Marine availed of a feature on the cover of Popular Mechanics magazine which helped establish the business and today the company, headed up by his children is one of the smallest family run, yet largest suppliers of build plans for home boat builders.
Across their wide range of boats including but not limited to; rowboats, runabouts, sailboats, cruisers and trawler yachts Glen–L Marine they pride themselves on being focussed on their customers by nurturing and encouraging home boat builders. The company offers a huge library of helpful information through their website and there are always experts from this small family firm on the end of the phone to assist you with your own build.
The Glen–L Marine YUKON design of trawler yacht gives Damian full walkaround decks with cabin access on either side, dual control stations, a cabin at each end with a saloon in the middle, a tender-dinghy storage deck, a full-sized galley and a spacious flying bridge.
Damian was able to avail of the Glen–L Marine plans for the Yukon trawler yacht being drawn up in full size so they could be laid over sheets of plywood and other materials for accurate cutting.
On board the Blue Marlin, two diesel fuel tanks with a combined capacity of 500 litres were fitted giving approximately 500 nautical miles of ocean going range. The water tank holds 250 litres and feeds a 500W immersion water heater running off the 220V electricity. The bilge pump, seacocks and some electrics are fitted for ease of access alongside each other underneath the saloon floor. The bridge electronics and instruments have been fitted and are operational.
The engine is a naturally aspirated Perkins 4236 90 hp diesel engine driving the propeller through a PRM gearbox and sits alongside a 4kW generating set.
After working in all weathers and seasons the Blue Marlin is in the final stages of completion with the varnishing of the entire interior, some smoothing and finishing of the external fibre glassing and the myriad of other big and small jobs associated with a home build of this size and complexity. Launch day is planned for 2022.
Sources of information
1. www.proboat.com
2. www.glen-l.com
3. Wooden Boat Forum
4. Curtissstokes.net
5. Wayne Milner
6. www.grandbanks.com
7. A Brief History Of Grand Banks and American Marine by Robert M. Lane
