Ben Fuller‘s Harrier, Ran Tan
Harrier is an open expedition boat for camp cruising and daysailing and rowing. She was designed for Ben Fuller, curator at the Penobscot Marine Museum. We worked together very closely on this design. His brief was for a double-ender that would perform very well both under sail and under oars while providing a seaworthy platform with room to carry two people and their gear for extended camp cruises or to daysail three. Did I forget to mention rowing? Ben is an avid oarsman and Harrier is set up to row singly or tandem, or either with a passenger.
A gallery of Katherine Mehls‘ photographs of Ran Tan can be found here.
WoodenBoat Publication’s Small Boat Annual 2009 featured Ben’s Harrier in a Sail Trial with Jenny Bennett with a photo-shoot by Katherine Mehls.
A second Harrier was built by Jeff Saar, then a curator at the San Diego Maritime Museum. This boat was subsequently used in the filming of Master & Commander and now belongs to its production company.
Plans for Harrier are available for purchase. This includes the rights to build one boat for your own use. Plans are CAD (Computer Aided Design prints) and include full-sized patterns for the molds and many parts. Plans are $325.00 plus shipping & handling.
Tony,
You should get the basic specs of the boat in your write up. LOA LWL, hull weight, beam depth. Helps people making choices.
Best
Ben
Ben,
You’re right! I will be adding those stats in the near future.
Tony
Tony, I worked at the WBS for a summer during 2006. Ben brought his Harrier with him and generously let me borrow it for a beautiful Sunday morning of sailing around the harbor. I spent a couple hours in delight, particularly when leaving the tiller and just shifting my body weight to steer her. I’m dreaming of building a camp-cruiser, and although the Caledonia Yawl can hold a bit more, she doesn’t hold a candle to the fun I had that morning. And I loved the downhaul on the main – so much fun to play with… Choices, choices…. And thanks again for the memories, Ben!
Tony,
I’m glad to see the designs available again. I’ll build Harrier one day! Great web site.
Jim
Jim,
Great to hear from you! I’m so glad to hear you still want to build Harrier. Watching your Matinicus Double-ender come together – and having seen all you other work! I can’t wait to see the definitive Harrier take shape under your hands!