Bluewater Sailboat – Pearson Rhodes 41

History

The story of this Bluewater Sailboat begins in 1939, when Phillip Rhodes constructed the Bounty, a 38′ 9″ wooden sailboat for Fred Coleman of Coleman Boat and Plastics Company. Built on the Atlantic coast of the United States, the Bounty sold successfully for a modest price and acquired popularity by winning races until World War II. Fred Coleman chose to return to production boat manufacturing after WWII in 1956. Coleman decided to build in fibreglass because to the rising costs of trained carpenters and the shortage of wood. He founded AeroMarine in Sausalito, California, with the famous Vince Lazzara. The Bounty II would be their first offering. Despite the name’s resemblance to Phillip Rhodes’ Bounty, she is a copy of another Phillip Rhodes sloop, the Altair, designed in 1955. Due to the smaller scantlings required for fibreglass construction, the Bounty II has a foot lower waterline length of 28′, an improved rig, and a roomier cabin. William Garden provided advice on tooling and layup schedule. She launched at the 1957 New York Boat Show. In the years that followed, they manufactured approximately 100 hulls of the Bounty II.

Grumman Manufacturing, Pearson Yachts’ parent business, hired Coleman and Lazzara to build the Pearson Triton 28 on the West Coast in 1960, and later purchased AeroMarine. They closed the company in 1962, deleting all models except the Bounty II. They moved her tooling to their facility in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where Grumman produced a significantly modified version designated the Pearson Rhodes 41, which is the topic of this article, in 1963. Pearson is thought to have used the same mould with minimal adjustments. In his accounting, Phillip Rhodes determined that the alterations were so slight that the Rhodes 41 did not need a new design number. The Rhodes 41 bears the design number of the Bounty II. Pearson built fifty hulls between 1963 and 1968 when manufacturing ceased and the IOR era of yacht design began.