Shannon Yachts, Walt Schulz's Semi-Custom Bluewater Boats From Bristol

One designer, one yard, about 500 boats

Shannon began in 1975 in Bristol, Rhode Island, as Walt Schulz's own shop, and for most of its life the man who drew the boats also ran the floor where they were laminated. Few American builders worked that way. Volumes stayed low, every hull was finished to its buyer's wishes, and the engineering carried a single, consistent opinion about how an ocean boat ought to be put together. By the company's own count, roughly 500 yachts left the yard.

Schulz was an inventor as much as a boatbuilder. In 1994 he developed the Scutter rig, which pairs two headstays so a cutter can carry a large genoa and a working jib without the usual compromise. Over the past decade the company, now Shannon Boat Company on Broad Common Road in Bristol, has moved into marine technology and environmental projects, including the Amphfoil and STec ventures, while keeping a brokerage arm. It no longer builds new yachts.

The 47/52 and the Shannon way of building

Our covered model, the Shannon 47/52, arrived around the turn of the millennium, and its double-barreled name refers to its length with and without the bow platform. When Blue Water Sailing sailed the first hull early in 2000, it judged the boat the most technically complete Shannon yet. Pricing, dimensions and test details are on the model page.

The 47/52 gathers every Shannon conviction in one boat. Hulls were laid up by hand in a single piece with foam coring above the waterline and solid glass below, and the lead ballast was glassed inside the keel cavity, so no keel bolts exist to worry about. Buyers could pick a fixed keel or the keel-centerboard arrangement most of them ordered, choose among three rig types including the Scutter, and have the joinery laid out to suit them, built without liners or prefabricated modules. In 2010 the hull also became the foundation for the Shannon 52 RDP, a raised-deck pilothouse model with an inside steering station.

Buying a Shannon on today's market

Since no two Shannons match, a buyer is really choosing one particular boat, and only a few are listed at once. Expect to travel to see them, and ask the company's brokerage what it knows about a given hull's past. Among bluewater boats built in the US, Shannons keep their value well; the 47/52 page gives current asking ranges and annual running cost estimates.

Encapsulated lead and foam rather than balsa take away two of the usual surveyor's headaches, but these are systems-heavy yachts that deserve a specialist inspection.

• The board, its pivot pin, trunk and hoisting gear
• Chainplates and toerail fittings for leaks
• Rod rigging age, bow platform and bobstay
• Engine and generator service records
• Watermaker, refrigeration and air conditioning
• Tank condition and actual masthead height