Silhouettes

A small Robert Tucker designed sailing boat, ideal for inland or coastal pottering - though some have ventured further off-shore.

  1. Me rigging my Silhouette II at Rutland Water with Phil Curtiss.
  2. Me and Glynn Jones with my Silhouette II at Trearrdur Bay North Wales

Originally designed as a self-assembly kit, it was built by several professional yards over the years, and evolved over time.

The original series 1 was a bilge keeled marine-plywood boat, with an open cockpit which could seat 4 (2 each side). A covered cabin contained 2 full length berths which made a cosy sleeping compartment.

The boat was sloop-rigged (a single mast carrying a mainsail on a boom and a smaller foresail or jib), with 3/4 rigged jib stay (going from mid-foredeck to 3/4 the way up the mast).

The series 2 continued the basic design, but introduced an attractive sheer to the stern and a little more length. This series was also available in glass reinforced plastic (grp). Most series 2 Silhouettes were converted to fully rigged jib if they were not originally so rigged (jib stay going from the stemhead right to the top of the mast).

The series 3 saw an altogether more heavily built boat in grp, with alloy mast and boom. Various permutations of interior layout came about with this and later series.

At some point a larger 21 foot Silhouette made its appearance too - similar overall shape, recognisably a Silhouette, just bigger.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License