Ohlsen 35 yawl: One Man's Boat

Yawls don't feature much at boat shows these days when virtually every new yacht released is a sloop. But in past years yawls were enormously popular with yachtsmen, particularly those who loved cruising, for their ease of handling and ability to virtually steer themselves when correctly set up.

Greg Campbell's, Adelaide-based, Ohlson 35 is perfect example of the type of yacht that made the hearts of knowledgeable sailors beat faster 40 years ago.

Designed by Einar Ohlson and built by his family boatyard in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1961, the yacht -- named Trim -- was launched in Seattle, Washington, the following year after it had been shipped to Don Thompson, the then commodore of the Seattle Yacht Club.

Built on the then-popular carvel planked method, with African mahogany planks copper riveted to white oak frames, Trim features an entirely smooth hull as the builders glued the plank edges together rather than overlapping them.

Commodore Thompson owned the yacht for a decade and sailed and cruised extensively in the Pacific North West before shipping the vessel to Hawaii. He sold it to a cruising couple who sailed back to the west coast and spent time cruising up to Alaska.

In 1988 Trim was shipped to Melbourne for a new owner who later sailed her to Adelaide, where she is still berthed. Greg Campbell has owned her for the past 11 years and sailed her regularly when not away working in the cattle industry.

His work for the Kidman cattle empire has seen Campbell working in places as far removed from Adelaide as Alice Springs and the Kimberley but the love of sailing he developed while at university has never left him.

Now, at 55, he has decided to sell Trim so he and his wife can do "a bit of chartering in other parts of the world."

He says the yacht is in excellent condition, although it has had no major restoration. A couple of years ago the aging glue between the carvel planks was dug out and replaced with wooden splines glued into place with epoxy. The hull was then finished in two-pack polyurethane gloss white.

"An excellent job was done," Campbell told BoatPoint. "The hull is so smooth it looks like it is made of fibreglass."

At 35ft 6ins overall and with a beam of 9ft 2in, Trim is narrow by modern standards but the hull shape is very sea-kindly and has ample room for cruising. There is a double berth in the forepeak and two saloon berths and a sea berth in the saloon.

A new Yanmar single-cylinder 10hp diesel was fitted recently and has only done 270 hours.

The boat is fitted with a new mainsail and three jibs. The mizzen sail is in good condition. Campbell says the mizzen staysail and reacher are in fair condition and the spinnaker and storm job in good condition. The yacht was last surveyed in 2007.

Ground tackle includes a heavy fisherman’s anchor with 75ft of 5/16" chain and 130ft of nylon rode. There are lifejackets for five adults and one child.

Safety gear includes current flares, including rockets, a GME 406 EPIRB and dry-powder fire extinguisher. The yacht also has two compasses, a Garmin GPS/Chartplotter, an Autohelm depth sounder and a VHF radio with masthead antenna. A full list of the onboard equipment takes two closely-typed pages.