Ripley is a Thunderbird sailboat that I rescued from Everett in January 2022. She was rough, but had “good bones”, and I spent the next four months doing some major repairs before putting her back in the water that June.
Thunderbirds are a Pacific Northwest cult boat, penned on the back of a napkin by yacht designer Ben Seaborn, and engineered and built by Ed Hoppen of the Eddon Boat Company in Gig Harbor, WA, as an entry for the Douglas Fir Plywood Association boat design challenge in 1957.
It was a very modern design at the time, and continues to be a fun and competitive boat 60 years later. We sail Ripley in local races and cruise in the Puget Sound.
