Badger
Description
The Badger is a well-known sailing dory design by Jay R. Benford (also simply called the Benford Badger or Badger-class junk yacht/dory). It's a classic example of a capable, home-buildable bluewater cruiser with dory-inspired hull lines—sharp bow, flared sides, flat bottom sections for easy construction (often plywood or strip-planked), and excellent seaworthiness in rough conditions. The design emphasizes simplicity, strength, shallow draft, and comfortable motion for long-distance voyaging. Gained worldwide fame through Pete and Annie Hill, who built their own Badger (launched in the 1980s) and sailed it over 100,000+ nautical miles on extended voyages, including Atlantic crossings and Caribbean cruising. They often rigged it as a junk schooner (fully battened Chinese junk sails), though the original plans were for a cutter rig.
Construction Details
| Designer | Benford, Jay R. |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 34.000 ft |
| LOA | 34.000 ft |
| LWL | 32.000 ft |
| Beam | 11.000 ft |
| Year Built | 1978 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Badger - STANDING LUGSAIL
| Luff | 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 12 ft - (3658 mm) |
| Leech | 13 ft - (3962 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 82.82 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 22 ft - (6706 mm) |
| Head | 12 ft - (3658 mm) |
| Area | 328 ft² |
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Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.