Bay Hen
Description
The Bay Hen (commonly Bay Hen 21 or Bayhen 21) is a lightweight, trailerable American pocket cruiser / camp cruiser sailboat designed by Reuben Trane and first built in 1984 by Sovereign Yachts (via Custom Fiberglass Products of Florida; earlier associated with Florida Bay Boat Company, with some later builds/variants through the 1990s–early 2000s). Production was limited and spread across builders—estimated in the low hundreds total—making it a niche, cult-favorite among shallow-water enthusiasts rather than a high-volume model. It's a sharpie-inspired gaff-rigged catboat optimized for gunkholing, beaching, marshes, bays, rivers, protected coastal waters, or trailer-sailing adventures—simple, fun, and ideal for overnight camp-cruising or daysailing in skinny water. Not designed for open ocean or heavy conditions due to its light, unballasted nature.
Construction Details
| Designer | Reuben Trane |
|---|---|
| Builder | Sovereign Yacht Co. |
| Length | 21.000 ft |
| LOA | 21.000 ft |
| LWL | 18.250 ft |
| Beam | 6.250 ft |
| Displacement | 1100 lb |
| Max Draft | 3.500 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.750 ft |
| Year Built | 1984 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 21 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 5 ft |
| p | 10 ft |
| e | 15 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 ft | 5 ft | 10 ft | 15 ft | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Bay Hen - GAFF MAIN
| Luff | * 10 ft - (3048 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 16 ft - (4877 mm) |
| Leech | 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | * 18.57 ft - (5660 mm) |
| Head | 10.5 ft - (3200 mm) |
| Area | * 176.46 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.