Bolger Sparkler
Description
The Sparkler is a Phil Bolger design, a compact, sharpie-style sailing boat from his prolific "instant boat" era of simple, plywood amateur builds. It's mentioned in enthusiast discussions (e.g., by designer/builder Ross Lillistone) as one of Bolger's favorites from his peak creative period in the 1970s–1980s, alongside designs like Micro, Black Skimmer, Long Micro, Martha Jane, Light Schooner (Scooner), Otter II, Surf, Folding Schooner, and others. Sparkler embodies Bolger's philosophy: extreme simplicity, low cost, function-first form, traditional rigs, and shallow draft for protected waters. It's a sharpie derivative—likely a narrow, double-ended or near-double-ended hull with hard chines and a flat(ish) bottom—built using chine-log or glued-plywood methods (no complex lofting or frames). This places it in the same family as other early Instant Boats from Harold "Dynamite" Payson's collaborations.
Construction Details
| Designer | Bolger, Philip C. |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 10.000 ft |
| LOA | 10.000 ft |
| Beam | 4.000 ft |
| Max Draft | 2.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.330 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Bolger Sparkler - LEG-O-MUTTON
| Luff | 18 ft - (5486 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.167 ft - (3404 mm) |
| Leech | 18.54 ft - (5651 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 74.65 ° |
| Diag (clew/head) | 18.5 ft - (5639 mm) |
| Head (Inches) | 2 |
| Area | * 98.42 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
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.
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