Meadowlark 33
Description
The Meadowlark 33 (also known as the Herreshoff Meadowlark or Meadow Lark Sharpie) is a classic shallow-draft cruising sailboat designed by L. Francis Herreshoff (son of legendary naval architect Nathanael G. Herreshoff) in the 1950s, featuring a sharpie-inspired hull with leeboards instead of a deep keel, making it exceptionally versatile for coastal, shoal-water, and gunkholing cruising in areas like the Chesapeake Bay, Florida Keys, or Bahamas. It emphasizes simplicity, ease of construction, and comfort in a lightweight, fast-planing platform with a leeboard ketch rig for balanced handling and shorthanded sailing. Primarily built in wood (planked or plywood, often with oak bottoms and lighter planking above the waterline), some later examples used fiberglass or other materials; construction was by amateur homebuilders, small yards, or custom builders (no large production run, but dozens to possibly over a hundred built over decades, including plans-published versions featured in magazines like Rudder and WoodenBoat). The boat is renowned for its shallow draft (allowing beaching or drying out), surprising speed and stability for its type, roomy interior relative to length (berths for 4–6, galley, head, and saloon), and enduring appeal among wooden boat enthusiasts—often described as a "perfect shallow-water cruiser" with good performance off the wind.
Construction Details
| Designer | Nathanael G. Herreshoff |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 33.000 ft |
| LOA | 33.000 ft |
| LWL | 30.000 ft |
| Beam | 8.000 ft |
| Displacement | 9000 lb |
| Max Draft | 4.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 1.500 ft |
| Year Built | 1951 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 19.50 ft |
| e | 16 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 19.50 ft | 16 ft | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Meadowlark 33 - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 19.25 ft - (5867 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.5 ft - (3505 mm) |
| Leech | 19.25 ft - (5867 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | 10.97 ft - (3344 mm) |
| Area | 105.63 ft² |
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Meadowlark 33 - GAFF MAIN
| Luff | 19.5 ft - (5944 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 16 ft - (4877 mm) |
| Leech | 24.08 ft - (7340 mm) |
| Tack Angle | 6 ° |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 24.79 ft - (7556 mm) |
| Head | * 88.01 ft - (26825 mm) |
| Area | 228.15 ft² |
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Meadowlark 33 - GAFF MIZZEN
| Luff | 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 16 ft - (4877 mm) |
| Leech | 22.83 ft - (6959 mm) |
| Head | 6 ft - (1829 mm) |
| Diag (clew/throat) | 25.25 ft - (7696 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88.35 ° |
| Area | 225.41 ft² |
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Meadowlark 33 - TOPSAIL
| Luff | 27.25 ft - (8306 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 14.5 ft - (4420 mm) |
| Leech | 24 ft - (7315 mm) |
| Length Perp | 12.75 ft - (3886 mm) |
| Area | 173.66 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.
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