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Circa 1950 Beetle Swan Sailboat - $3,000 (Wareham)
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Solid fiberglass hull and deck
14.66' length overall (LOA)
12.5' length on deck (LOD)
6' beam
18' aluminum mast
11.5' aluminum boom
Professionally recut Marconi sail in very good condition
Thru-deck mast step with no shrouds or stays
Single halyard
Single mainsheet
Centerboard swing-up with mahogany lever
Barndoor rudder
Laminated mahogany tiller, and a hinged tiller
Motor mount (stainless steel)
Complete cockpit wooden sole board and forward dry storage area
Aluminum mast.
2.2 horsepower Mercury outboard motor
This very rare antique Carl F. Beetle Boat Company "Swan" catboat was among the first production fiberglass sailboats to be built. This sweet catboat is very stable and seaworthy, and perfect for fun sailing in the shallow waters around Cape Cod. The boat is an older restoration.
Also included is the single axle roadworthy Highlander Utility trailer with spare tire. Includes a wiring harness.
This boat should be particularly appealing to any individual with a serious interest in boat history. The book Heart of Glass chronicles the history of Carl Beetle and Ray Greene who made the first production fiberglass sailboats, with a hull so strong that:
…”soaking in water, freezing in ice, burying in sand, dragging over gravel beaches, driving head-on into docks, dropping from a helicopter, and firing .38-caliber shells at close range … every boat tested came through without ill effects.”
“Beetle also claimed that barnacles could be wiped off the hulls with a wet cloth.”*
Beetle thought that the public would embrace the concept of fiberglass sailboats, which sadly did not occur. To this day, wooden Beetle Cat sailboats are preferred over fiberglass boats. Financially exhausted and discouraged, Beetle ended up selling his company in 1951.
* Daniel Spurr, Heart of Glass: Fiberglass Boats and the Men who Made Them, pp. 55-56 McGraw Hill, 2000