GREAT LAKES 21

Notes: Later called INTERNATIONAL 21. \nIn 1939, Charles Hodgdon, Hodgdon Brothers (East Boothbay, Maine) designed a 21’ sloop branded as the Great Lakes 21 (GL-21). Two sloops built in 1939 were shipped to the Mentor Harbor Yacht Club (near Cleveland Ohio): Delilah (no. 1) and Libby T (no. 2). In 1940 Hodgdon Brothers built two more GL-21 sloops - Senorita and Elspar, Also shipped to MHYC. The same year Gordon (Sandy) Douglass (Vermillion, Ohio) built two plank-on-frame GL-21 sloops. The four Hodgdon-built and two Douglass-built sloops comprised the MHYC fleet until 1946. Early in 1945, the GL-21 owners underwrote the cost of a mold to convert the planked hull to molded plywood. \nIn 1946, Sandy Douglass and Ray McLeod Sr., formed Douglass & McLeod and started building the GL-21 out of molded plywood. D&M provided the mold to U.S. Molded Shapes (Grand Rapids, Michigan) who formed the hulls in autoclaves and shipped them to D&M where they were finished. An article in Yachting (Jan. 1946) titled: The “Great Lakes 21” of Molded Plywood states the boat was designed by Charles Hodgdon and goes on to say “this sloop is seaworthy, fast, and dry and provides excellent racing as well as day sailing comfort for four or more people.” By the end of 1946 there were 23 boats racing.\nIn 1948-49 D&M renamed the GL-21 the International 21 (I-21) hoping to reach a broader market. The fleet grew to 25 with boats located at the MHYC as well as Detroit, Buffalo, and Topeka, Kansas. The sloops were built by D&M through the mid-1950’s, when they were replaced by fiberglass production.\nIn 1957 Sonny Hodgdon made refinements to the 1939 sloop developed by Charles Hodgdon and this boat became known as the Hodgdon 21 (HB-21) Class Sloop (Fifty Wooden Boats A Catalog of Building Plans Volume 1, WoodenBoat, 1984). From 1958 to 1966 ten HB-21 sloops were launched. The built-down bilge and wine-glass profile are characteristics of the GL-21 and HB-21 sloops. The HB-21 LOA is 4 inches longer than the GL-21, and sail area with aluminum spars is 245 sq. ft. \n\nFor more information... Additional details of small wooden sloops built at Hodgdon Brothers between 1930 and 1966, can be accessed as an attachment to an article entitled “Short Ends Long Waterlines” in offcenterharbor.com dated April 20, 2020. https://www.offcenterharbor.com/2020/04/20/short-ends-long-waterlines/\n\nThanks to Charles Race for providing photos and history of this class.\n \n \n