Processes
Boat building is the process of designing and building boats and their systems. This includes a minimum of a hull, as well as propulsion, mechanical, navigation, and safety systems.
The Rhodes 19 is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with aluminum spars, including an optional tapered mast. The hull has a raked stem, a plumb transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel or centerboard.
The Rhodes 19 was designed by Philip Rhodes as a one-design racer and first built in 1958. It shares the same hull design as the 1962 Mariner 19. The design was built by O’Day Corp and later by Stuart Marine in the United States. It remains in production, with 3,200 boats completed.
The Rhodes 19 traces its lineage to the 1945 Hurricane 19 sailboat design. The Hurricane 19 was constructed of moulded plywood, had an open cockpit and was initially built by the Allied Aviation Corporation. Another boat builder, Palmer Scott, purchased some incomplete Hurricane hulls and modified them with a foredeck, a cuddy cabin and a fixed keel, marketing the resultant boat as the Smyrna. Marscot Plastics used one of the wooden Smyrnas as a plug to build a mold from and created a fiberglass version, which became the Rhodes 19.