Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

Atlas / Classes & Types

from 1872 · Norway — and everywhere since

The Colin Archer Type

Double-ended, heavy-displacement, seagoing

The most widely imitated hull form in cruising: a heavy, deep, double-ended cutter or ketch descended from Archer's Norwegian rescue boats, and still being built as new boats a century after his death.

Origin
Archer's pilot boats from 1872 and rescue cutters from 1893
Descendants
William Atkin's 'Eric' and, through it, the Westsail 32; the type name is used loosely by builders worldwide
Sourcing notes & unresolved questions
  • 'Colin Archer' in a listing almost always denotes a type rather than a boat from Archer's yard.

Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections