Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

Hong Kong & the Asian Yards

Kowloon, Junk Bay, Penny's Bay

From the late 1950s, Hong Kong yards built Western designs in wood at prices no American yard could match — which is why so many American-designed ketches and trawlers of the 1960s and 70s are Chinese-built teak boats. Several are still sailing on San Francisco Bay.

Characteristic types

  • Cheoy Lee production sail and power
  • Grand Banks 36 and the wooden trawler yacht
  • Angelman & Davies Sea Witch ketches built under licence

Across the eras

Between the Wars 2 · The Postwar Fleet 5 · The Fibreglass Turn 5 · Revival & Preservation 2

Designers

Hugh Angelman
Designer and yard partner — Wilmington, California
dates unverified · 1 open question
Charlie Davies
Designer — Southern California
died July 1998 · 1 open question

Builders & Yards

American Marine Ltd. — Grand Banks
Junk Bay, Hong Kong; later Singapore
1962 – ; wooden construction ended 1974 · 1 open question
Cheoy Lee Shipyard
Shanghai, then Hong Kong
family shipbuilding from the 1870s; Hong Kong from 1936
Okamoto Boatyard
Japan
dates unverified · 1 open question

Classes & Types

Sea Witch Ketch
Angelman & Davies, from c. 1937
from c. 1937; still built

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