Miller 29

12 metre · Apr 19, 2020

Stumbled across an ad for a Miller 29 in the Seattle CL. Not interested in the boat personally, but I am curious about it

There was a builder in Seattle (Earl Miller) that built the Miller 28 in small quantities. The cabin on this one looks similar - but the hull and foils are entirely different and I'm wondering if this is a Bob Miller (later aka Ben Lexcen) design.

Now the bow shape is quite different than what I would normally associate with a Miller (i.e Ceil III). That is it doesn't have the deep full chested bow sections of that era of Miller designs, but some of his slightly later designs like Guia IV had a more normal IOR bow shape (see image below).

But the foils and stern on this boat scream Bob Miller to me.

Anyone have any knowledge of this design?

Great White · Apr 19, 2020

I used to sail on a Miller 29. The word I got was that. Earl Miller was building a Mull 35 custom named Tinsley Light. Evidently the design was replicated as a 29 ft. Earl Miller produced a few of them. I personally knew of three of them and sailed on two. One was a standard looking model and the other highly modified with reduced freeboard, semi flush deck, updated keel and very minimal interior. It was a fun boat to race on. The standard boat was fitted out ok and actually was fast. Similar in some ways to a Ranger 29.

Many names withhold.

ROADKILL666 · Apr 19, 2020

Great White said:
I used to sail on a Miller 29. The word I got was that. Earl Miller was building a Mull 35 custom named Tinsley Light. Evidently the design was replicated as a 29 ft. Earl Miller produced a few of them. I personally knew of three of them and sailed on two. One was a standard looking model and the other highly modified with reduced freeboard, semi flush deck, updated keel and very minimal interior. It was a fun boat to race on. The standard boat was fitted out ok and actually was fast. Similar in some ways to a Ranger 29.

Many names withhold.

How did they sail?

12 metre · Apr 19, 2020

Great White said:
I used to sail on a Miller 29. The word I got was that. Earl Miller was building a Mull 35 custom named Tinsley Light. Evidently the design was replicated as a 29 ft. Earl Miller produced a few of them. I personally knew of three of them and sailed on two. One was a standard looking model and the other highly modified with reduced freeboard, semi flush deck, updated keel and very minimal interior. It was a fun boat to race on. The standard boat was fitted out ok and actually was fast. Similar in some ways to a Ranger 29.

Many names withhold.

That is a possibility. The foils bear a resemblance to the type Mull designed back then.

But there was also the MIller 28 built in the same era which is also reminiscent of a Ranger 29 - but the Miller 29 looks a lot different IMO. Below are photos of a typical Miller 28 (about 12 built) along with a half model of the 28 which looks nothing like the 29 shown in my first post.

judge · Apr 19, 2020

The pic on the hardstand looks a bit Bob Miller/Ben Lexen to me but also is redolent of a 4KSB called a Supersonic 27; couldn't sail out of sight on a dark night.

The line drawing 'Design 30' looks to be either the actual or preliminary Miller design that became the near sister-ships 'Ginko' and 'Apollo II' that starred for Aus in the 1973 Admirals Cup. Ginko was beatifully built in timber and was sold to an Italian after the Cup and didn't come back to Australia. She was eventually sunk in the Atlantic(?) after hitting a whale. Apollo II was slightly different with a small doghouse and was built for Alan Bond in Alloy. She is still around somewhere after spending many years on Port Phillip.

Great White · Apr 19, 2020

12 metre said:
That is a possibility. The foils bear a resemblance to the type Mull designed back then.

But there was also the MIller 28 built in the same era which is also reminiscent of a Ranger 29 - but the Miller 29 looks a lot different IMO. Below are photos of a typical Miller 28 (about 12 built) along with a half model of the 28 which looks nothing like the 29 shown in my first post.

View attachment 358828

View attachment 358829

View attachment 358830

Yes, the Miller 28 hull was a lot different than the 29. The deck and cabin was similar.

Great White · Apr 19, 2020

ROADKILL666 said:
How did they sail?

The modified one i sailed on was a good sailer. In its original form, the mast was a spindly double spreader that went over the side early on. The owner replaced it with a 2ft taller rig. I cant remember the I dimension, but it was somewhere around 40 ft. The boat became a lot better in light winds. That said, we issues trying to beat a well sailed Ranger 29 and a equally well sailed standard Miller 29. Upwind we could stay with them, downwind we could eat them up. The boat was originally rated for IOR. We rated someplace between a 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton. The owner finished it very meticulously. The flush deck was very nice for working compared to the narrow side decks of the standard Miller 29. One strange thing. Since it was designed as a IOR boat, the engine was forward of the mast giving it a slight bow down trim. I do remember now that the Miller 29 all did have the more pointed, extended transom somewhat like other Mull IOR boats. This was differentant than Ranger 29s. Good times, I wished I had pictures.

Great White · Apr 19, 2020

12 metre said:
Stumbled across an ad for a Miller 29 in the Seattle CL. Not interested in the boat personally, but I am curious about it

There was a builder in Seattle (Earl Miller) that built the Miller 28 in small quantities. The cabin on this one looks similar - but the hull and foils are entirely different and I'm wondering if this is a Bob Miller (later aka Ben Lexcen) design.

Now the bow shape is quite different than what I would normally associate with a Miller (i.e Ceil III). That is it doesn't have the deep full chested bow sections of that era of Miller designs, but some of his slightly later designs like Guia IV had a more normal IOR bow shape (see image below).

But the foils and stern on this boat scream Bob Miller to me.

Anyone have any knowledge of this design?

View attachment 358785

View attachment 358786

View attachment 358787

From the Craigslist ad, I looked up the sail number. This is "Bittersweet". It used to be brown. Originally finished by a retired shop teacher. Then bought by a live aboard who moored it next to his live aboard home. Even though he did not sail it much, he kept it up in great condition. It was on the same dock as me. I knew that it had moved to Everett and i cross paths with him occasionally at races. This was the third one that I knew about. I never sailed on it. There was at least one more in Seattle that we raced against. But that was in the late 70s, so who knows what happened to it.

12 metre · Apr 19, 2020

Thinking about it a bit more, it most likely is a Mull

Kind of hoping it was a Bob Miller because I can't think of any design of his built in North America - which would have made it a rarity indeed.

Great White · Apr 19, 2020

12 metre said:
Thinking about it a bit more, it most likely is a Mull

Kind of hoping it was a Bob Miller because I can't think of any design of his built in North America - which would have made it a rarity indeed.

Similar to a Mull, but replicated/scaled down from a 35ft Mull design. I know of the guy that prepared the drawings for Earl Miller.

Stanno · Apr 19, 2020

12 metre said:
View attachment 358788

Well that drawing comes from the Miller & Valentijn design partnership which went from December 1975 to late 1977. The drawing looks to be 9.8.76 so it fits that time scale, as they worked on the 1977 America's Cup team and designed various craft around then. The client is Mr G Falck, who had bought Gingko and renamed it Guia III . Valentijn had been working under Olin Stephens at Sparkman & Stevens before he joined up with Millar / Lexcen, and then went on to have an illustrious career in his own right. There is a reference to " a Half Tonner for limited production design in Italy" in Bob Ross's excellent "Being with Benny" book (Boatswain Books, 2018) - maybe this is it??? I don't know enough about IOR stuff to know if a 45' yacht equates to a "half tonner"?

I should say that I don't think the drawing marries up with the photos - though the heritage of the '73 Admiral's Cup boats must surely flow through both the Miller 28/29 etc yachts ...

12 metre · Apr 19, 2020

Below are some Bob Miller designs. You can see the keel shape he used back then as well as the very full bow with beam carried well foward on Ceil III.

The next one is a stern shot of one his 3/4 on designs - with the crew pits filled in it looks like.

So, if you take Ceil III's keel with the 3/4 Tons stern and Guia IVs bow shape you sort of end up with a Miller 29 or at least that is what I was hoping.

But Great White seems pretty familiar with the boat and says it is actually a shrunken down Mull design - so I will take that as being the case.

Oh yeah - a 46 footer would be much bigger than a half tonner, which would typically be around 30 ft LOA

ROADKILL666 · Apr 20, 2020

Great White said:
The modified one i sailed on was a good sailer. In its original form, the mast was a spindly double spreader that went over the side early on. The owner replaced it with a 2ft taller rig. I cant remember the I dimension, but it was somewhere around 40 ft. The boat became a lot better in light winds. That said, we issues trying to beat a well sailed Ranger 29 and a equally well sailed standard Miller 29. Upwind we could stay with them, downwind we could eat them up. The boat was originally rated for IOR. We rated someplace between a 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton. The owner finished it very meticulously. The flush deck was very nice for working compared to the narrow side decks of the standard Miller 29. One strange thing. Since it was designed as a IOR boat, the engine was forward of the mast giving it a slight bow down trim. I do remember now that the Miller 29 all did have the more pointed, extended transom somewhat like other Mull IOR boats. This was differentant than Ranger 29s. Good times, I wished I had pictures.

Thanks for the update

windsend · Apr 20, 2020

Always at a loss as to why anyone would build an aft raked rudder as seen in the boat in the lift. At a large angle of heel, pulling the tiller up to head down also has the opposing effect. Looks from the plan that the designer knew better...

12 metre · Apr 20, 2020

windsend said:
Always at a loss as to why anyone would build an aft raked rudder as seen in the boat in the lift. At a large angle of heel, pulling the tiller up to head down also has the opposing effect. Looks from the plan that the designer knew better...

Agree. Here is a better view of that rudder on the Miller 29.

I guess the thinking was somewhere along the lines of it looks racey and "good enough for Uffa, good enough for me"

garyedelman · Apr 21, 2020

I can think of one Ben Lexcen design that was built in the US, actually in Chicago, at Crowley's. Scherazade I think was the name.

Not sure how it did, or who the owner was. But remember seeing it in the yard, and on scratch sheets. Maybe Joe O or someone

from Chicago can provide more details.

12 metre · Apr 21, 2020

garyedelman said:
I can think of one Ben Lexcen design that was built in the US, actually in Chicago, at Crowley's. Scherazade I think was the name.

Not sure how it did, or who the owner was. But remember seeing it in the yard, and on scratch sheets. Maybe Joe O or someone

from Chicago can provide more details.

That name kind of ring a bell come to think of it. But I think it was a one off - I was thinking more along the lines of a production or semi-production boat like the Miller 29.

But yeah, I think you are right.

Grande Mastere Dreade · Apr 21, 2020

12 metre said:
View attachment 358785

looks like someone was watching shark week, when they were designing the lines..

basbass · May 20, 2020

Just bought a Miller 29 in Alameda. Tomorrow I'll sail her to her new marina, Tiki Lagoon in Stockton. May the wind be with us!

We are going to do delta cruises with her, anyone who likes to come on our 'blues cruise', let us know. American-Dutch musician couple here, happy to get more people to enjoy this age old free propulsion tack-tic!

Miller 29

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