Sailing yachts
Harrison Butler Zyklon Z4
(REF: 32943)£9250
Full specification
Wooden Ships Comments on this Harrison Butler Zyklon Z4
Harrison Butler Z4 Tonner designed by Dr T. Harrison Butler and built by Alfred Lockhart Marine in 1938.
In 1937 Harrison Butler was approached by Captain O M Watts to produce a weatherly 4 tonner which could be built on a production-line basis, the first of it’s kind in the UK. Butler revised his earlier Cyclone design to produce the Zyklon Class which was to become known as the Z4. Captain Watts approached the old established Brentford joiners and timber merchants Alfred Lockhart and a factory was set-up in late 1937 where the first example was built. The design was marketed as the ‘Z Four – Tonner’ and can be distinguished by the letter Z on the stemhead.
The design gets its name from the Thames Tonnage measurement of the hull, a measure if useable interior volume, these boats coming in at 4TM.
In 1938, the first full year of production fourteen examples were completed. In order to complete the yachts quickly and economically, an efficient assembly and costing system were used. The work was divided into twelve operations using pre-made parts and sub-assemblies taken into stock. The construction is novel, the hulls were built upside down on a steel mould taking four men a week to plank. A six week delivery for all Z4 orders was quoted, the price in 1938 being £297, rising to £339 in 1939. By the end of 1939 forty-eight ‘Z’ Four Tonners had been built and sold and the Zyklon Design was gaining a superb reputation with Yachting Monthly featuring extended voyages.
Harrison Butler was a strong believer in the ‘metacentric shelf formula’ to achieve good balance and handling under sail. The theory held that as a yacht heels under sail, its balance will depend on the immersed form of the hull, with different sections exerting varying degrees of buoyancy and aft sections possibly being more buoyant than forward sections. Metacentric shelf analysis plots the shifts in the varying buoyancies as a net value to windward or leeward and serves as a guide to achieving equal buoyancy in the dissimilar ends of a design. The work can now be done by computer, but when it was applied by the brain, hand and eye of Dr Harrison Butler it produced famously sweet-handling boats, in the age of heavy weather helm.
In the days before computers, Harrison Butler was known to cut out paper cross sections of his hulls in order to calculate lines of symmetry and centres of mass. Boats built to his designs are much sought-after and owners eligible to join the Harrison Butler Association of approx. 200 members worldwide. On the South-Coast of England, there is a growing stronghold of more than a dozen Harrison Butler designed yachts who meet up on a frequent basis in the Solent or Isle of Wight.
In the previous ownership this yacht went through a major refit, both structural and cosmetic, leaving her in very smart and seemingly sound condition. New strap floors and keel bolts were fitted, the deck overhauled, a new engine, systems and a complete strip out of the interior, refitting it with as much of the original joinery as possible.
Maintained to a good standard by her present owner, she has cruised around the Solent area and proved to be a lovely little boat that is much admired everywhere she goes.
Length on deck 21’9”
Length Waterline 19’
Beam 7’2”
Draft 4’
Construction
Hull
Carvel planked in larch all copper rivet fastened to steam bent oak timbers. Various heels of the frames replaced in the refit.
External cast iron ballast keel of 1.25 tons fastened with mild steel bolts. Ballast keel dropped and rebedded during the refit.
Steel strap floors across the centreline all new in the refit.
Steel ring frame in way of the mast with 2 steel compression posts give stiffness to the hull. This ring frame was overhauled and repaired as necessary during the refit.
Decks and Cockpit
Original T&G pine deck laid on oak deck beams, now overlaid with marine plywood and finished with a synthetic teak decking.
New stainless steel lodging knees fabricated in way of the mast to increase strength of the deck structure.
Original but rebuilt cockpit with teak coamings and thwarts.
The cockpit design is not self draining, but this allows it to be very deep and safe.
Varnished teak doors in the companion hatch.
Superstructure
Varnished teak coachroof coamings with bronze portlights.
Coachroof deck overlaid with the same synthetic teak decking.
Separate varnished teak forehatch.
Rig
Fractional Bermudan sloop rig on a deck stepped varnished wooden mast.
Mast is stepped in a galvanised tabernacle on the deck which was renewed during the refit.
Standing and Running Rigging
7×19 stainless wire standing rigging to bronze rigging screws and external bronze chain plates.
Fixed standing backstay to a custom cast bronze bumpkin.
Running backstays on 4:1 tackles.
Furlex 100S roller furling headsail system.
Sails
Mainsail and genoa new in 2020, these are the Heritage Sails range from Hyde Sails in a cream colour.
Spinnaker with all new rig fittings, sheets and guys in 2024.
Spare mainsail and genoa in white.
Winches
Pair of bronze Lewmar 8 non-self tailing cockpit sheet winches
Machinery
Engine
Yanmar 1GM10 single cylinder diesel installed new in 2018.
Single lever gearbox controls to a port side offset fixed 3 blade bronze propeller.
AquaDrive coupling to the shaft.
Tanks
Stainless steel fuel tank of 10 litres.
Batteries and Electrics
2 x 12 volt batteries for engine starting and domestic use, both charged from the engine alternator.
Accommodation
Berths and Headroom
2 berths in a cosy and original interior.
General Description
The entire interior was removed in the refit, the hull repaired as necessary and the joinery refitted retaining as much of the original as possible.
Step down in from the cockpit over the engine box.
Galley area to starboard. To port is a small chart desk, all in varnished teak, with a locker outboard.
2 settee berths in the main cabin and varnished sole boards.
Centreline double varnished teak doors into the forepeak.
Galley
Small area of varnished teak joinery with an Origo 1500 spirit stove set in a gimballed steak frame.
Fold down varnished teak leaf over the berth can be dropped down for more galley space when required.
Heads
In the forepeak she originally had a Baby Blake sea toilet fitted which has been removed, however all the seacocks are still in place. Replaced with a chemical toilet.
Equipment
Steering compass
ICOM IC-M501EURO VHF
NASA depth sounder
Raymarine ST 2000 tiller auto pilot
Clock and barometer
Auto electric bilge pump
Manual bilge pump
Fire extinguisher
Mainsail and Genoa in cream, both 2020
Spare mainsail and genoa
Furlex 100S roller furling system
2 x Lewmar 8 bronze sheet winches
Wooden spinnaker pole
Wooden whisker pole
Mainsail cover
Forehatch cover
Cockpit and coachroof cover
All over winter cover
CQR anchor with chain
Mooring warps
Fenders
Boat hook
Paraffin cabin lamp
Origo 1500 spirit stove
Bunk and berth cushions
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Disclaimer:
These particulars have been prepared in good faith from information provided by the Vendors and are intended as a guide, Wooden Ships cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. The Purchaser should instruct his agent or surveyor to validate all details as necessary and satisfy himself with the condition of the vessel and its equipment.
