Design and Construction
The H-28 belongs to a lineage of Herreshoff cruising ketches rather than the racing one-designs more commonly associated with the marque's earlier decades. L.F. Herreshoff's design number 80 emerged in 1942, and the recorded example built furthest from the original series — Gwylan, constructed in 1977 by McKie ("Nick") Roth in Westport, Maine — was built almost entirely as designed, except for the bowsprit, no spreaders on the mizzen, and no cedar bucket. That near-faithful replication four decades later tells us the drawing was coherent enough to stand without revision, and that the deviations owners make are additive rather than corrective. The spec block lists lead ballast at 26.67 percent of displacement, a figure that places her firmly in the heavy cruiser class rather than the lightweight racer school.
Rig and Handling
The masthead ketch rig splits the 343 sq ft of sail into manageable units, and the owner report on Gwylan's near-stock configuration — lacking mizzen spreaders — suggests the aft rig is tolerant of simplification. Where the design reveals its age is in light-air propulsion: the documented remedy is a bowsprit, which one owner highly recommends, noting that with the forestay on a removable turnbuckle he can set and easily handle a good sized genoa on the headstay, which is a blessing in light air. The same sprit also makes a wonderful place to hang the anchor — safe, out of the way, and easy to single-hand. The bowsprit is thus not mere ornament but a functional extension of the boat's limited sail plan, recovering performance the original rig leaves on the table when the breeze dies.
Accommodations
The available documentation is silent on interior arrangement beyond the telling absence of a cedar bucket aboard Gwylan, a period fitting the owner chose to omit. We can say only that the 8-foot 9-inch beam and 10,500-lb displacement imply volume and stowage capacity consistent with a cruising ketch of the era, but the sources do not describe berths, galley, or head. A buyer seeking layout detail must look to individual boats rather than to any documented standard plan.
Known Issues
No structural defects, rot paths, or systemic failures are recorded in the available documentation. The only documented deviation from drawing is elective — the bowsprit, mizzen spreader deletion, and cedar bucket omission on Gwylan — and none is characterized as a correction of a flaw. The heavy displacement itself is the one owner-flagged characteristic that bears on handling, and it is presented as observation rather than defect.
Refits and Ownership
The bowsprit stands as the principal owner-driven upgrade, serving double duty for light-air genoa handling and anchor stowage. Beyond that, the 1977 Roth-built example demonstrates that an H-28 can be reproduced to drawing decades after the first build with minimal divergence, which speaks to the durability of the plans if not the hulls themselves. Ownership of an H-28 is therefore an exercise in preserving a 1942 L.F. Herreshoff intent while selectively adding the bowsprit that later owners found necessary to the boat's easy use.
The Verdict
The H-28 is a heavy, faithful cruising ketch whose modest sail area is best supplemented by an owner-fitted bowsprit. She rewards the single-hander with safe anchor handling and tolerates near-stock replication across decades, but offers no documented interior standard and no recorded corrective refits.
Pros
- Substantial 10,500-lb displacement with 2,800-lb lead ballast for stable cruising
- Masthead ketch rig splits sail into manageable units
- Bowsprit upgrade enables easy light-air genoa use and safe single-handed anchor stowage
- Drawing proven replicable to plan 35 years after first build
Cons
- Quite a heavy boat with only 343 sq ft of sail, needing augmentation in light air
- No documented interior layout or standard accommodations detail
- No recorded systemic issues addressed by later builders — unknown gaps in the record
