Design Brief & Intent
The Shaw 24 was conceived from the outset to perform under the newly established MORC rule, which governed offshore racing vessels under 24 feet. Shaw’s mission was to build a miniature yacht capable of winning demanding offshore races while offering genuine accommodations for a small family. In an era when most sub-25-foot boats were rudimentary day sailors, the Shaw 24 featured a fully enclosed cabin, a built-in galley, a marine head, and a reliable inboard marine engine.
For the initial run of boats, Shaw contracted the highly regarded Danish shipyard A. Jensen and Son to execute the construction in wood. The Danish yard utilized traditional premium methods: double-planked mahogany and cedar over robust white oak frames, fastened with bronze. The quality of the interior fit-out reflected this uncompromising craftsmanship. Hand-rubbed mahogany joinery, solid timber bulkheads, and finely crafted cabin soles gave the tiny interior the atmosphere of a classic, prestigious Baltic yacht. The cabin trunk was designed with a beautiful, springy sheer and low freeboard, maintaining a sleek aesthetic while maximizing sitting headroom and functional space below.
Variations & Construction History
Though the Shaw 24 was officially conceived as a wooden yacht, its production run is split between the original imported wooden fleet and a highly unusual series of early fiberglass builds. Roughly 20 to 24 wooden hulls were completed by Jensen and Son in Denmark, with the vast majority imported to the United States. These boats strictly adhered to Shaw’s original specifications, featuring a lead-ballasted keel, a retractable bronze centerboard, and a masthead yawl rig.
In the early 1960s, a small run of fiberglass Shaw 24s was produced in the Gulf Coast region, specifically Texas. Known informally by Bill Shaw as "pirate" hulls due to the builder producing them without authorization or licensing royalties, these early composite boats are legendary for their over-engineered construction. Because shipwrights of the era did not yet fully grasp the tensile strength of the new material, they built the solid hand-laid fiberglass hulls to an astonishing thickness of nearly one inch.
These fiberglass iterations, such as the well-known Elation and the historic Ariadne (which successfully completed a global circumnavigation), also introduced layout variations. While the Danish wooden models utilized a traditional open layout with four berths flanking a compact cabin, the fiberglass variants often incorporated a structural forward V-berth, a fully enclosed marine head with a privacy bulkhead, and a galley positioned further aft near the companionway.
Sailing Performance & Handling
On the water, the Shaw 24 behaves like a much larger ocean vessel, entirely shedding the flighty, tender habits of modern light-displacement 24-footers. With a displacement-to-length ratio of 338.44, the boat is firmly in the heavy-displacement category. This mass, combined with a ballast-to-displacement ratio of 31.25%, grants the hull excellent momentum, allowing it to punch cleanly through steep coastal chops without losing steerage.
With a comfort ratio of 25.52, the motion in a seaway is remarkably gentle and slow, preventing the rapid, fatiguing roll common in shallow, flat-bottomed pocket cruisers. The capsize screening value of 1.76 is exceptional, well below the offshore safety threshold, indicating a highly stable hull form with deep-seated primary and secondary stability.
The sail area-to-displacement ratio of 15.18 indicates a conservative sail plan by modern racing standards, but the masthead yawl rig offers unparalleled versatility. In heavy air, the Shaw 24 excels under "jib and jigger"—sailing comfortably under just the headsail and the small mizzen sail sheeted flat. This balanced split-rig configuration keeps the center of effort low, dramatically reducing heel and weather helm while allowing the boat to track straight with the helm virtually unattended. The shallow-draft centerboard design draft of under three feet allows the boat to slip into thin coastal waters, but when the bronze centerboard is fully lowered to its maximum draft of over five feet, the boat develops excellent lift, pointing efficiently into the wind.
Known Issues, Triage & Modernization
For prospective owners of a classic Shaw 24, the primary focus lies in the triage and preservation of historic building materials.
- Wooden Hull Maintenance: On the Danish-built wooden models, sistering or replacing cracked oak frames is a common maintenance reality after nearly seven decades. The canvas-covered wooden decks are highly prone to rot if freshwater leaks develop around the chainplates, cabin trunk, or handrails. Re-canvasing or glassing over older wooden decks is a necessary project for many surviving hulls.
- Fiberglass Delamination and Weight: On the early fiberglass hulls, the primary structural concern is deck core rot, as the balsa-cored decks of the era frequently suffered from water intrusion around poorly bedded deck hardware. While the solid fiberglass hulls are virtually indestructible, they are prone to severe cosmetic osmotic blistering if left in the water without a modern epoxy barrier coat.
- Drivetrain Upgrades: The original propulsion was a 10-horsepower Kermath Sea Twin gasoline engine. These raw-water-cooled cast-iron engines are difficult to source parts for today. While some owners have replaced them with small Universal Atomic 4 or diesel replacements, the Shaw 24 has recently emerged as an ideal candidate for electric conversion. Because the hull is already heavy and carries its weight low, replacing the old gasoline engine and heavy fuel tank with a modern 10-kilowatt electric drive and lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery bank fits perfectly within the boat's design ethos, shedding weight while maintaining pristine silence when motoring.
The Verdict
The Shaw 24 Yawl is a masterpiece of mid-century naval architecture, representing the absolute pinnacle of the classic pocket cruiser era. It is not a boat for those seeking modern interior volume, standing headroom, or high-speed planing performance. Instead, it is a highly specialized collector’s vessel built for sailors who appreciate pedigree, exceptional heavy-weather handling, and the timeless aesthetics of a mini-bluewater cruiser.
Pros
- Unmatched motion comfort and sea-keeping capability for a vessel under 24 feet.
- Highly versatile masthead yawl rig that handles heavy weather with ease.
- Exceptional historical pedigree as the pioneer of the MORC racing rule.
- Beautiful classic styling with a springy sheerline and premium Danish wooden joinery.
- Shallow-draft capability with the centerboard retracted, allowing entry to thin-water anchorages.
Cons
- Wooden models require intensive, highly skilled maintenance to prevent rot and structural degradation.
- Sitting headroom only, with a tight and narrow cabin by modern cruising standards.
- Sourcing replacement parts for original Kermath Sea Twin engines is exceptionally difficult.
- Early fiberglass models are heavy and require thorough inspection for deck core moisture.
