What can be more competitive than racing for America’s Cup? Perhaps building a boat to win, or defend America’s Cup. Reliance was Nat Herreshoff’s idea of a purpose-built boat to defend the 1903 America’s Cup regatta at any cost. We think of purpose-built cars for the Formula 1 track today or the purpose-built boats built for racing around the world but even those are built with more versatility in mind than Reliance. Reliance was built for a time, a place, and a single rule. She was a freak of design but win, she did.

Our kit includes a frame suitable for building a 1/16 scale sailing version of Reliance. She is slightly beamier than the actual scale and her keel has been deepened by two inches to aid in keeping the boat upright.

Since the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company has always kept its plans under close control, we invite interested modellers to communicate with the Hart Nautical Collection at MIT. You can visit their site by clicking here. We will be glad to cut a set of frames for modellers who show we have permission from the copyright holders to do so.

From our 3D simulation of the construction, we extract the parts for laser cutting. This image gives a good impression of the number of bulkheads you get with this set:

The image below shows the boat under construction. You can see the small distance between frames and you can also see the T-rail we include in the kit to aid assembly.

Please remember that this set of frames does not include deck, planking, sails, or navigational equipment.

Thank you for your interest and fair winds!

Rick Shousha
Modeller’s Workshop
Montreal