Lady Bug (Peterson)
Description
The Lady Bug by Bob Peterson (also referred to as Robert Petersen in some accounts) is a custom home-built plywood daysailer designed and constructed by Bob Peterson himself in the late 20th century. It's a charming, modified sharpie-inspired gaff-rigged sloop based on Bill Garden's classic 1945 June Bug design (an 18-foot sharpie cat schooner from the Rudder book of sailboat plans). While living in Grenada in the 1960s (where he co-owned a yacht services business), Peterson sketched a small gaff sloop adaptation of the June Bug hull for day sailing. He later built the boat in the U.S. after a neighbor suggested partnering on a project. Peterson sent photos of his changes to Bill Garden, who was reportedly very complimentary. The boat earned "Best Small Sailboat" at the 1999 Wooden Boat Show hosted by the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle—highlighting its appeal in traditional/wooden boat circles. This is a one-off (or very limited) amateur-built boat, not a production design or plans package, so detailed specs are based on the builder's account and similar sharpie adaptations rather than standardized data. No widespread plans or multiple examples exist publicly.
Construction Details
| Designer | Bob Peterson |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 20.790 ft |
| LOA | 20.970 ft |
| LWL | 19.000 ft |
| Beam | 6.000 ft |
| Max Draft | 3.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.750 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 16.17 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 7.42 ft |
| p | 18.75 ft |
| e | 11.50 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16.17 ft | 7.42 ft | 18.75 ft | 11.50 ft | - | - | - | - |
Blueprints
Sails
Lady Bug (Peterson) - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 18.75 ft - (5715 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.5 ft - (3505 mm) |
| Leech | * 20.96 ft - (6389 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 85.24 ° |
| Diagonal | 21.167 ft - (6452 mm) |
| Head (inches) | 4 in - (102 mm) |
| Area | * 110.19 ft² |
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Lady Bug (Peterson) - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 16.33 ft - (4977 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 9.25 ft - (2819 mm) |
| Leech | 14.58 ft - (4444 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 110.51 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 8.2 ft - (2499 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 2.88 ° |
| Area | * 66.97 ft² |
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Lady Bug (Peterson) - ASYMMETRICAL
| Luff | * 16.9 ft - (5151 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 12.24 ft - (3731 mm) |
| Leech | * 15.55 ft - (4740 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 165 % |
| Area | * 155 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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