Mah Jong

We had the privilege of restoring the Sparkman and Stephens yawl, MAH JONG  from 2015-2017. Originally built in Hong Kong at Cheoy Lee Shipyards in 1957 she sailed to the East Coast of the United States upon completion and remained in New England for most of her life. She came to Gannon and Benjamin after sitting out of the water for two years in Tortola by which time she was in need of a significant restoration. 

We were able to save much of her teak planking but replaced all of her frames, her forekeel, and laid a new teak deck. The original forekeel was made of Yakal, a tropical hardwood, and it was badly damaged by a corroded steel maststep. We made the new forekeel out of an angelique timber and installed a new stainless steel maststep. The original Ipol, copper riveted  frames were replaced with steam-bent white oak in the forward quarter of the boat. Due to her curvaceous hull shape, steam-bent white oak could not be used farther aft without overstressing, so the remaining three quarters of the hull was reframed using live oak. All of her floors were also replaced with bronze floors that we fabricated. 

The original interior was worn out, dark, and cramped and all of her systems needed to be replaced. The interior was gutted and redesigned to be more spacious. We also designed a new cabin house that was better suited for cruising.  Her systems were replaced . We were proud to have our work recognized in 2018 when Mah Jong was selected as the winner of the  Restoration of the Year (over 40 feet) at the 11th annual Classic Boat Awards.

In 2022 she came back to our yard for a new engine, making her ready and capable for cruising anywhere in the world.