For Andy Stewart and his father, Roger, the steel-hull William Garden design Nightfall serves as a bond over a shared passion for salty boats.
“We really liked commercial boats and had this idea of maybe one day we’ll convert a boat ourselves,” Andy says. “We also liked single-screw, displacement-hull, efficient trawlers.” His two kids, who are 6 and 8, were also a consideration for Andy and his wife. “We just want everyone to have a good experience and get there safely and comfortably. This is kind of the right fit for us.”
Nightfall originally launched as Askov, built by Waterline Yachts of Canada for architect Harlan Pedersen. She’s a single-screw, 38-foot tank with a steel hull that comes in at more than 40,000 pounds. The deck is three-sixteenth-inch steel with a teak overlay in the cockpit. The family acquired the boat in 2023.
When I got on board Nightfall in the late spring, I was charmed by her pilothouse. The interior is simple yet spacious, with an L-shape seating bench around a table to starboard and a cabinet unit with chart-friendly tabletop to port. The helm is oriented to port, with her electronics integrated around the captain’s chair. The generous windows offer a 360-degree view with commanding vantage over the open deck forward.
“Her genesis is the result of a collaboration between two highly successful men: Bill Garden, naval architect, and Harlan Pedersen, architect,” says Roger, who knows a thing or two about yacht design and construction, having worked as an investor in a myriad of boaty projects over a four-decade career. He has collaborated with naval architects Wendell Calkins, Bill Lapworth, Germán Frers and Doug Peterson, as well as with builders Feadship, Delta, Dakota Creek and Nichols Brothers.
While the hull and superstructure on Nightfall are Garden designs, the Pedersens designed the interior. “The hull and deck were built in Canada, then transported to their Orcas Island property,” Andy says. “They put the boat in a barn, and I guess a cabinetmaker and some others joined forces and they finished her out.”
The hull number, 83, suggests that the boat was built in 1983, Andy says. “We think it was actually launched in 1990,” he adds, “but the hull might have been built seven years older. So maybe it was a seven-year project for them to finish the boat.”
A green flag for buying Nightfall was that her owners prior to the Stewarts were avid cruisers, taking the boat to Alaska on seasonal trips that would last for months. According to Andy, Nightfall typically runs at a 6- or 7-knot cruising speed, burning around 1 gallon per hour with her 143-hp John Deere (marinized by Lugger) diesel. With an estimated total fuel capacity of around 1,000 gallons, the boat could get to Alaska and back without refueling.
Her significant rigging includes a mast with stabilizing Tanbark sail and paravane stabilizers with fish and flopper stoppers. But all is not old world aboard Nightfall. Two 190-watt solar panels, a TriStar MPPT solar charger and an 800-amp battery bank provide trickle-charging capabilities.
“It seems we can sustain our regular daily load with refrigeration, and obviously lights and charging devices, with just our solar,” Andy says. “Certainly, throughout the summer that works.” A Kubota diesel genset does the heavy lifting underway.
For the Stewart family, the boating passion is rooted in Andy’s grandparents. “They started the whole thing for us,” he says of the many days spent off Point Loma, Calif., aboard a Dragon sailboat. “They didn’t do church. They did sailing every Sunday. Even the kids. I think they were like, ‘Gosh, do we have to go sailing today?’ Of course, as they grew, they really loved it.”
The family ultimately bought a Kettenburg 38. Andy recalls a 1969 Grand Banks 36 Classic woody that also was a part of the adventures growing up. His own kids “don’t even remember the first time they were on a boat,” he says.
Nightfall is the family’s second Garden design. The first was a strip-planked, Western red cedar build that they called Lorelei. That boat previously belonged to a retired shipwright of the iconic Jensen Motorboat Company of Seattle.
“We loved that boat, bought it from him and cruised for almost 10 years, a lot of San Juan Islands,” Andy says. “It’s been a big part of how to connect with family for me. My relationship with my dad is around projects and boats, and it has really shaped my upbringing.”
While an Alaska adventure is in the family’s future, Andy also looks forward to Salish Sea cruising closer to home, to make family memories and get Nightfall fully dialed in. A piece of advice from a friend has stuck with him: “Do the thing that you’re interested in when you’re interested in it,” he says. “I think we’re trying to live by that mantra.”
Nightfall seems up to the challenge. “I got out to Port Renfrew in the summer, late September by myself,” Andy says. “I visited some old-growth trees there and just had an incredible experience cruising out the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That gave me the sense that, wow, this boat just wants to go. I could just keep going.”
This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue.
