Garden 35 and 40 ketches (Okamoto, Japan)
Status: under investigation
Hardin's first boats: wooden 35- and 40-foot Garden ketches built for export at Okamoto, near Tokyo. Sailboatdata calls the original Sea Wolf a late-1950s Okamoto build, so the 40-footer is probably the Sea Wolf's wooden ancestor. We found no model name for the 35-footer. It should not be confused with the Garden-designed Mariner 35 and 40 built by Far East Yachts.
- years
- About 1957-1960 [GOB-JPTL, FEY]
- number built
- A handful [GOB-JP]
- rig
- Ketch [GOB-JP, FEY]
- loa
- 35 ft and 40 ft [GOB-JP, FEY]
- designer
- William Garden [GOB-JP, FEY]
- builder
- Okamoto Shipyard (later Tokyo Yachts), Japan, commissioned by Bill Hardin [GOB-JP, FEY]
Sources
- SBD-SW40
- sailboatdata.com "SEA WOLF 40" (history note credits Steve Van Ronk). Wayback 2025-04-27: http://web.archive.org/web/20250427092028/https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/sea-wolf-40/
- GOB-JP
- Michael Robertson, "Made in Japan", Good Old Boat (web post dated 2026-05-26; republished magazine feature): https://goodoldboat.com/made-in-japan/
- GOB-JPTL
- "Timeline for Sailboats Built In Japan", Good Old Boat: https://goodoldboat.com/made-in-japan-time-for-sailboats-built-in-japan/
- FEY
- "Far East Yachts – History", marineryachts.com (Mariner owners' site; based on correspondence with Clair Oberly and Takao Sato): https://www.marineryachts.com/fey/History.htm
Sources: GOB-JP; GOB-JPTL; FEY; SBD-SW40