Baltic Trader The Schooner WN RAGLAND

Please do not consider Ragland’s lower than market price a quality indicator. She is aggressively priced by a realistic seller, in an effort to avoid a lengthy marketing period. WN RAGLAND is an exceptional yacht, in exceptional condition. In regard to value, she is offered at a price that presents you with the opportunity to own a vessel very, very stable in value, and not vulnerable to the depreciation which affects the other choices you may be considering.

There is a current survey (January 2012), which is complete and includes fastener pulling, which verifies RAGLAND's fine condition on board for those who inspect her to review. Another testament to her quality can be found in the April 2011 YACHTING MAGAZINE article devoted to her. .

There have been many coffee table books compiled over the years which show uncommon ships, yachts, and boats. WN RAGLAND is worthy of a coffee table book, devoted solely to her.

Originally built to haul GRANITE in the northern seas, W N RAGLAND is 101 feet in length overall, with a length on deck of 77 feet. A “Rubenesque girl”, she weighs in at 280,000 lbs. on the scales. She is a United States Coast Guard documented vessel. Her Jones Act Exemption deems her legal for USA Coastal Trade.

WN RAGLAND has been a privately owned, pampered, cruised, enjoyed, and maintained without regard for cost by entertainer, Neil Young.

The experience aboard Ragland is awesome, but not pretentious. She provides an atmosphere which is conducive to everyone feeling comfortable, at peace, relaxed, and content. She is a great barefoot boat. Hard soled shoes are welcome as well….no need to fuss, or greet your guests with a bunch of rules and orders.

Every part of the day on Ragland is special, from morning coffee, through the cocktail and dinner hour when you anchor at day's end. I have seen the most eclectic groups of people and families all find both individual appreciation and special moments enjoyed as groups as well. It is fun to see cell phones take the 2 day migration from pockets to stateroom drawers. Even when moored in an urban setting, Ragland casts her spell of contentment on those aboard. It is a very surreal experience. Her galley is a wonderful place for those who love to cook, and she provides an experience which simply cannot be reproduced in any other ship’s galley. No one forgets their Ragland experience.

WN RAGLAND lends herself superbly to world cruising, local cruising, and when at the dock, or a local anchorage, a wonderful home.


It is my intention that you have no surprises of any kind subsequent to your acquisition of WN Ragland. The key to owning a wooden vessel is in buying a high quality one. Starting with a completely sound vessel reduces ownership costs to a predictable fraction of what it costs when you buy a vessel with “needs or issues”. If you maintain paint, you do not have to repair wood. Paint, varnish and associated materials for Ragland’s exterior cost less than $1000 per year. At this latitude she goes through 6 qt. sized cans of varnish per year, one gallon of satin white paint, a qt. of flat black for her trim, anchor, etc. Ragland is hauled every two years for bottom paint, zincs, etc. Her last haul was $5000. This included paint, zincs, lay days, white hull paint, and labor cost. Depending on location, plan on 5-7k per haul, every two years. A diver for $100 twice a year for barnacles and prop zinc for the in-betweens.

It is not necessary to stop use for extended maintenance, as she is maintained as a routine, just as one maintains landscaping……let it go and it is a big job, pull a weed when it pops up, and it is no big deal. Same with the schooner…..catching a flake in the paint on the hand rail with a touch up cup is much easier than the price you pay when you neglect it and the paint is left to flake up. In regard to further illustrate her maintenance needs, I describe her as an “hour a day boat”. Give her the hour per day and she will stay pristine, as she is now. Not every day, but if you skip 3 weeks of maintenance, you owe her 21 hours. A golf course home with a couple gardens and a pool exceed these modest requirements.


Her magnificent soles (floors) are milled high pitch long leaf pine planks. They are beautiful, yet you can wear any shoes you like. Her stainless steel rig is another feature which sets her clearly apart from other traditional offerings. Even her heads were selected so that first time boat people do not need a training session to use them. No maintenance, no fuss.

She is truly the queen of any marina she visits, and her layout is the opposite of what one finds on charter vessels. She is the belle of the ball, even when the dance floor is full of a bunch of 8 and 13 million dollar offerings one finds in the superyacht class. While she is heaven as a family boat, you can easily entertain over 50 people on board, yet in a manner that allows for people to congregate in separate areas. In the picture of the folks dressed in costume for an event in this listing, there are 41 people lined up on the rail for the photo. Ragland also lends herself equally well to an intimate evening for two.

It is her extraordinarily fine condition that keeps her maintenance costs surprisingly low, even as compared to like-sized plastic vessels. (It costs much more to wax a 100 foot plastic boat than it costs to varnish two masts) She sets herself far apart from other classic ships and yachts. Her interior is neither empty, with the typical unchanged work environment, nor dated with Home Center inspired “yacht conversion” accents. Solid teak decks and deck structures, countless bronze fittings, hardware and nautical architectural accents are some of the first things you notice when on board. Those on board are kept safe and secure with high Cypress bulwarks, and wide open deck spaces.

Common questions often include crew requirements. The answer varies with the task at hand. An Ideal crew for ocean crossings would have 6 people, 2 on per shift, 4 hours on, 8 hours off in rotation. All parties do not have to have extensive experience. For day sailing, the more the merrier. When Day sailing, it is nice to get the sails of choice up more quickly than if settling in for an off shore journey. The sails from the stay’sl forward are small and go up with ease. The for’sl is gaff rigged and while it can go up with two people, 3 is best. The main used to take 4 people (and one at the helm), but this year RAGLAND received a heavy bronze gypsy (hydraulic winch) at the base of her main mast. The gypsy comes in handy for raising the main, raising people up and down for inspections and maintenance, and it also is located next to a work halyard so that tenders, equipment, etc., can be loaded and off loaded with ease.

Experienced crew costs are surprisingly low as well. Tallships attract wonderful crew. There is no shortage of great crew that love to go out for casual outings for free, and if you wish to hire crew, she regularly receives resumes of extremely competent and highly experienced crew. These folks run $175 to $200 per week. (plus food, etc.)

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we motor quite a bit when there is a specific destination in mind. WN Ragland has been motored around with as little as one person on board, and 2 is great. Crew demands for motor sailing with the forward sails up and her Cat humming along is minimal.

No need to raise sails if you want some quiet time with only a few. She has a rock solid and reliable Caterpillar 3406 motor which sips 6 gallons per hour at around 8 knots. Her Caterpillar power plant is extremely powerful and efficient and fires up within seconds of touching the start button. Sailing her and motoring her are two very different activities, and both are fabulous experiences for equally differing reasons. She has a 2000 mile range under power alone. Cruising up and down the coast, you stop when and where you want to, not because you have to.

As you step in to her wheelhouse, the contrast between her generously varnished interior and her natural silver teak exterior become evident. Her teak decks and structures outside require no maintenance. There is a fire hose on deck which provides salt water wash downs for her teak, and that’s it. No sanding or varnish at all, on her outside teak.

She has two helms, one in the wheelhouse and another aft at her stern. Ragland’s outside helm is positioned logically in the perfect spot to see all those aboard, both on deck and aloft, her sail trim, and the surrounding waters. There is no single gathering place, as soon as she is squared away and underway, some folks congregate and relax in her netting under the bowsprit, various areas around her spacious decks, and of course the dining table and helm area, aft.

Once inside, and in her wheelhouse, you can go below and aft to her spotless engine room, and Captain’s Cabin beyond; or down the spiral staircase forward to her expansive main salon below. W N Ragland has not been chopped up in to staterooms, and she is not a floating bunkhouse as one finds in other vessels of this size. In real estate terms, she is a family home. Her wide open central living area is centered in her hull, with the smaller of her guest staterooms located around its perimeter. Her galley is open to this area as well.

There is no single centerpiece component inside, as everywhere you look, there is an amazing characteristic or feature to absorb. Her massive deck beams, whale chopping block coffee table, old growth redwood burl dining table, massive butterfly hatches, and collection of differing wood species are some of the highlights. Her bulkheads are made of planking from the old Windsor Hotel ballroom floor in New York, her countertops of redwood, along with more bronze fitments, lighting, and hardware. Care has been taken to conceal her modern systems, so that as technology comes and goes, the ship is not disturbed, and the experience remains the same from decade to decade.

As those that have experience in owning and maintaining vessels move through her, they notice the lack of need for repairs, due to her superb condition.

Her owner's suite forward occupies fully 30% of her main cabin space and is adorned with a wood burning fireplace, private head, desk, etc. Accented with elephant tusks and burled redwood surfaces, this room offers those aboard an atmosphere like no other. When people come aboard and conversations develop, those conversations always stop when they enter this room, without exception, as the only way to describe reactions as people move to this room is awestruck. Another redwood burl table is centered in this room, and some will notice that the only way it made itself to its home, is when the mast was stepped—through the middle of the table…..I hope you like the table, as the mast is coming out if you don’t! The structure and mass of the vessel is clearly visible here as well. The master suite is far beyond just a place to sleep, it is a living area with seating here and there around the perimeter, and is yet another very spacious gathering place in itself. The master berth is fully 6 by 8 feet in size. This is also the room on the boat with the greatest headroom. The fireplace and comfortable seating in this room make this area a wonderful and intimate gathering place.

As you can begin to see here, WN Ragland offers a significant departure from other spartan charter vessels with egg crate style compartmentalized interiors, worn out sail training ships and other Gullet style private yachts in many ways. There are no plywood structures of any kind on WN Ragland. All milled lumber, fine joinery, culminating in a robust, durable, and beautiful yacht. Wood, marble and bronze instead of Formica, veneer, carpet, and Corian.

As far as technical quality, there are no dangling or corroded wires....even the pan under her main engine has dust, and not oil in it. Her systems have all been professionally installed…..all sea worthy and proper. Ragland comes from a different era. She was launched prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, and World War I. She is largely composed of materials which are simply not available at any price today. She is adorned with bronze, thick and clear long board quarter sawn old growth teak, old growth redwood, imported marble, bronze, hand beveled glass, and other materials.

She has sailed the earth for 4 generations, and in her current fine condition, stands ready for many more generations to come. Not just a pretty face, Ragland is ideal to provide a wonderful primary or secondary home, or perform in commercial capacities such as charter work, film work, research, or philanthropic endeavors.

We all have been disappointed after traveling to inspect a vessel which is not in the condition described or advertised. You may rest assured that Ragland is accurately represented and portrayed here, with pictures and descriptions which show her condition today. The Schooner Ragland is an extremely environmentally friendly, globally capable ship.

Her standing rigging is entirely stainless steel. All running rigging, lines, and even dock lines are yacht braid rope, as opposed to the triple strand lines commonly found on other large vessels. Her laminated spars are not only much stronger than solid wood ones, they are much easier to maintain. An issue with a solid wood mast begins at the depths of the “checks” in the wood, as you don’t seal checks. Laminated masts are monitored on their exterior surfaces. This means you can see issues before the become significant, rather than guess at what’s going on in the deepest part of the checks in solid ones.

Built originally of oak, she now has been fitted with 20,000 board feet of pattern grade mahogany in her hull(an entire railroad car full), and her decks and structures are made of quarter sawn heavy teak which varies in thickness from 2 to 4 inches, depending on the application. Your surveyor will not find "soft wood" on Ragland. All of her hatch and window glass is very thick and hand beveled, and also protected by bronze guards.

She has 12 and 32 volt dc systems, as well as 24,000 watts of generation power in both 110 and 220v ac- with her two Northern Lights Gensets…..the finest money can buy. Ragland is not an ignored vessel, tied to a dock for sale. As you board her, those that have spent extensive time on sea going vessels immediately notice that she smells fresh and clean inside(she doesn’t smell like a “boat”)….truly a sound and dry ship.

Her interior speaks for itself with a tasteful, comfortable and artistically inspired environment that one finds difficult to imagine.

Her systems are laid out in a manner which is clearly based on logic and appropriate sea going safety and ease of maintenance. She is, and has been kept, in a condition which allows her owner and guests to depart at literally a moment’s notice, with only enough time needed to fill her food stores and depart. She is ready now to go anywhere from a weekend here in the Pacific Northwest, to any destination that rests under your finger when you stop the globe from spinning on your desk. She is equally suited to provide a wonderful home right where she is on Bainbridge Island on her dock with an unobstructed view of the stunning Seattle skyline.

Life aboard her is delightfully informal, and the perfect place to entertain, providing an experience for your family or guests like no other. She is not pretentious, and it is so nice to have new and old friends come aboard as living and cruising aboard Ragland is just as comfortable as you can imagine. This can only be accomplished in an atmosphere which is like no other. Trendy plastic yachts in this size category, lined with veneers, carpet, and laminates seem to be lost in their focus, beyond the “hey look at me” message of the ostentatious lack of true purpose that they seem to be projecting. Comments of folks that board those vessels usually give the predictable, bland, and obligatory, “wow this is nice” comment.

Every reaction to Ragland is unique inasmuch as she means something different to everyone who boards her----from children with pirate ship day dreams, to non-boating types who are simply taken in by her artistic and authentic presence, to the sea going folks who instantly recognize that it takes more than a laundry list of boat show gadgets to create a truly globally capable, go anywhere vessel. She is viewed by all as beautiful and she also sends a politically correct message as she is fully constructed of environmentally sound materials, and travels in a very responsible and economically efficient manner. Her history provides a special meaning to many as well.

People are comfortable on Ragland. You can wear any kind of shoes you like on her, you can spill a drink, as the decks get hosed off, and as far as experiences for all aboard any vessel go, it is simple--the fewer rules you have, and the less “rule” enforcing to children and other passengers and guests you have to do, the better the experience will be for everyone. She has almost always had a dog on board, and currently does. Even her heads do not require a training session. No differences between the bathrooms aboard and the ones ashore.


Should you choose to charter her out periodically, it would be reasonable to expect revenue in the 5k per day range. As far as crew needs, she attracts the best, and due to her condition, she attracts them for less. There is no shortage of talent who aspire to captain or crew this vessel, and her owner(s) will be able to select the personality which suits their needs best, along with skills appropriate to keeping her the beauty that she is.

I received an e-mail last week for a 65 foot plastic power yacht with the ambiance of a low priced condominium, a sea-born motorhome. No personality, no charm, no global capabilities, and nothing anyone would notice parked in a row of like vessels. Lined with carpet, veneer, and Corian. The ask on the boat is 1.575 mil. I guess those boats have their place in the world, but WN Ragland is for those who shudder at the thought of spending time on one. Ragland is for those who want a truly once in a lifetime experience for themselves, their loved ones, and their guests. How rare it is that one vessel can be the perfect living environment and mode of travel for everyone from heads of state and celebrities, to those in coastal areas in need of disaster assistance. Ragland’s next missions are limited only by your imagination. Thanks for taking a peek at her here, and please enjoy her photographs under the gallery or “full specs” button.