If you are in Europe and would like to try out a Spray before building or buying one for yourself ..
Contact http://www.spray-charter.com/

"Did you know that the first Brazilian sailor to complete the globe circumnavigation on solitaire did it in a Bruce Roberts 36 Sailboat ? His name is Aleixo Belov in 1982 . The boat was the "Tres Marias" built for himself. And he completed two more laps to the world with the same boat." 

Luiz Carlos S. Silva   Campinas(SP) - Brasil

One of the several accommodation boat plans that can be used in the Spray 36 - You can choose and modify the accommodation to suit your own requirements.

SPRAY 36 A
Steel, Aluminum, Fiberglass or Wood Epoxy

Here are some pictures of our Spray 36 "Taranea Spray". Taranea Spray was built by me, Hans Jurgen Hoernicke in Västerås, Sweden.

Hello, I built a fiberglass 36 Spray and launched in '92. What a great boat she has Been !   I originally bought a running rigging STEEL OR ALUMINUM PLANS & CUTTING FILES from you. Thanks, Chris Beidler, Florida, USA

SPRAY 36 A
Steel, Aluminum, Fiberglass or Wood Epoxy

We sailed her for the first time in 1998 and all I can say is that Spray 36 was the right choice. Last summer we travelled from Stockholm, Sweden to Hamburg, Germany.
Hans Jurgen Hoernicke.

WANT TO SAIL ON A SPRAY 36 ?
http://www.spray-charter.com/

Her balance is fantastic, we are very satisfied." Regards, Hans Jurgen Hoernicke.

WANT TO SAIL ON A SPRAY 36 ?
http://www.spray-charter.com/

Here see what happens when you turn one of our drawings into reality ... this fine example of the Spray 36 built by Adam and Barbara Szczurowski proves the point.

Bruce,  Thank you for your quick reply. I've been having some paint problems and this information will be of great help!!

I built " Tequila Mockingbird " in my backyard in Denver, Colorado USA. over a 10 year period. We trucked the boat to San Carlos, Mexico in 2007 and launched her. We've been living aboard full time since then. I chose the pilothouse version and have been very happy with the choice. We've been through 2 hurricanes and have never been worried about the boat handling any conditions we've encountered. 

I've attached a couple of pictures, the first was taken as Tequila Mockingbird being craned out of the back yard , the start of it's trip to Mexico. The other picture was taken in Agua Verde which is on the Baja Penisula here in Mexico.

Thanks again for the zinc info'   Ed Kennedy

Here we see two of the several accommodation boat plans that can be used in the Spray 36 - You can choose and modify the accommodation to suit your own requirements.

NOTE: We now have an excellent set of construction photos plus many photos of completed Sprays that are available with the STUDY PLAN PACKAGES.

This is one of the most popular versions of this cruising sailboat.

Hello Bruce, I promised you some images of the boat in its' current state.  The exterior is coated with light grey epoxy primer, on top of  that below the water line is pitch-epoxy.  The 10mm thick toughened glass windows have all been installed along with the Vetus vents.  Two of these will be covered with the Vetus dorade box and have a nice stainless steel cowl ventilator. 

I have them but I'm afraid to mount them till it's in the water because of possible theft.  You can see from the images that the boatyard is a pretty rough place along the Thames.  Check out my 316 s.s. fabriCATAMARANed bowsprit!  I have more to add to it to accommodate the anchor rollers.

Thanks for getting Edgar in Holland to help me with the rudder hydraulic cylinder sizing, he was very efficient and logical.  The 48hp turbo-diesel Bukh is mounted and aligned along with the prop shaft.  All four stainless steel tanks have been installed, diesel, water, black and grey water.  I've had the majority of the interior framework welded in, including all five door frames. 

I am installing a 5kw Mastervolt generator right behind the pilot station.  You can't beat these Dutch when it comes to making things for boats! I have configured both a forward and a stern head along with passage way doors to pass through the engineroom back to the stern berth.  I'll send you some interior
shots so you can see what that looks like.  Thanks for all you help and advice.  Kind Regards, Dave

DAVE'S PHOTOS AND HUNDREDS OF OTHERS for each material - STEEL, ALUMINUM, FIBERGLASS & WOOD EPOXY as applicable to the particular boat plan - with up THE STUDY boat plans ON DOWNLOAD

Here we see just one of the several accommodation boat plans that can be used in the Spray 36 - You can choose and modify the accommodation to suit your own requirements.

Bow and stern view of the Spray 36 C

"Sarwaya" Owned by Andy and Meredyth Haris  This is what it is all about. "Sarwaya" at anchor off one of the many Balearic Islands.

Spray 36 "Diane" Built in Australia

Spray 36 "Uvea"

Spray 36 "Hopeful"

Anyway, so much for the present, let me give you a brief history of Blue-Belle to date. In 1987 I was looking for a long distance load carrier, big enough to cross an ocean comfortably, but small enough to be easily maintained. I purchased the boat plans of your Spray 33 and began building on the south coast of England.

Due to working abroad, I didn't launch her until 1992. She is built in 4 mm steel and is hot metal sprayed with aluminum both inside and out. She is as per your version B boat plans a part from lengthening her to 34 feet on deck, in order to incorporate a double self stowing anchor roller assembly. Upon completion she was then stored ashore for a further four years while I was away earning the cruising fund.

Her maiden voyage was in the autumn of 1996 London to Antalya/Turkey aprx. 3500 miles single handed. I hadn't fitted any self steering as yet, so this first long passage was a good test of the Spray's legendary self steering qualities. If you take care to balance the sails she will steer herself for amazingly long periods of time. In Antalya my Wife and I were married and we moved on board to begin our full time cruising life style. Now I really did begin to appreciate the Spray's load carrying capability, I have never seen so much stuff poured into just one boat.

We spent two full seasons cruising the Med and in September 2000 departed Portugal for the Cape Verde Islands via the Canary Islands. December the 1st found us leaving Mindelo/Cabo Verde and bound for Barbados. We still didn't have any self steering fitted, but then again neither did Slocum. No problem. Blue-Belle took 16 days to make the 2037 mile crossing, that's an average of 127 miles per day. Her best days run being 147 miles. For a heavily laden cruising boat with a 28 ft water line she could certainly turn in a decent passage time. We were delighted with her. We also found that running downwind she didn't roll as much as other boats I'd sailed under similar conditions.

Maybe the chines have something to do with this. We spent the next 2,5 years cruising the Caribbean, Bahamas and the US Intracoastal Waterways. The Spray's shoal draft was paying dividends. June 2003 and we were on our way back across the Atlantic. We did purchase wind wane steering gear in the states, but were so busy being tourists, we didn't have time to fit it. I think that only the crew of a Spray would contemplate carrying their self steering gear as deck cargo prior to an Atlantic crossing.

Our North Atlantic Passage was the usual mix of gales, calms, and occasionally some decent sailing. However we ate well, slept well and apart from blowing out the genoa suffered no damage. In Spain my wife had to fly home to cover a family emergency. So once again I single handed to Turkey, finally arriving to the fabulous reception mentioned earlier. This winter we intend to haul out and I will finally get round to fitting the Wind vane and steering gear. For as my wife says "It will look so much nicer dear, hanging on the transom".

In conclusion we find the Spray to be a wonderful sea boat, and is a lot faster than she looks. When running in gale force conditions we find that our heavy weather staysail, sheeted flat amidships (a technique used by Slocum in his book) works well. The bow showing no tendency to dig in despite all the weight we carry up forward. One mistake we made in the early years was in reefing her down too early; the boat is very stiff and sails well in heavy weather.

In storm conditions when it is more prudent to stop and we either heave to or lie to a parachute anchor streamed from the bow and attached to a bridle led back to a cockpit winch. In this manner we feel safe and secure. So, would we part with our Spray? Would we change her for something else? No - not ever. After 8 years and 35.000 miles we finally have our ultimate cruiser.

Thanks Bruce, you gave us a great boat.
Kindest regards,

Derek & Hulya
S/Y Blue-Belle