Lenore II
Type: 90-foot express diesel cruiser
Builder: Defoe Boat and Motor Works
Year: 1931
Original owner: Sewell L. Avery
Why this yacht matters: The iconic images of President John F. Kennedy on the fantail of the Honey Fitz — Kennedy renamed the presidential yacht after his maternal grandfather — make this yacht an important part of American history. But she is equally important to yachting history. Steel stringers, frames and bulkheads within her wooden hull were light and strong. A pair of 500-horsepower Winston diesels pushed her above 24 knots. Lenore II ushered in the quest for high-tech fast diesel cruisers.
**
From the pages of Yachting**: She is a new type and for a new purpose and in her is presented a combination of speed and weatherliness. […] She is the busy man’s yacht, able to lop off the miles in short order — a fast cruiser in which to go places in hours snatched at week-ends and on short vacations. — Reginald W. Crowley, June 1932
View the rest of Yachting’s Dozen.
