Stephens Brothers Bridgedeck Cruiser

Sea Breeze is unquestionably one of the finest examples of a 1920-30s bridgedeck cruiser extant and must be seen to be appreciated.

Stephens Bros. was one of the premier American boat builders for almost a century and SEA BREEZE was launched during their heyday. Commissioned by a prominent San Francisco physician, she spent the early years of WW II as an admiral's tender, was conscripted in 1941 by the US Navy, converted to "Hospital Boat YH-4" (ambulance) for duty in San Francisco Bay, then was shipped to the western Pacific in 1945 where she served as an ambulance boat during the battle of Okinawa and was subsequently awarded a combat ribbon and bronze star star for her efforts.

After being shipped back to California and mustered out of the Navy, she was Theo Stephens personal yacht for many years--and being the personal boat of the boatyard owner meant that whenever there was a lull in production the crew worked on her. As well as benefiting from knowledgeable owners since new, she's also been kept either in a covered berth (at Willow Berm for decades) or under a full boat cover her entire life (currently under an $18,000 marvel built by Sausalito Canvas Works).

She has had extensive hull work and deck work. The topsides were painted in 2018, new shafts and struts, two new props, both exhaust manifolds replaced and new chartplotter installed. And had the custom foredeck butterfly hatch beautifully crafted out of teak--it's a work of art that took about 300 hours to build.

A partial list of relatively recent other work includes being repowered in 2000 (with just over 600 total hours on the Chevy 350 CID engines--note she's a rare twin engine model, most boats of this era were single screw), was totally rewired (110V and 12V,) with a new charging system and gel batteries (2021), refastened and painted top to bottom (she looks like she was launched yesterday), modern genset with barely 100 total hours clocked, replaced water tanks, renewed soft goods (carpets, cushions curtains and canvas), updated electronics, cute little Trinka 12' sailing dingy (this Bruce Kirby design looks period but is much more functional) on the bridgedeck with custom davits, brightwork wooded in 2021 and shows flawlessly with most of the metal either polished or rechromed, just hauled and bottom painted in February 2023.