Lionheart's J-Class rules call for new boats to be built only from 20 designs created between 1930 and 1937 (although the deck and deckroom layouts can be anything, as long as the exterior remains in the style of the era in question). To create Lionheart, the bureau of Andrew Hoyk analyzed the contours of all 20 designs, then paid special attention to the best five of them. The fastest design was one of the designs developed by Olin Stephens for the Ranger project which was adopted as the largest J-Class boat. Lionheart is designed to race and charter at the same time, so she was built with the MCA classification in mind. She will be one of very few J-Class yachts available for charter, as most do not qualify for commercial yachts. Lionheart was the first J-Class yacht to receive a two superstructure deck layout. Unlike some of her other class sisters, she received a very simple interior, as the owner is confident she will spend 90% of her time upstairs.
