CRAFTSMANSHIP
New Boats
SOUTHWOLD
Suffolk yard restores Silver motoryachts Harbour Marine Services (HMS) in Southwold has had its palms crossed with Silver three times in recent months, with three boats connected with the Scottish builder J A Silver of Rosneath and its designer, manager and eventual owner John Bain. First came Meridies (pictured above), a 40ft (12.2m) Silver Leaf TSDY built in 1937 in teak on oak. She came in for a major refit, and is now just about ready to head off cruising. HMS owner John Buckley says he has some film footage of her keel-laying and original launching. Then Mero, a 1935 36ft (11m) Silverette owned by Jonathan and Annabel Hoseason, came in for a major rebuild. Her hull is now completed and work is progressing on the interior. The Classic Boat Index reveals that in 1997 Mero was being restored, also for Hoseasons Holidays, who had just bought her at Jonathan Greenway’s yard on the Norfolk Broads. Finally, just arrived, is the 46ft (14m) Silver Leaf, built in 1947 but this time by Anderson, Rigden and Perkins in Whitstable, Kent. She needs work on her planks, frames, deck and shaft. Peter Willis
New Amity classic This 23ft (7m) do-it-all GRP gaffer comes from the land Down Under and was the idea of Euan MacDonald of Australiawide Boat Sales. Rather than go for the ‘half cabin, half cockpit’ approach, designer Barry Colson has given the Amity a wide beam (8ft 2in/2.5m) for a huge cockpit able to sleep two either side of the centreboard case. A tent is also available, as is, unusually, a cuddy cabin that can be installed or removed at will. She weighs 1,609lb (730kg) and costs from AUS$35,000-$45,000 (£21,000-£27,000), depending on options.
C/o AUSTRALIAWIDE BoAT SALES
PETER WILLIS
AUSTRALIA
www.amityboats.com.au
KEITH BUCHANAN
KENT
ISLES OF SCILLY
Special delivery This May, the 1907 West Country trading ketch Irene arrived at St Mary’s Quay, carrying two wooden Redwing racing dinghies. Lately, islanders have started a revival led by Keith Buchanan; 10 have already been restored. The new arrivals, Cherokee and Red Breast, will add to the growing fleet. Keith bought Cherokee to save her from decorating a roundabout! Red Breast was donated to the islands’ Redwing Club by supporters of the Scilly Redwing revival in Cornwall.
New racing gaffer North Quay Marine has always steered clear of GRP, sticking to its tried-and-tested Western red cedar strip-planking. The company has been at it 17 years now, but its new 18ft (5.5m) racing gaffer (pictured above), already half built, is a departure from its other boats like the 17 and 19 (stout little yachts essentially), with a light build, planing hull and curved gaff. North Quay’s Ted Spears said the boat has one eye on the increasingly serious business of OGA racing. Her dayboat qualities include a boomless main, camping tent (probably as standard – Ted hates ‘extras’), good stowage, including a lazarette big enough for a 2.3hp Honda or similar, and sleep-aboard ability. At a weight of 882lb (400kg), she will be easy to launch and tow. Price will be around £20,000. www.northquaymarine.co.uk
CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2013
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