Category: Motor yachts and boats

Yard news from HJ Mears: a new Beer lugger completed and a 16ft launch started

 

Alex Mears writes to say that November saw the completion of a new Beer lugger by Seaton company HJ Mears Boatbuilders.

She’s built in larch on oak, and has over 7ft beam on her 16ft length – so she’s very broad.

Alex says: ‘All of our boats are beamy because they are beach boats. To make the task of beach launching easier you want fairly flat bottomed, beamy boats with substantial bilge keels. Hence all of our boats fit this spec for the beaches around here – namely Beer, Seaton, Sidmouth, Branscombe and further afield.’

He reckons The red top strake on the new boat will help distinguish her during the close racing at Beer.

 

I asked whether she will win in the racing… ‘Well there are carvel boats, with larger sail sizes that in addition have a longer waterline length – so she could win, but only in handicap races. The Beer luggers are actually quite a wide ranging collection of boats and people, and Hannah will fit in happily somewhere amongt the fleet.’

‘It’s great to be adding to the fleet of Beer luggers and continuing the traditional boatbuilding in a traditional craft. We are lucky to have appreciative customers who ultimately keep the tradition going by paying our wages!

‘She will be moored at Lyme Regis and compete with the Beer Luggers on Monday nights during the summer.

‘The owner is someone who has followed our work for many years and previously owned a Ron Lavis built clinker boat. Ronb was an Exmouth boatbuilder who trained with my grandfather.

‘The appeal of the Beer lugger for this particular owner is the flexibility- he can sail her, he can fish from her, he can go potting for lobsters with her, or go for picnics on the beach, etc. She is multi purpose and the history of these boats has proved that strongly.’

The third boat is of the latest mahogany on oak Mears 16ft launch after ribbing. As Alex remarks, she’ll need a lot of riveting, but the ribbing was fun, as it always is.

PS – HJ Mears recently had a visit from local photographer Matt Austin, who took some stunning shots. If you’re on Facebook, check them out!

 

A robbery – but was the evidence what it seemed to be?

Widebeam canal and river cruiser sailer Ian Buchanan has kindly written in with a scenario that will be familiar to many boat owners…

‘It was almost dawn on a chilly December weekend morning. Still in my pyjamas I hear the house phone ring: ‘Hello I am a dog walker and just passed your widebeam and its been broken into. One of your boat’s windows is smashed.’

‘Thanks everso, I said. And rapidly threw on some clothes and headed off to our treasured nature reserve mooring.

‘While I was on the way my wife rang the local police and they said they’d quickly send forensics from twenty miles away, which seemed impressive.

‘I didn’t have to wait long. I met the police man in a van at the Reserve’s gate and we went aboard to view the carnage.

‘All the tinned food had gone and my treasured booze cupboard was empty bar one small bottle.

‘I said to the forensic guy: ‘Look over there on the floor near the sink, is that blood?’

‘”Wow, DNA,” I thought “we’ll catch the bastards.”

‘The forensics guy looked at it. “No, that’s not quite the right colour,” he said.

‘I won’t tell you what was in that bottle beyond giving you the clue that it was what my parents used to make their gin go pink… The varmints, obviously of a younger generation, didn’t like it one bit and must have spat it out on the floor…

‘As it turned out, there was no usable forensic evidence to collect: no finger prints and no clues, and the robbers were not caught – but they also visited three other nearby cruisers and took leisure batteries, expensive river fishing gear and even an inverter.’

Thanks Ian – yup, it’s a common enough problem that we can all relate to. I hope it doesn’t happen again!

Stirling & Son repair and restoration of 72ft motor yacht Aquatic Life

Here’s a galllery (in no particular order) of an amazing large and thorough repair and restoration job by Stirling & Son. It’s one of those ‘how the other half boats’ moments, but impressive with it, and looking at the photos you can just smell the wood and other materials…

Will Stirling writes:

‘In May this year the 72ft Silver’s motor yacht Life Aquatic was re-launched after an 18-month restoration at Stirling and Son’s No. 1 Covered Slip at Plymouth.

‘To give you an idea of the extent of the work, every bolt was driven out and replaced and I’ve calculated that if all the seams were laid end to end the caulking gang would have raked out and re-caulked a continuous line from the yard to Plymouth city centre.

‘The Gardner 6LXB engines were restored to zero hours by Mike Harrison of Gardner Marine Diesels.

‘Following sea trials in the south west during June, we delivered her from Plymouth, via the Pillars of Hercules, to Monte Carlo where she will be based for the forseeable future.

‘I thought on a personal note you might be interested in a slide show of the job – it is something of a change from the building of the Alert that you followed a few years ago! Hope all is well, Will’

Thanks Will! I trust you’re having a great summer.