Tag: boat builders

Simon Papendick starts Anderson, Rigden and Perkins register

Gadfly II on the water pic 2

Professional Essex boat builder, restorer, travelling boat maintenance man and enthusiastic weblogger Simon Papendick (read his stuff here) is setting up a register of vessels built by the Whitstable firm of Anderson, Rigden and Perkins, and is calling for owners to get in touch.

Contact Simon at jstarboatservices1@gmail.com .

The boat photographed above is Simon’s Anderson, Rigden and Perkins-built Gadfly II before its current refit.

Part of the the aim is to demonstrate the range of yachts that Anderson, Rigden and Perkins built, and to provide a forum for yacht owners to get in touch with each other, piece together bits of history, help each other with technical issues and so on.

The company is the subject of a book by Faversham boat builder Alan Staley, but I gather there are gaps in the history because many of the records were burnt in a fire at the boatyard, while other material was destroyed after a local library was unable to provide a home for them.

Looking around the World Wide Web, I notice that there’s this article from The Whitstable Times that neatly summarises the Anderson, Rigden and Perkins’ history – which includes motor boats, vessels for the Admiralty and a lot of repair work during World War II. However, it likely dates from before the period of its success with the well known fibreglass Anderson 22 lifting keel sailing cruiser and racer.

HJ Mears boat builders, Devon

Alex Mears of Seaton boat builders HJ Mears sent over these recent photos of recent jobs in the yard. Here’s what he says:

‘Hello Gavin,

‘I’ve attached a few photos of the 25ft mahogany-built weekender for a chap at Dartmouth. We’re just starting to turn the bilge with the planking, and as a result she’s beginning to show her full Mears-style lines! We’re not known for sleek pieces of furniture; more the traditional beach working and harbour launches that require a sturdy old fashioned build.

‘There’s a couple photos in there of a Beer Lugger in Larch, that’s currently on the stocks too. She’s 16ft with an ample 7ft beam.

‘The owner of the 25ft boat said he came to us as he liked seeing the consistency of our boating lineage since the 40s. He also likes building by eye; as the project can evolve as he desires at every stage. We hope to have her planked and ribbed by new year, provided not too many other jobs get in the way!

‘We’re looking for a completion around July 2014 – it would be earlier but there’s a few commercial fishermen who don’t take ‘not yet’ for an answer!

‘Anyway hope you and your readers find these of interest. Feel free to ask any more questions.

‘Cheers for now,

‘Alex’

It’s worth taking a moment to look at the HJ Mears site, by the way – each of the photos on the home page turns out to be a useful link to ‘Contact’, ‘Restoration and repair’, ‘Moorings’ and so on. It turns out that I’ll be travelling down to Sidmouth in the summer to play for the annual folk festival, so I’m hoping to get a chance to drop by and perhaps shoot a harbour stroll…

Thanks Alex!