Practical Boat Owner – June 2019

LOA 6.17m 20ft 3in

LWL 6.10m 20ft 0in

Beam 2.49m 8ft 2in

Draught

(boards up) 0.20m 0ft 8in

Displacement 1,000kg 2,205lb

Price today £6,000-£12,000

rfoa.org.uk

Red Fox 200E

1990

To my mind this still rates as one of the

best ever 20ft cruisers. Designer David

Thomas created a flat-bottomed innovative

trailer sailer that combines good

performance and handling with great

accommodation for a boat of its size.

The twin lifting dagger boards are an

important part of the design – they are far

less intrusive on the interior than a single

lifting keel and have an asymmetric shape

that generates lift to windward. With the

boards fully retracted the boat floats in just

8in (20cm) of water and can easily be

floated onto a trailer.

As well as providing good form stability,

the relatively wide beam also provides

plenty of accommodation space, including

up to four berths, a small galley and a

separate heads compartment aft by the

companionway. The biggest downside is

that there is only sitting headroom.

If you can find one, an example with twin

rudders will track better and hold its

course more easily when powered up in

gusty conditions. Early boats were built of

plywood and while some of these have

been maintained to a very high standard

throughout their lives, it would be prudent

to be wary of those that look rough and

are therefore a potential project.

Later a daysailer version with larger

cockpit but smaller interior, the 200S, was

offered. A few boats were also produced

with twin keels. A 23ft version was also

developed, with significantly larger

accommodation, including decent

headroom, though not as many were sold

and they can be hard to find on the

second-hand market.

Red Fox 200E, ‘one of the

best ever 20ft cruisers’

A yacht to take you

almost anywhere: the

Hallberg-Rassy 34

(see page 22)

Popular Classics – 1990s

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In the 1980s production engineering
principles that had originated in
Japan’s hyper-efficient motor
industry were becoming widely
implemented across Europe, though
the marine industry was slower than
many to adjust. Nevertheless, by the
mid- to late-1990s the large
boatbuilders had introduced
streamlined production processes
that reduced the price of boats and
ensured a more consistent quality.
Among the factories I visited at this
time were Bavaria and Westerly. The
latter had a team of half a dozen
people working with jigsaws inside
each boat to fit out the interiors.
Bavaria, however, had a fully
productionised process, with timber
cut and lacquered by CNC machines,
before being assembled into modules
that could be dropped straight into a
hull. It’s a hugely more efficient
process that saves a vast amount of
factory labour, reduces lead times
and, if done correctly, ensures
consistent quality – something that
was often lacking in earlier boats.
The drop in the labour costs of
fitting out a boat made larger craft
proportionately cheaper, while many
small boats suddenly started to look
expensive, especially those built in
low numbers.

Trend: production

engineering