See boats for sale at classicboat.co.uk/buy-a-classic-boat
Sam Heard’s company Gaffers and Luggers – based at the top of Mylor
Creek near Falmouth, Cornwall – currently has a range of 13 traditional GRP
boats, many of which were originally built by his late grandfather Terry and
father Martin.
Firstly, there are the rowing punts, which come in three sizes. The first
was the 14-footer (4.3m), built by Terry in 1987 when he took a mould off a
late 19th-century boat built by Frank Hitchens. Smaller boats of the same
pedigree subsequently formed the starting point for 12ft (3.7m) and 10ft
(3m) versions. Almost 100 of these have now been built. Sam’s range also
includes the 20ft (6.1m) Tosher. Martin took the first of these to
Douarnanez, Brittany, in 1988 and immediately sold 20 of them. There is a
16ft (4.9m) Clovelly Picarooner (available as a motorboat or as a gunter-
rigged sailing boat), then a 15ft (4.6m) Cornish rowing skiff and the 11ft
(3.4m) French punt, the mould for which was taken off a Breton dinghy
found abandoned on the beach in nearby Mevagissey 20 years ago. The
prototype for one of the newest boats in the range is inspired by Sam’s
own family: a 5ft (1.5m) rowing boat that he initially built for his now-four-
year-old daughter who chose the name herself – the Dinki.
Gaffersandluggers.co.uk
New Classics
GAFFERS AND LUGGERS
The open boats
Main picture: Morwennel 20ft Tosher, base price
£40,000 plus VAT; Above top: 12ft rowing dinghy,
base price £3,000 plus VAT; Above: Dinki, base
price £1,000 plus VAT