CLASSIC BOAT OCTOBER 2016 35LADY OF HAMFORD
LOA
37ft 3in
(11.35m)
LWL
26ft 5in
(8.05m)
BEAM
9ft 7in (2.92m)
DRAUGHT
6ft 2in (1.88m)
the keel. “I’ve seen that only once before in 30 years of
handling restorations,” he said.
Lady of Hamford’s rig had been altered and was
incorrect, according to John: “The boom was too long
and the mainsail too short and she had an aluminium
mast.” Her mainsheet was also fixed to a fragile track
screwed on the back edge of the cockpit coaming.
The mast is now a keel-stepped, 48ft 6in spruce
hollow spar made by Collars with the original
mainsheet fittings; three blocks, including two on deck;
and anchor points reinstated.
The mainsail luff track, invented by John, is
aluminium instead of brass, which keeps tophamper
weight down, but is bronze-anodised. It allows the
mainsheet slides to run freely, enabling short-handed
sailing. Her masthead sloop rig of mainsail and genoa
are by North and cost £4,718.
Originally she had been fitted with a compass
binnacle which dominated the cockpit. With the boat
being tiller-steered, having the binnacle made cockpit
work a bit of an obstacle course, so it was discarded.
Just abaft the cockpit, John noticed the pushpit
fixings drove down through the rail capping and into
the rail itself – a recipe for rainwater ingress and
potential wet rot. So he took them off and designed
new stainless steel fastenings, which hook around the
rail capping and are fastened beneath. He also
disposed of a plastic hatch at the back of the cockpit
which gives access to the rudder tube and replaced it
with one fabricated at his yard in stainless steel.
Most of the deck fittings; cleats, ventilator cowls and
fairleads are stylishly refurbished in chrome-covered
bronze and the hand-operated anchor windlass has been
replaced with a neatly installed electric version.
He rebuilt the garage behind the main hatch in solid
timber and has fitted Andersen 46 two-speed sheetLADY OF HAMFORD
SAIL AREA
713sq ft
(66.2m^2 )
DISPLACEMENT
7 tonnes
DESIGNER
Alan Buchanan
BUILDER
EW Sutton
(1962)