Classic_Boat_2016-05

CRAFTSMANSHIP

Harbour Marine Services has become the top

shop for antique twin-screw motor yachts – but

it’s not all they do

STORY AND PHOTOS STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

DIESEL POWER

S

outhwold seems calculated to

instil wanderlust – or rather,

‘settlelust’ – in anyone who goes

there, particularly in the weak, the

tired, the poor, the huddled masses –

Londoners. The harbour runs along the north

side of the River Blyth towards the

sea, with wooden riverside jetties tethering a

variety of characterful old vessels. Ashore, a

fi shmonger sells fi sh straight off the boats

(Grumpy Old Git T-shirt, no card machine).

At the centre of it all are the Harbour Marine

Services (HMS) buildings, comprising the boatyard,

chandlery and a café with fi shing nets draping the

entrance. As we noted in our last yard visit fi ve years ago

(CB273), they look as old as the ancient tarred-wood

fi shermen’s sheds that surround them but were in fact

built in 1991 for the then 24-year-old John Buckley, who

had set up shop there years earlier, after graduating from

IBTC. The sheds themselves in deep, matt black, are a

triumph of design and sucked in the bright March sun

on our visit, making a cool oasis for the eye.

Since that visit, HMS has been extraordinarily busy

and has concreted its position as, these days, probably

the yard to take on the restoration of a mid-sized, mid

20th-century motor yacht or a “TSDY” as John calls

them, referring to their Lloyd’s appelation (twin-screw

diesel yacht). At the moment there are four of them in

varying stages of readiness.

Pick of the bunch is Magyar, a 45ft (13.7m) double-

ended, stepped-sheer beauty built by Saunders-Roe (Isle

of Wight) in 1939. She’s undergoing a restoration whose

attention to detail is almost unparalleled. The owner, a

classic car enthusiast who also owns a highly original

1929 Bentley, is logging and photographing every single

item that goes into the boat in order to produce a 3-D

drawing showing what is original and what is not. John

encourages owners to become involved in the process,

not least so they can understand how much work is

involved, something that helps with a sensible

interpretation of the bill. In most respects, this

restoration is a case of “save what you can and replace

like with like where you can’t” but there are always areas

where the lessons of history can’t be ignored, one of

them being the insubstantial backing pads to which the

propshaft brackets were screwed. “They thought they

were building fl ying boats,” says John, referring to

Saunders and Roe’s impossibly romantic bread and

butter work of that era. This has been remedied

with a proper fl oor. Internally, a few tweaks have

been made, as they almost always are. The

reduction in size of marine diesels, the increase

in the need for tankage and the increased

expectations of luxury these days, even the

increase in size of human beings, mean there are

very few boats (sailing or power) that still have

original interiors. Her teak-on-rock-elm hull has

survived intact and Magyar has the potential to set

the bar for a boat of this sort when she is re-launched.

The two boats of similar size to her right show the

development of TSDYs over the next three decades.

Liseta is a 1957 Itchenor Shipyard-built boat, more

angular in style but with a strong period appeal and

Malvon, the next along, is a 1963 boat, with all the

curvy appeal of the age. In all three cases, the boats are

carvel planked and fully timbered – no sawn frames.

And in all cases, the damage has been caused by

freshwater ingress through the decks. The basic MO here

is to restore the boats to strong structural condition (often

stronger than original) to enable proper seagoing capability

• owners of vessels like this cruise all around Europe –
  but with modern systems like holding tanks that are
  required by law, and others that are required for comfort.
  Malvon, for instance, will be a liveaboard capable of
  making passage. The fourth TSDY is Revel, a Rampart
  of similar size and vintage receiving a near-rebuild.
  In the next shed there are two very special sailing
  yachts. The fi rst is a Herreshoff 12.5 dayboat planked in
  cheap slab-sawn larch, meaning every plank has cupped.
  This would normally be terminal, but John will ‘re-skin’
  her to save her frames and interior. He mentions this
  tricky replanking job in the same tone most of us would
  use to describe repainting a bedroom. Then there is the
  100-A1 Lady Hamford (“I saved the best till the end”).
  A 39ft (11.9m) Buchanan sloop of 1962, she is a result
  of the swansong of British wooden yacht building and
  design (Alan Buchanan). We’ll be doing a feature soon, so
  no need for too much detail here, but it’s worth noting
  that the owner’s last boat was a GRP yacht.
  Outside and afl oat are three John Bain-designed
  ‘Silver’ TSDYs and an MFV, all previous or ongoing
  HMS jobs. It’s an extraordinary list, particularly when
  you consider that it’s almost all done in-house, which is
  probably the secret of the yard’s success.

YARD VISIT

HARBOUR

MARINE

SERVICES

“

Wooden

boat

owners

want their

boats to

look like

plastic.

Plastic

boat

owners

want their

hulls to

look like

wood

”