DW3'-6"S1"=1FOWNER’S
VIEW
“You are very
conscious of the
elements on a boat
like this. I woke up at
5.30am the other
morning and saw an
otter in the river.”
Stephen Morgan,
ex-owner of the
1946-built Coral II
71
CLASSIC BOAT JUNE 2019T
he Deben Four-Tonner never achieved the
massive popularity or iconic status of, say, the
later Folkboat or Corribee, but it’s one of the
nicest of the small English cabin yachts born
between the end of the Great Depression and the
outbreak of the second world war – and its great looks
and easy nature earned it many fans. Among these small
yachts, typically 18-25ft (5.5-7.6m) were the Blackwater
Sloops, the Lymington L Class, the Vertue, Z4, small
Hillyards and many others. But they didn’t come any
sweeter of line than this, fi rst offered in 1937 by the then
relatively unknown boatbuilder Claude Whisstock, who
went on to build some of Britain’s best post-war yachts.
The design was by William Maxwell Blake (British,
1874-1939) at the behest of Whisstock, who built
66 yachts from 1937 to 1959, when the groundswell
of cheaper build methods such as plywood began to
hunt beauties like this from the water.
The semi-bespoke interior service, along with a
number of different variants (Bermudan or gaff, cutter or
sloop, side decks or raised topsides) give a great variation
to the fl eet, but the essential thing is a small, carvel-built
cabin cruising yacht – a ‘tabloid yacht’ in the parlance of
the era – that might have taken the ‘man in the city’ and
his family for a week or two’s sailing anywhere along
Britain’s coastlines or rivers including, of course,
Suffolk’s Deben River, which the class was named after.
The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers gives nearly
a page to Blake, purely on the strength of the Deben
Four, which it describes thus: “One of England’s
best known small yacht designs, but she may have
acquired some vigour from foreign infl uences. Her
bow has a lot of Norway in it, while broad beam,
wide transom, and fi rm sections seem quite American...
You know you are looking at greatness.”
Viewed from the quayside, that beaminess looks
fl ared and purposeful rather than dumpy, and stepping
aboard, it is apparent that the Deben Four is a bigger
boat than her more typically English peers such as the
Blackwater Sloop or Hillyard Four-Tonner. The fi rst
noticeable thing under sail is what a simple boat this is
to live with. For just over three tonnes on a long keel, a
Deben Four spins easily, an attribute no doubt bolstered
by the slight rocker towards the end of her long, iron
keel. Everything is exactly what, and where, it should
be on a sailing yacht of this era: single-spreader
Bermudan masthead rig, single headsail (often, these
days on a roller/reefer), with sheets running back
via a single lizard to a winch each side of the cockpit,
and a mainsheet on a purchase running on a steel
horse above the tiller. Everything falls to hand where
you want it; there is no centreboard and no running
backstays to worry about and the helm is very light
and neutral, tugging urgently but not boorishly, in
stronger gusts working to windward. The lightness
of all the gear is confi dence inspiring and relaxing,
particularly on a run, where the relative lack of
consequence of a crash gybe enables sailing dead
downwind. The Deben Four under sail is just lovely
and easy, a simple rock in an ever-changing world.
The good news continues below decks. The
interiors were originally very varied but, again thanks
to that greater than average beam, space is generous
for a yacht this size, and an insight into how a family
of four really could have cruised a yacht like this in
the days before en-suite heads and owner’s cabins.
Coral II, a typical example, has done away with the
vee-berth and (optional) quarter berths, meaning a
spacious forepeak for sail stowage and heads (on a
boat this size, you stick your head out into the air and
pretend to be taking in the view!), two proper saloon
bunks, a reasonable galley to port and chart table to
starboard. It also yields very capacious cockpit lockers
back on deck. The overall effect of the compromise is
a great feeling of space, not common on a 22-footer.
These days, Deben Fours come up for sale with
reasonable regularity. Around £5,000 is the usual
price for a good one, much less of course for a wreck,
and occasionally a little more for a really good one.
The usual caveat applies (get a survey if you want to
know what you’re buying), but there are no hidden
horrors, as these are simple boats, without the
complication of a centreboard and with a low-stress rig.
NEXT MONTH: The Corribee
Two on the market
£6,500 Snow DropBuilt 1930,
“complete” restoration in 2015.
10hp Beta diesel,
Lying Penzance, Cornwall
gweekquay.co.uk
£510 Leading WindBuilt 1938,
sold as seen, but with a 60-hour
Yanmar 1GM10 and good sails in
storage. Lying Bosham, West
Sussex boats-from.co.uk
DEBEN
FOUR-TONNER
LOD
22ft (6.7m)
LW L
19ft (5.8m)
BEAM
7ft 4in (2.2m)
DRAUGHT
3ft 6in (1.1m)
DISPLACEMENT
3.25 tonnes
J
A
K
E
S
U
G
D
E
N
/
C
B
A
R
C
H
I
V
E
S