GREAT EXPECTATIONS
The total build cost (including building the shed and renting the
site) came in at £45,000, but of course that doesn’t account for the
labour. “The economics of it were not good from a commercial
point of view,” says Tom wryly, before adding, “But that was
never the point. It proves that you can achieve an awful lot for
a reasonable amount of money. And with epoxy coating of the
wood inside and out, we’ve got the advantages of a GRP boat but
with the character of wood. We could have fi tted out a GRP hull
and deck, but it would never have been exactly what I wanted, and
it would have cost £26,000 for the hull and deck alone.”
“We could have cut some costs,” adds Lorraine. “We didn’t have
to have a teak-laid cockpit, for example. But we wanted it, so...”
Motive power is via a Beta Marine 4-cylinder 35hp diesel,
an identical motor to the one that served them so well for over
20 years in Selene. (Cunningly, the wheelhouse door aperture is
carefully confi gured to be just a couple of inches wider than the
engine, meaning that in a worst-case scenario, the entire motor
can be removed from the boat without dismantling either it or
the boat.) Begging the obvious question, how does it go, and has
it lived up to expectations?
“For us, this is the perfect boat. She has proven
to be better than we’d hoped. The MK I is always
the one with the problems, but she doesn’t
appear to have any. She’s an excellent sea boat,
she’s easy to handle and she’s economical. Topspeed is 8 knots, with a cruising speed of 7 knots using two
and a half litres per hour.”
So far Thea hasn’t been further than Salcombe, but the intention
is to retrace their favourite cruising route, which is along the south
coast to the Scilly Isles and up to Ireland. “We will get over to
France,” says Lorraine, “but we have a slight restriction. Our cat
comes cruising with us, and even with the new passport scheme,
it’s diffi cult to return from France with him on board.” The boat
is already proving its worth as a sea boat. “She holds the water
really well. Coming back from Salcombe there was quite a big race
around Start Point, and she went through it like it wasn’t there.”
So is this it, or is there a further boat left to come? Tom smiles.
“I think we’ve done enough boatbuilding for now; it’s time for us
to just enjoy some boating.”^“We could have fi tted out a GRP hull and deck but
it would never have been exactly what I wanted”The 35hp Beta 4-cylinder
diesel is good for 8 knots and
burns just 2.5 litres per hourThe realisation of a
dream – and a huge
amount of hard work
THE DATA
LENGTH 30ft 0in (9.1m)
BEAM 11ft 0in (3.3m)
FUEL CAPACITY
47 imp gal (215 litres)
DISPLACEMENT 4.75 tonnes
ENGINE Beta Marine
35hp diesel engine
CRUISING SPEED 7 knots
BUILT 2016
BERTHS 2+2HOME-BUILD PROJECT