FAIREY HUNTSMAN
timber, which is about nine inches lower than the
metal Fairey version.”
Next on the list was to replace the engine hatch
timbers and refurbish the interior. The starboard heads
was given a shower, while a new cooker, fridge, and
basin were installed in the port cabin work surface.
“Overall, it was a much easier job than I imagined. I had
a couple of marine joiners working on it for around six
weeks, which included repainting the hull.”
Tally Ho was built in 1970 and below was trimmed
throughout in teak. “The wonderful thing about teak is
that with a sand and varnish it restores beautifully,”
enthuses Peter. “However, I didn’t want all the surfaces
to be varnished so I painted the fl at panels and retained
the remainder of the teak features to make the interior of
the cabin much lighter.”
Work on Tally Ho was completed about three months
ago though, sadly, Peter and Louise have had precious
little time to enjoy her. “On the occasions we have been
out we’ve had a lot of compliments. It’s perfect for
cruising round the Solent and weekending across to the
Channel Isles. The faired bow shape gives the 31 a much
cleaner entry. It’s dry at speed. We can cruise comfortably
at 22-23 knots and 2,100 revs, peaking at 28-29 knots.
“But that’s not what this boat is about. On one
occasion I took Tally Ho together with a Fairey
Huntsman 28 into Poole harbour to moor up for the
evening. Over the VHF the yacht club said: ‘Sorry we’re
closed’. Then, they saw that we were a couple of Fairey
powerboats and changed their minds, coming back on
the VHF to say: ‘Well, we’re not closed to you’.”
What other motorboat gives you that?Clockwise from top left: new windscreen; twin Sabres; aft
deck is dry at speed; teak panels were painted
much easier
job than I
imagined.
There was
nothing that
was beyond
basic
carpentry”
Peter Morton, main
picture, at the helm
of his Fairey
closely, I realised that it was really just an open cockpit
with a cabin roof and bunks on either side above the
fuel tanks. The tops of the old bunk berths would
become the base for the extended cockpit.”
Fortuitously, the project Peter planned for Tally Ho
coincided with a short lapse in work schedule in his
yard. “I am in partnership with Sir Charles Dunston in
a business called Shemara Refi t LLP,” he explains. “It
was established in 2009 specifi cally to rebuild the
classic motor yacht Shemara. We rented Building 4 at
the old Vosper Thornycroft yard in Porchester.
“When the job was completed we kept the team
together and today we have a 60m dry dock facility at
Ocean Quay in Southampton and a large woodworking
facility in Eastleigh, which is where we undertake the
restoration of classic wooden yachts.”
With the boat up on the hard he could thoroughly
inspect the hull and topsides. “From what I can gather
she’d had a major refi t about 7-8 years ago, which
involved checking and repairing all the soft areas where
Huntsman are prone to suffer. All we found was a tiny
spot of rotting ply on the coach roof, but nothing more.”
On the aft cabin version the cockpit sides were
made slightly higher to align with the roof of the rear
cabin. From the bulkhead forward there is no
difference between the two boats. “Removing the aft
cabin roof turned out to be a two hour task with a
jigsaw,” recalls Peter ruefully. “We then fi tted plywood
to the inside of the cockpit and faired it in with
battens. The biggest job was making the new
windscreen. I didn’t like the original aluminium
screen on the Huntsman so we laminated one out of