Advice on Golden Hind 31

PEEJAYSEA

PEEJAYSEA

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Hi

Can anyone give any information / guidance on the MG Golden Hind 31?

I am seriously considering one as a first time purchase but would like to get some forumite advice / guidance.

Anyone sailed one?

I have had a trawl through the Eventides website already.

Many thanks
Paul
 
Sailed a couple many years ago. Both seriously refurbished.

One for a week/10 day long trip from the Solent to the Isles of Scilly
One cross channel for a long weekend.

Not what you would call fast ! But seaworthy enough to cross the channel in a force 9 with confidence.

One had been improved by adding a bowsprit and cutter rig and, IIRC, with a self tacking jib.

High cabin top gives lots of shelter in the cockpit but visibility forward then difficult for anyone on the short side

One had had the engine shifted back to give a bit more space in the cabin.

If an old, heavy, slow, but seaworthy plywood triple keeler is your dream then yes good boat. ( also GRP and steel ones IIRC)

BTW there are two Eventide websites. The Eventide Owners Association and the Eventide Owners Group as the result of a serious disagreement between committee members some years ago.
 
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golden hinds

As far as I know the Golden Hinds were built by Terry Erskine Yachts in Plymouth based on drawings from Maurice Griffiths; so they had a lot of similarities to the Eventide and Waterwitch designs. My father built one from steel and sailed it for years around the med quite successfully, they found it a very good safe and comfortable liveaboard. I think the pukka Terry Erskine GHs were built from marine ply so you would eed a good survey to make sure that after all this time your intended purchase is structurally sound. Hope this helps
 
There are several iterations of the design. They all have the same basic characteristics of sure, steady seakeeping and (for the times) spacious interiors. The first were 28'6" single chine, built by Hartwells and very similar to an Eventide - my Eventide was built by Hartwells about 2 years before the first GH. After less than 20 boats MG re-drew with more length beam and double chined hull. All were built in ply and many were either Cascover sheathed or later with glass cloth epoxy. Terry Erskine who was the manager took over building in the mid 70's and the majority were built by him, mostly in ply but then with a GRP hull and wood top.

Demand, particularly from the US collapsed in the mid 80's and the moulds ended up on the south coast where a few were built. Then Mark Urry, who ran the owners association bought the moulds and built a further 5 (2 for himself) in Dorset For various reasons he had to give up and sold the rights and moulds to a yard in Suffolk.

Although basically sound there are some well known weaknesses, particularly in the early ply boats. Although the later Erskine boats are superb examples of semi custom building, earlier boats were rather crude and many have been "messed about" over the years.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
 
Hello,

Apologies to resurrect an old thread but I saw one of these recently and was intrigued - a 31 footer that can take the ground is a lot bigger than the 26/27 foot bilge keelers I have been looking at with a view to buy.

Does anyone have any recent information to add to the above? Also, can some kind soul give me an idea of the yearly running costs for a 31' marine ply boat that's forty years old (not including mooring/marina fees). Just how much more expensive is it to maintain a 'proper' boat as opposed to a 26' boat with smaller sails, smaller lines, smaller engine, smaller chain etc?

Oh yeah, how strong is encapusulated marine ply as opposed to GRP - and does it need more maintenance than GRP?

Many thanks!
 
snappy said:
As far as I know the Golden Hinds were built by Terry Erskine Yachts in Plymouth based on drawings from Maurice Griffiths; so they had a lot of similarities to the Eventide and Waterwitch designs. My father built one from steel and sailed it for years around the med quite successfully, they found it a very good safe and comfortable liveaboard. I think the pukka Terry Erskine GHs were built from marine ply so you would eed a good survey to make sure that after all this time your intended purchase is structurally sound. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Thought they were built by Rossiter's of Christchurch.
 
snappy said:
As far as I know the Golden Hinds were built by Terry Erskine Yachts in Plymouth based on drawings from Maurice Griffiths; so they had a lot of similarities to the Eventide and Waterwitch designs. My father built one from steel and sailed it for years around the med quite successfully, they found it a very good safe and comfortable liveaboard. I think the pukka Terry Erskine GHs were built from marine ply so you would eed a good survey to make sure that after all this time your intended purchase is structurally sound. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

IIRC he then went to build steel ones in Malta.
 
alant said:
Thought they were built by Rossiter's of Christchurch.
Click to expand...

No. That was the similar looking Pintail and Curlew. Golden Hinds were built by Hartwells, then Terry Erskine, who built the majority and finally golden Hind Marine (Mark Urry), with a few odd ones built by individuals from mouldings.
 
In 1978 I ordered a Golden Hind 31 from Terry Erskine Yachts, and took delivery in Plymouth in February 1979 after retiring from the US Air Force with the intent of circumnavigating. To learn rough weather sailing and coastal navigation in rapidly changing and strong coastal currents, a person from the Royal Western Yacht Club took my wife and myself under his wing to teach us by sailing with us up and down the English Channel and making several crossings of the heavily trafficked ship channels to French coastal towns and the Channel Islands. We left in August 1979 only to be caught in the Bay of Biscay 40 miles after rounding Ushant enroute to Cape Finnesterre. We gradually stripped the deck and sails below, and lay ahull quartering up the 50 - 60 ft. breaking waves. We were knocked down a couple times and rolled upside down once by an extra large surf-style breaking wave only to be brought back up by the back side of the wave. Terry had recommended the shorter ocean sailing mast and the extra quartering aft shroud, which I firmly believe prevented us from losing the mast. After riding the storm, lashed in our quarter berths during the entire time after removing all sails, the only damage resulting was torn cockpit weather cloths on the port side of the cockpit.

Over the next 8 years, we put over 50,000 miles total, with over 40,000 ocean miles. As far as I am concerned, The MG designed and Terry Erskine built Golden Hind 31 is one of the best ocean and coastal cruising sailboat for a couple. In addition to its sensible and safe cruising/sailing attributes, it has more storage space for long distance cruising than sailboats 6 - 7 feet longer. We could easily store over 6 months worth of provisions as well as necessary and common equipment. I sold the boat, "HALEKAI", only when I had to go back to Texas to care for elderly and very sick parents. We surely miss her and hope that she is keeping her new owners safe.

Jim & Kitty Haynes
 
" We left in August 1979 only to be caught in the Bay of Biscay 40 miles after rounding Ushant enroute to Cape Finnesterre. We gradually stripped the deck and sails below, and lay ahull quartering up the 50 - 60 ft. breaking waves. We were knocked down a couple times and rolled upside down once by an extra large surf-style breaking wave only to be brought back up by the back side of the wave." - JimHaynes



Not around the 14th by any chance!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3886000/3886877.stm
 
GH 31 Construction

Fittster said:
Are some of them constructed out of GRP?
Click to expand...

Most of the Golden Hind 31's built by Terry Erskine were solid GRP hulls (quite thick by today's standards), with GRP clad marine ply decks.

That is what mine was, Sail Number 183.

Jim Haynes
 
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