List of British yachtbuilders

[Flying Penguin]

People seem to forget that the leggy girl in the brochure doesn't actually come with the boat...

They don't??

Well that's £150k down the drain....

 

[mixmaster]

Personally I don't care where my boat is made as long as it's the best boat for the job at the best possible price.

 

[Glisferox]

I don't know whether they are still around, now that Martin Heard is sadly no longer with us. But there was Tregatreath Boat yard run by Martin who used to build the Heard 28 and 23
http://www.gaffersandluggers.co.uk/

Sam, Martin's son, has taken over Gaffers and Luggers, list of boats here.
http://www.galawebsite.co.uk/news/gaffers-and-luggers-waterings-boatyard

Wes at Nobles said he'd made four Heard 28 masts recently, so he's hopefully doing OK.

Much of the yard is used by Cockwells now, which is another builder for the list.
http://www.cockwells.co.uk/

Tommi Nielsen also
http://www.tnielsen.co.uk/kochi.html

 

[laser45]

Thanks Glisferox - on the list.

Mixmaster - if fewer people were like you then there would be more manufacturing jobs for people here rather than abroad...

 

[lustyd]

The UK boat building industry could/should have been so much bigger and better than it is now, we had designers and skills but no vision. the vision must lie with Benneteau who in 1960 were just a small shed not unlike what we still find in Tichmash but then they also had a co-operative government who could see social boat ownership was a huge economic benefit along with the jobs production provides. The rest is history, too late to turn it back now. Why are UK governments so blinkered?

Have a watch of "Made in Britain" by Evan Davis to find out why. Our economy has moved on and now we concentrate on the higher end higher value manufacturing, as well as doing plenty of other non manufacturing based work. It's not actually a bad thing that we don't manufacture cheap mass production boats because there are still plenty of people here designing them and the parts that make them. A couple of great examples from the show were that we don't make aeroplanes but we do make the £250,000 helmets (that price is each!!!) for the eurofighter pilots. We don't make cheap cars but we do make the new maclaren supercar. We don't make much clothing, but some of our clothing manufacturers are thriving, and many of the people who used to sew are now managing whole factories overseas and over seeing the shipping process.
If all of that isn't enough, have you seen the cost of raw materials here? I couldn't buy the glass to make a Bavaria for the price of a Bavaria! We may have the craftsmen, but these days they are better off working in the design process or overseeing cheaper craftsmen elsewhere. Companies like Cornish Crabbers will thrive only because they make a niche product which attracts a premium, and they make it to a standard which deserves that premium.

 

[halcyon]

. But there was Tregatreath Boat yard run by Martin who used to build the Heard 28 and 23
http://www.gaffersandluggers.co.uk/

Sam, son of Martin, has taken over Gaffer and Luggers, is building boats in a new building at the Mylor Bridge end of Tregatreath Boat yard.

Cockwells have taken over Tregatreath Boat yard now.

Brian

 

[bluemoongaffer]

Wales. Does that count? Swallow Boats: http://www.swallowboats.co.uk/
Nice looking day / weekenders

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I've left out people like Rossiter's, who will still build you one of their designs but haven't done for sometime. There's some very skilled dinghy manufacturers out there too that are excluded.

I'm sure there's more than this though. What's intriguing is just how many powerboat manufacturers there are. I'd expect it to be the other way round.

http://www.pendennis.com/

http://www.broadblue.co.uk/

http://www.mbyachts.co.uk/company.html

http://www.kittiwakeboats.co.uk/

http://www.whisperboats.co.uk/

http://www.simmonsandbroome.com/

http://www.willowbayboats.co.uk/

http://www.ianbrichardson.co.uk/index.html

 

[Crabber24]

David Moss
http://www.wbta.co.uk/members/default.asp?s=3&i=6
http://www.kevingoulding.co.uk/phyllis/rebuild.htm

one-off wooden yachts

 

[JimC]

we don't make aeroplanes

I'm very surprised to learn this as I have been doing precisely that for the past 41 years.
(AVRO, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, British Aerospace, BAE Systems, Airbus)

 

[Bajansailor]

I have added a few more to the list (not intended in any way to steal any thunder from the OP re re-posting the list below) :

Blaxton Boats - http://www.blaxtonboats.co.uk/index.php - dayboats & yachts, power & sail

Bowman/Starlight - http://www.bowmanyachts.com/ - 35-48ft modern GRP yachts

BP Sailboats - http://www.bpsailboats.com/ - Parker 235 GRP day sailer

British Hunter - http://www.britishhunter.co.uk/ - 20-31ft modern GRP yachts

Broadblue - http://www.broadblue.co.uk/ - sailing and power catamarans

Cockwells - http://www.cockwells.co.uk/ - one off wooden yachts

Cornish Crabbers/Mystery - http://www.cornishcrabbers.co.uk/ - 17-30ft GRP pilot-cutter style yachts & 30-43ft traditional-style GRP yachts

David Moss & Kevin Goulding - http://www.wbta.co.uk/members/default.asp?s=3&i=6 & http://www.kevingoulding.co.uk/phyllis/rebuild.htm

Discovery Yachts - http://www.discoveryyachts.com/ - 55-67ft modern GRP cruisers

Farrow & Chambers - http://farrowandchambers.co.uk/index.html - custom wood / epoxy yachts

Fyne Boat Kits - http://www.fyneboatkits.co.uk/ - dinghies, dayboats, kayaks

Gaffers & Luggers - http://www.gaffersandluggers.co.uk/ (and http://www.galawebsite.co.uk/news/gaffers-and-luggers-waterings-boatyard ) - 23-28ft traditional wooden working boats

Gunfleet Marine - http://www.gunfleetmarine.com/ - 43ft modern GRP cruiser

Ian B Richardson - http://www.ianbrichardson.co.uk/ - traditional wooden boats

IRC Boats - http://www.corby29.com/ - 26-33ft racing yachts

J-Boats - http://www.keyyachting.com/j-uk/ - from the J 80 to the J 133

Jeremy Rogers - http://www.jeremyrogers.co.uk/ - Contessa 32 new build

Jordan Boats - http://jordanboats.co.uk/JB/ - plywood kits for day boats

Kittiwake Boats - http://www.kittiwakeboats.co.uk/ - 14' - 20' day boats

MB Yachts - http://www.mbyachts.co.uk/- custom wood/epoxy yachts

Multimarine Composites - http://multimarine.co.uk/ - custom power and sailing multihulls

Nestaway Boats - http://www.nestawayboats.com/page3.htm - only dinghies, not yachts

Oyster - http://www.oystermarine.com/ - 46ft to superyacht modern GRP

Pendennis Yachts - http://www.pendennis.com/ - large custom yachts (including Devonport Yachts)

Peter Nicholls - http://www.steelboats.com/ - 37-65ft steel yachts

Pippin Yachts - http://www.pippin-yachts.com/ - 20ft GRP daysailers

RB Boatbuilding - http://www.pilotcutter.co.uk/ 30-50ft wooden pilot cutters

Rossiter Yachts - http://www.rossiteryachts.co.uk/ - Pintail, Curlew & rowing boats

Rustler Yachts - http://www.rustleryachts.com/ - 24-58ft classic style GRP yachts

Seabird Boats - http://www.woodenboats.uk.com/index.html - wood/epoxy day boats

Simmons & Broome - http://www.simmonsandbroome.com/ - classic day boats

Southerly - http://www.northshore.co.uk/ - 32-67ft modern GRP yachts

Spirit Yachts - http://www.spirityachts.com/ - 37-130ft wooden yachts

Stirling & Son - http://www.stirlingandson.co.uk/ - one off wooden yachts

Swallow Boats - http://www.swallowboats.co.uk/ - Bay Cruisers

T. Nielsen & Company - http://www.tnielsen.co.uk/ - build and restore tall ships

Whisper Boats - http://www.whisperboats.co.uk/ - 12' - 24' gaffers

Willow Bay Boats - http://www.willowbayboats.co.uk/ - classic day boats

Working Sail - http://www.workingsail.co.uk/ - 40-50ft wooden pilot-cutter style yachts

Any more suggestions please?

 

[satsuma]

I'm very surprised to learn this as I have been doing precisely that for the past 41 years.
(AVRO, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, British Aerospace, BAE Systems, Airbus)

I'm certain that BAE Systems do not build planes! The clue is in the title!

 

[lustyd]

I'm very surprised to learn this as I have been doing precisely that for the past 41 years.
(AVRO, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, British Aerospace, BAE Systems, Airbus)

Sorry Jim, I was just taking points from the program. Just as there are some people who make boats there are still some who make planes. The point being that we don't do the mass production of "basic" goods, we tend to specialise in the more advanced bits or niche high end products which I imagine yours would fit into? Obviously I don't know your industry, just quoting the program.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Hi all,

Just for fun I'm trying to work up a list of all sailing yacht builders based in the UK. Here's how far I've got so far:


Looking through the list, the British yacht industry doesn't seem as impoverished as I would have thought... We might not churn out production bathtubs like the French and Germans but there are some really gorgeous boats there...

That's my best effort - corrections/additions anyone?

Bowman are long gone but the only twop of that list that you can call serious yacht builders are Southerly and Rustler. Even Hunter are now penny numbers and I believe that Oyster sub much of the building abroad though I may be wrong there..**

There is no serious british yacht builder to rival bav ben jeann hanse elan or even HR. Just the dregs of what once was the major european industry.


** Fluter has already corrected me on that one.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

But listen here, rich people. There's a big list of British boatyards producing top quality craft at the start of this thread. Don't you dare let me see you paying money to some dodgy Swede for a big premium bathtub full of bits of shiny metal when one of your fellow countrymen is working his nuts off producing something just as good but .

You are wasting your breath. Just as most people buy a Merc or a BM or an Audi in preference to a Jag because they are German, so most British people buy a Swedish boat because it is Swedish. We have spent so long knocking anything British that we are the polar opposite of the Germans. They reckon the only good things are German and they are willing top pay a bit extra for it , we reckon everything British is poor and we prefer imports even at the same price.

OK thats a sweeping generalisation and like all generalisations it overstates a bit. But think of this example. Many years ago a pal of mine ran a car body shop - crash repairs , repaint etc. Business was ordinary at best so he decided to advertise himself as having a " new German paint system" . Not entirely untrue since he did use German paint. Anyway the result was a doubling of business over 2 years - the word German was key.

 

[laser45]

Have a watch of "Made in Britain" by Evan Davis to find out why. Our economy has moved on and now we concentrate on the higher end higher value manufacturing, as well as doing plenty of other non manufacturing based work. It's not actually a bad thing that we don't manufacture cheap mass production boats because there are still plenty of people here designing them and the parts that make them. A couple of great examples from the show were that we don't make aeroplanes but we do make the £250,000 helmets (that price is each!!!) for the eurofighter pilots. We don't make cheap cars but we do make the new maclaren supercar. We don't make much clothing, but some of our clothing manufacturers are thriving, and many of the people who used to sew are now managing whole factories overseas and over seeing the shipping process.
If all of that isn't enough, have you seen the cost of raw materials here? I couldn't buy the glass to make a Bavaria for the price of a Bavaria! We may have the craftsmen, but these days they are better off working in the design process or overseeing cheaper craftsmen elsewhere. Companies like Cornish Crabbers will thrive only because they make a niche product which attracts a premium, and they make it to a standard which deserves that premium.

That program REALLY annoyed me. Just because some left-wing BBC nerk says something, it doesn't mean it's true! We certainly do build some aircraft - the Typhoon being a good example - but we mainly sell them to ourselves, as with the helmets. What would really make us money is selling abroad. We used to have an airliner industry (and nothing comes more high-tech than that) but are now left with building the wings for the 'Buses with the aircraft being assembled in France. We used to have a shipbuilding industry. Gone. Even the high tech renewables industry that is supposed to make us so much money has gone abroad - all these billion pound wind turbine projects are just pouring money in to someone else's coffers. Cars? Jag and Land Rover both foreign owned, nearly everything else... gone. That we 'don't need heavy industry' is a socialist myth. Bizarrely. Somehow they think that industry is a way of oppressing the working man! No, it's just a great way to get him a decent job. Your mate Bill down the pub - could he fine tune the computer on a McLaren race car? Hell no. Could he do a great job of riveting that new warship at BAE for the Brazilian navy? Hell yes. We CANNOT all make our money from high tech industry, or selling insurance, or baking bread. We need a diverse economy, and healthy industry should be a part of that. Can the Chinese dominate high tech industry within a decade? Already happening.
We can't all be employed by the government or living off the dole from taxes paid by the City (which does make us huge money). Yachts are just another great example of this: if we don't have a domestic industry, your hard earned money will go to the Germans. If we do, it feeds back in to our economy, and our companies will be big enough to start tackling international markets competitively, so we start to get other peoples money. We live in a country with the highest external debt per capita of ANY major country. We have to pay it back, and we will have to work bloody hard at it. Sod the picket line. We will have to pick up those rivet guns and get to work!

But hey, that's just my opinion. I've been wrong before.

 

[laser45]

I'm certain that BAE Systems do not build planes! The clue is in the title!

British AEROSPACE Engineering you numpty

 

[Flossdog]

If "Yacht Builders" include 23 footers and below, then Swallow Boats should be included. They build high tech "traditional" boats in Cardigan, West Wales.
www.swallowboats.com

 

[snooks]

see post #33

 

[Bosun Higgs]

That program REALLY annoyed me. Just because some left-wing BBC nerk says something, it doesn't mean it's true! We certainly do build some aircraft - the Typhoon being a good example - but we mainly sell them to ourselves, as with the helmets. What would really make us money is selling abroad. We used to have an airliner industry (and nothing comes more high-tech than that) but are now left with building the wings for the 'Buses with the aircraft being assembled in France. We used to have a shipbuilding industry. Gone. Even the high tech renewables industry that is supposed to make us so much money has gone abroad - all these billion pound wind turbine projects are just pouring money in to someone else's coffers. Cars? Jag and Land Rover both foreign owned, nearly everything else... gone. That we 'don't need heavy industry' is a socialist myth. Bizarrely. Somehow they think that industry is a way of oppressing the working man! No, it's just a great way to get him a decent job. Your mate Bill down the pub - could he fine tune the computer on a McLaren race car? Hell no. Could he do a great job of riveting that new warship at BAE for the Brazilian navy? Hell yes. We CANNOT all make our money from high tech industry, or selling insurance, or baking bread. We need a diverse economy, and healthy industry should be a part of that. Can the Chinese dominate high tech industry within a decade? Already happening.
We can't all be employed by the government or living off the dole from taxes paid by the City (which does make us huge money). Yachts are just another great example of this: if we don't have a domestic industry, your hard earned money will go to the Germans. If we do, it feeds back in to our economy, and our companies will be big enough to start tackling international markets competitively, so we start to get other peoples money. We live in a country with the highest external debt per capita of ANY major country. We have to pay it back, and we will have to work bloody hard at it. Sod the picket line. We will have to pick up those rivet guns and get to work!

But hey, that's just my opinion. I've been wrong before.

Well said.