Wooden Ships

10/12/2024

We are currently moving the Wooden Ships business archives to a new store, thousands of boat files going back to the 1970’s which are a valuable resource to the modern day business. We are hoping to find a way of digitising this information to preserve the details and photos.

06/12/2024

A little teaser of a stunning yacht soon coming on the market. This beauty was built by her shipwright owner in Germany, the culmination of a lifetimes experience building and repairing wooden boats. Inspired by the West Country working boats and built to a very high standard, she is a well proven and very elegant cruising yacht in impeccable condition. Full details coming soon.

06/12/2024

Another launch from Nick Smith well underway. This is identical to the 16’ Isla we sold earlier this year, one of Nicks previous builds.

05/12/2024

Recent article on Yachting World by journalist Nic Compton about our own boat, a Nordic Folkboat

Despite low headroom, spartan accommodation and a potentially wet ride, the Folkboat remains one of the most iconic yachts of the last 100 years

21/11/2024

Porth Penrhyn, north Wales this morning in between the snow showers

20/11/2024

Ex RNLB 'Samuel and Marie Parkhouse' is a Watson Class lifeboat built in 1938. She served as the Salcombe lifeboat from 1938 -1962 and is currently berthed in Salcombe where she is a treasured part of the local boating community. Fitted with twin Gardner 6LX engines, she has been returned very close to her original exterior appearance. Down below she has a sleeping cabin and saloon up forward containing 4 berths and a small heads compartment. Shipwright owned, this boat is a regular visitor to classic boat events and RNLI gatherings, cruising around the south coast every summer.
https://woodenships.co.uk/motor-yacht/ex-rnlb-watson-class-lifeboat/

18/11/2024

Inisaig is one of a small number of 50' motor yachts built by the yard of Philip & Son in Dartmouth, launched in 1967. An elegant boat with 7 berths in 3 sleeping cabins and a large aft deck. Twin Perkins 6354 diesels in good condition. Professionally maintained by Stirling & Son of Plymouth in recent years, this is a fine pedigree motor yacht in ready to go condition. Detailed photos and video tour on the web site advert, see link below:
https://woodenships.co.uk/motor-yacht/philips-50-motor-yacht/

13/11/2024

Another boat that will be condemned to the chainsaw if not saved in the next month. Roskilde was designed by Kiwi John Russell and built by McGruer & Co. in 1974. She is a clinker planked double ended bermudan sloop and was built to a very high standard by a yard known for quality boat building. Sadly she has been neglected by her owner and has now been seized by Exeter City Council who manage the Exeter Canal where she is berthed. We hold a lot of detail and information on the boat so any buyer will have a lot of history to go with her. She is a very interesting yacht and needs to be saved. The boat has been put up for sale by sealed bids, the deadline for any bids in 20th December 2024. The boat needs to be moved by the end of January 2025, there is space on the canal for a hiab lorry to access the waters edge and lift her so transporting her away will be relatively straight forward.

Currently her mast is lying on deck in 2 pieces so will need replacing. She has a Yanmar 3GM30 engine but it is not known when it last ran.

Follow the link below to the council advert for the boat, all enquiries should go to Exeter City Council but we are happy to assist a buyer in the future by providing the historical paper work.

Someone please come forward and save this special boat from the chainsaw. We suspect she will be sold for nothing, the council need her out of their way and would prefer to give her away than pay to have her broken up.

Link to the council listing here:
https://exeter.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/sport-and-leisure/exeter-port-authority/vessel-for-sale/

13/11/2024

My Alice is a well known and respected vessel in the East Coast Smack fleet, racing regularly over the years and known to be a fast boat. She had a total rebuild that was completed in 2003, and has since had more upgrades with the installation of an engine and twin hydraulic driven legs, new interior and new taller rig with recent sails. Sadly due to ill health she is being put up for sale at a sensible price given the huge amount of investment she has received in recent years. The Smacks have an active racing fleet in and around Brightlingsea with boats of various sizes turning out regularly to race. My Alice is certainly one of the fore runners in this racing with her powerful rig and elegant hull lines, so a new owner could step in and take part in this active and social racing program without any further significant investment in the boat. Full details, photos and video in the link below:
https://woodenships.co.uk/sailing-yacht/kidby-oyster-smack-ck348/

08/11/2024

The Kidby Oyster Smack My Alice under full sail. This superb east coast smack will be coming in the market very soon with us priced at £98,000.

04/11/2024

This is a lovely 27’ wood epoxy gaff cutter that is shortly going to be cut up if a new owner is not found. She can be had for virtually free and is an excellent boat with a lifting centreboard. Known to be fast and very seaworthy. Some areas of delamination of the sheathing in isolated areas but certainly not a wreck. It would be a shame to have her disposed of. Currently ashore in Plymouth.

Contact the broker Liberty Yachts if interested

https://www.libertyyachts.co.uk/brokerage/

24/10/2024

Tethys is a 28' steel gaff cutter built by the owner and launched in 1997. The design concept was developed by the owner, then refined with the help of professional naval architect Dave Marsh, formerly of Dixon Yacht Design. The result is a huge volume and very capable cruising yacht, built to a high standard and nicely maintained over the years with none of the usual signs of trouble in a steel boat. New Beta 20hp engine in 2017. Large aft double cabin with full size double berth. Excellent headroom throughout and plenty of storage for long distance sailing. A lot of boat for the money, she is currently based in Falmouth and will shortly have a new insurance survey inspection which will be available to potential buyers. Very easy to see the next owner sailing off over the horizon in the boat on a long distance adventure.
https://woodenships.co.uk/sailing-yacht/28-steel-gaff-cutter/

17/10/2024

Pretty 28’ gaff cutter viewed in Brightlingsea today that will be going up for sale very soon. Rebuilt boat in recent years with 4 berths and maintained by her professional shipwright owner. She will be going on the market at £19,750.

17/10/2024

Elegant lines of the oyster smack My Alice that will be coming up for sale very soon.

17/10/2024

The Smack Dock in Brightlingsea with some lovely oyster smacks in the morning sun

10/10/2024

Incredible images, albeit computer generated, of the wreck of the Endurance discovered lying 3000m below the surface in Antarctica.

A new 3D scan shows Endurance exactly as it is 3,000m down in Antarctica’s icy waters.

24/09/2024

Dolphin is one of a few remaining original Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters and is known for her exploits with the present owner who has spent many years sailing her in Arctic waters with legendary adventures around Greenland and Svalbard. This is a boat which changed the owners life and took him on Tillman inspired adventures that would simply not have been possible without her, and now having made the decision he will not be sailing north again, he wishes to find a worthy new custodian who can take the boat and continue her sailing adventures. The asking price has been reduced to £49,000 which is very cheap for an original Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter.
https://woodenships.co.uk/sailing-yacht/bristol-channel-pilot-cutter-5/

17/09/2024

The weather on the Clyde has not often been as nice as this recently, but today we were lucky with clear skies, calm water and a beautiful backdrop to photograph Spirit of Callisto. She is a 42’ gaff yawl built by Spirit Yachts Ltd and launched in 2013. Link below to her advert and full specs
https://woodenships.co.uk/sailing-yacht/spirit-yachts-42-gaff-yawl/