Past projects

The Marieholm Folkboat was built by the Swedish company Marieholms Bruk from the early 1960s as a GRP development of the celebrated International Folkboat. The hull shape, long keel and masthead rig of the original clinker-built wooden design, the most popular cabin yacht of all time, was replaced by GRP, bringing the class to an even wider audience. Designed as a capable cruiser-racer, the Marieholm Folkboat quickly gained a reputation for excellent windward performance, forgiving handling and exceptional seaworthiness, qualities that remain highly regarded today. Many hundreds were built over a production run spanning more than two decades, and the design continues to enjoy strong class support and racing fleets throughout northern Europe. Structurally, the hull is of solid GRP, while the deck is a balsa-cored GRP moulding.

The Super Seal 27 was designed by Ron Holland and built by Parker and Sons of Boston. The design is a development of the Seal and Super Seal 26. The Super Seal 27 is built in GRP and characterised by its vertically-lifting keel (daggerboard-style), fractional sloop rig, transom-hung rudder, and a practical five-berth interior. The ability to sail fast, yet access shoal waters and dry out upright, made the class and its predecessors and successors popular, and they are still well thought of today for their particular qualities. In this iteration, around 20 are though to have been built.

​The Jaguar 25 was designed by Frank Butler for the American company Catalina Yachts as the Catalina 25, before being built under licence in the UK by Jaguar Yachts from the late 1970s onwards. Intended as an affordable family cruiser with good sailing performance, the design combined straightforward handling, a spacious interior for her size and a robust GRP construction. More than 5,000 Catalina 25s were built worldwide, with several hundred Jaguar 25s produced in Britain, making it one of the most successful yachts in her class. Available with fin or bilge keels, the Jaguar 25 remains a popular choice on the second-hand market thanks to her practical accommodation, predictable sailing characteristics and low running costs. Structurally, the hull is of solid GRP, while the deck is a balsa-cored GRP moulding, making careful inspection for water ingress and localised delamination advisable on older examples.

The Sadler 32 was designed by David Sadler, most famous for his Contessa 32, the small yacht designed in 1970 that proved its seaworthiness in the notorious Fastnet Race of 1979. The Sadler 32, designed that same year, was intended as an evolution of the Contessa 32, with greater beam, higher freeboard and resultingly more accommodation below decks. Her appearance at the time, with heavily cambered decks, a straight sheer and small retrousse counter stern, defined the cruiser/racer sort of sailing yacht. Some 300 or so were built over the next decade, mostly by Sadler Yachts in Poole, Dorset. The boats are still sought after today. The Sadler 32, although it does have an internal hull moulding in GRP, should not be confused with the 'unsinkable' Sadlers of that era: the 26, 29 and 34, which featured a foam filled void between the hull and an inner hull mould for reserve buoyancy.

 The Victoria 30 is an adaptation of the American Morris Leigh 30, designed at the tail end of the 1970s by American yacht designer Chuck Paine, also known as the man behind the Frances 26 and various of the Bowman cruising yachts. The Victoria 30 is a larger version of the mid-1970s-designed Frances 26, and around 50 were built in Britain, mostly as bermudan sloops (as this boat is), with a few cutter-rigged examples. The Victoria 30 is a solid boat compared to modern counterparts, the hull in heavy lay-up solid glass laminate, with just the deck and coachroof in sandwich construction, with a core of end-grain balsa. The ‘double-ended’ hull form, keel-hung rudder, long, encapsulated-lead ballast keel with cut-away forefoot and 49 per cent ballast ratio, are all features that have made these boats popular with blue-water cruisers over the years. The Victoria 30 has a high displacement-to-length ratio of 317, and a moderate spread of sail, with a sail area-to-displacement ratio of 16.26. Production ceased in 2007.

The Swedish yard of Albin Marin is best known to sailors for the classic little Albin Vega 27, designed by Per Brohall and first built in 1965. About 3,500 were built, making it one of the most successful sailing cabin yachts of all time. Not everyone knows the little single diesel Albin 25 motorboat that came along a few years later, and was nearly as popular. This was a hull and structure survey for a prospective buyer looking for a small liveaboard cruiser, and it would be hard to think of a better choice at the price and size. 

A traffic-free trip to east Cornwall to survey this beautiful Vertue, combined with a visit to the incredible restoration of the 80ft Knud Reimers-designed racing yacht Agneta at Stirling and Son. This Vertue is a great example of Laurent Giles's most popular (and probably most anachronistic) design - there can't be many, if any, to match her condition.

Very little was known about this one, but she has the look of a retired fishing boat, in heavy clinker build, partially glassed on the outside of the hull. She's been used as a liveboard in latter years, the good beam and deep body combining to create a surprisingly usable space for one or a couple. Alas, rot was too far advanced for economical repair, and Aquamarine had to advise the client to abort the surey and the purchase.

The Explorer Elite is a solid little single-skin GRP 'fast fisher' of 16ft, just a 400kg shell with high freeboard, an open-backed wheelhouse and a 60hp outboard. The survey of this example was undertaken in Brighton for a customer moving to the East Sussex coast and hoping for days out and some fishing, something this no-nonsense boat should excel at – and with a nice turn of speed, too. 

The Heard 28s are a venerable breed, royalty to those who love a rock-solid boat with workboat ancestry, solid glass build, and traditional looks and rig. It was first built in GRP on the lines of a wooden, Percy Dalton-designed oyster dredger in the late 60s by Terry Heard of Gaffers and Luggers in Mylor, Cornwall. Over 100 have now been built by Terry and in turn his son Martin and grandson Sam. Not much wrong with this one, but when you have a 28ft yacht weighing 8 tonnes, there's room for error!  (Apologies for photograph)

Don't believe everything you hear about Bennys. This example, from 1986, was very dry and still a nice yacht forty years after her launch in 1986. The First 305 was designed broadly in the manner of a half-ton class racing yacht by the French designer Jean Berret and went into production in 1984/5. Her ratios (Sail Area: Displacement of

16.13, Ballast: Displacement of 36.11, Displacement: Length of 192.23) paint the picture of a moderate cruiser/racer with a slight bias towards light displacement. The class was a great success, with many owners citing the fast, nimble sailing performance. In total, between 450 and

650 were built (estimates vary), mostly in France at Beneteau’s main manufacturing facility at Saint Gilles Croix de Vie; and some at the company’s American plant in Marion, South Carolina. There were various options, including to the keel. This example had a lifting iron keel, but standard bolt-on fin keels were also available at two depths. 

Pre-purchase survey on a beautiful, beamy sloop built to the Colin Archer shape, to a design by William Garden, built in Zimbabwe in 2006 and finished my Medusa Marine in Suffolk. The build was in quadraxial timber cold-moulding, glassed on the outside and epoxy skimmed on the inside. 

Pre-purchase survey on a remarkably dry Twister 28 MkII (also known as the 'Tuffglass' Twister). It's always a privelege to work on boats of this sort of beauty. This one is to a design by the late Kim Holman, whose obituary I wrote nearly two decades ago.   

The 21ft wooden motorboat Pecheur had reached the end of her life. The owner wanted to know her full condition and the feasibility of a restoration. 

Westerly spanned various phases. Like so many British yacht builders,  the company underwent a dizzying succession of owners, mergers, directors and more. The Oceanquest 35CC, introduced in 1996, is typical of their late work. In its centre-cockpit configuration, as here, it features one of the biggest aft cabins you'll see on a boat this size.  

The 36ft (11m) twin-screw, carvel-built Ona II reached Dennetts for deep restoration in June 2024, having spent five years deserted in Paris. Her condition was not far from the stage where you would think bonfire or replica. Aquamarine carried out this report for boatbuilder Steve Dennett. Ona II is now fully restored.