Two harbour launches, 50 years apart

The Parkstone Bay 21 I surveyed recently, and the new Westons Point 27 built nearby at Traditional Shipwright Servies in Poole are two answers to the same, simple wish: to cruise Poole Harbour and the surrounding area in a small, easily manageable dayboat, with room for the odd overnight stay if necessary. Both are wooden, but the half century that separates them demonstrates how much wooden boatbuilding has changed in that period; and how much we have too, in terms of our expectations.

Firstly, the cost. A used Parkstone Bay 21 might cost between £5k and £10k on the used market, in wood, or a later model in GRP. The one I surveyed recently, essentially a half-dead boat, will cost you £3 or £4k for the trailer and engine, with the boat free. Of course, only those with deep pockets can afford cheap boats, and this one is no exception, but a complete restoration might be had for less than you think: £10k. That's optimistic, so budget two or three times that - but you'd end up with something as good as a new boat. The Westons Point starts at £300k + VAT. So £360,000. And you might want a few extras. This is not a comparison between boats, as they are simply not in the same league, in size or any other metric. It's a comparison of eras.

The Westons Point 27: dual 50hp outboard drives, 21 knots, many mod cons

The Parkstone Bay 21, designed for the same purpose half a century ago: Bukh 20hp diesel in a box, 6 knots and a heads

Then, the speed: the round-bilged Parkstone Bay might do a little more than hull speed, provided by a 10-20hp diesel in a box in the cockpit. Let's say that's 6 knots. The planing hull Westons will do 21 knots, courtesy of her two 50hp outboards, housed in the most discreet inboard/outboard well I've yet seen; despite the good sense of the arrangement, it remains a universal idiosyncracy that outboard wells must be a zealously guarded secret.

The build? The Parkstone is 19mm mahogany planking on steamed oak timbers with wooden floors; the Westons Point is strip planked in cedar, with mahogany ring frames.

The biggest difference between the two, more even than size, speed and cost, is the expectation of comfort, hygiene and silence. The Westons Point will run much more quietly, with none of the mess associated with an inboard installation (driveshaft, exhaust hose, dripping sterngland, through-hulls and so on); and the heads, rather than pumping straight out, goes into a blackwater tank. Beside that are a freshwater tank and a calorifier tank for the 240v heater.

If money were no object, it would be no competition. The Westons Point is hugely capable and attractive; a great examplar of the work traditonal boatyards are doing In building beautiful modern power boats that retain the good looks of a past era. But there is an appealing simplicity to the Parkstone Bay as well; it's the sort of boat you wouldn't be afraid of mistreating a little, in the knowledge you could modify her, fix her – or least bodge her! – yourself.

See Traditional Shipwright Services in Poole for the Westons Point 27.