subject: The South West's boat building tradition- still as solid as oak [print this page] The South West's boat building tradition- still as solid as oak
The 2 main shipyards at Devonport and Appledore are now owned by the giant Babcock engineering conglomerate and appear to be thriving. Appledore is tied up for the next few years working almost entirely on modules for the 2 new supercarriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. One of the bow units has already been completed and delivered to the main assembly yard at Rosyth.
Meanwhile, the Devonport facility, which has been quietly nurturing a superyacht building business, has apparently won so much new Ministry of Defence work that it is seriously considering transferring the superyacht side to a new company with a 200 man facility at Falmouth in West Cornwall.
At the other end of the spectrum, there is still an enthusiastic and skilled collection of smaller enterprises maintaining the South West's historic boatbuilding tradition built up over the centuries since the days of Drake, Hawkins and Grenville. Some of these build and repair classic clinkerbuilt wooden boats while others specialise in sailing dinghies and small yachts.
In between these 2 extremes, the South West's expanding burgeoning marine industry focuses on one or two big names which have carved themselves an enviable reputation over the years for stylish designs and beautiful build quality.
The Plymouth based Princess Yachts have come a long, long way since they built their first Project 31 way back in 1965. The workforce now totals about 1,450 while worldwide sales now exceed 140 million.
Another up and coming name is Ribeye, the Dartmouth based manufacturer of rigid inflatables. These are becoming increasingly popular because of their versatility. Apart from being used as inshore lifeboats and general purpose runabouts for customs and other authorities, they make fine, all-purpose leisure craft for cruising, racing or towing waterskis. Many of Ribeye's customers with larger vessels like to use their inflatables as tenders either because they prefer anchoring off or simply have an aversion to paying mooring fees !
Still owned and managed by the Chivers family, Ribeye is a fine example of beautiful design combining perfectly with down-to-earth practicalities. The relatively deep V-shaped rib boat hulls are designed to give the boats outstanding performance and relative comfort in even the choppiest waters. Basically, if they are tried and tested around the UK coastline, they are capable of withstanding the friskiest conditions.
Each vessel can be bespoke to a customer's individual requirements and all come with Yamaha outboards as standard. Now celebrating its second decade in existence, the Ribeye name has already built up an enviable niche position both in Britain and in overseas markets. Fortunately in this roller-coaster economic environment, the range comes in shapes and sizes to fit all budgets within the 5,000 to 50,000 range.
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