Little Kingfisher

Current boat name

Little Kingfisher

Boat class

6970

Number

182242

Function

Sports and Leisure

Type

Length (m / ft)

6.55 / 21ft 6in

Beam (m / ft)

2.21 / 7ft 3in

Leeward

Keel - long

Masts

Two

Rig type

Gaff Yawl

Propulsion

Sail/engine

Designer

Harrison Butler T

Date of build

1926

Place of build

Fowey

Present use

Sailing

Built by A H Watty of Fowey.as KINGFISHER a 21ft Cyclone designed by Dr T Harrison Butler. Archive material held by the owner includes two letters written by Harrison Butler in 1935, commenting on the change of rig from gaff to Bermudan and on her sail balance. She was built using oak frames with grown elbows, her planking and decks were teak and she was copper fastened. In 1935, she was fitted with a Stuart Turner 6 horse power petrol two cylinder two-stroke engine with reverse gear. She has a small cockpit and her cabin is entered by a hatch with an oilskin locker to port and a small pocket galley to starboard. She has two settee berths and a half-bulkhead to the forepeak stowage area. In her lifetime, LITTLE KINGFISHER has cruised extensively over most of the English Channel and North Sea, from Poole to Aldeburgh and Cherbourg to the Elbe. Her voyages include Chichester to Holland, Svenborg, Gotenburg, Stockholm, and Helskinki where she spent the war, being shipped home in June 1946. In the late 1970s, she was hit by a ship while moored at Pin Mill and, although repairable, was written off. She was subsequently bought from the insurance company and structural repairs were carried out. Between 1994 and 2009, major restoration works were undertaken by Paul Drake at Tollesbury and in 2000, a 10hp Yanmar single cylinder diesel engine was fitted. When the current owners purchased her, LITTLE KINGFISHER was found in a barn near Falmouth, Cornwall and was shipped back to the South Coast by road. She is now based on the Hamble River and sailed regularly around the Solent and at Old Gaffers Association events. GH Oct 2012