The following commentary was provided by Nick
Vass. (www.hurleyownersassociation.co.uk)
JB
Dockrell Inc of Parsippany, New Jersey, USA was the
agent for Hurley Marine in USA. John Dockrell was an
Anglophile and loved everything British, dressed as he
thought English people dressed in tweed jacket, tie and
brown brogues. He drove a British car and also owned a
British David Brown tractor with which he hauled boats
out with. John got on very well with George Hurley and
imported a huge quantity of Hurley yachts into America
and Canada. In fact most Hurley boats built were
exported from the UK. Dockrell commissioned the design
of a 17' and a 22', (both with lifting keels)by an
American designer. These sold very well and must have
looked ok in the late sixties. He then bought the
redundant Sparkman and Stephens S&S38 moulds in
around 1972. Discovering that British workers were
pretty good he decided to move the moulds to England
setting up a factory in Tavistock which is about ten
miles inland from Plymouth. The Dockrell 22 was also
built in Tavistock and sold well.
The DOCKRELL 27
started out in life as the BOWMAN 26. Ian Anderson had
designed the timber SIRIUS for the Normand Boatyard on
the river Dart in Devon. A 26' GRP version was made and
originally called the LONGBOWMAN 26 as the owner of the
yard was into historical battle re-enactments. Bowman
rolled off the tongue easier and the yard eventually
changed its name to Bowman Yachts. When production
moved to Emsworth near Chichester and the owners
commissioned C Holman and D Pye to design much bigger
and more prestigious yachts the 26' moulds were given
away to Hurley Marine and became the HURLEY 27. Hurley
commissioned Ian Anderson to revise the coachroof to
give more headroom and raise the topsides to make her a
very dry boat. They sailed very well and had a
traditional long keel which was similar to the TWISTER
designed by Holman and Pye. Incidentally Kym Holman was
actually called Christopher Holman. His brother Jack
owned Upham's yard in Brixham which built the Twister
and his nephew John Holman owns Darthaven Marina and
boatyard to this day on the river Dart in
Kingswear.
Hurley Marine closed in 1974 and the
HURLEY 27 moulds were sold to Dockrell Yachts Ltd of
Tavistock, Devon. John Dockrell himself revised the
design falling out with Ian Anderson for doing so. The
coachroof was changed again, the inside made open plan
and the rig was made into a cutter style with self
tacking staysail. The biggest change was to the keel.
The draft of the long keel was reduced and an iron wing
keel ballast block was bolted to the hull. The boats
worked well in the shallow waters found on the east
coast of the USA but was less favourable for the rough
but deep waters around the UK coast. The DOCKRELL 27
remained in production until 1991 and I can remember
visiting the factory several times. It was a nice place
to be. Sadly cheap German and French yachts killed the
market for British built yachts who had not moved with
the times.
Nick Vass. Hurley Owners
Association.
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