Heard 28 Gaff Cutter for sale in Saltash United Kingdom

Heard 28, 1992/3 - £17,950 

The Heard 28 is recognized as a modern 'classic', featuring elements from traditional West Country working boats. It often participates in 'class' racing at 'Classic' sailing festivals and events.

Commissioned in the late 1960s, Percy Dalton designed a weatherly and spacious cruising yacht to be molded in GRP and fitted out by Heards of Mylor Bridge, Cornwall. Dalton, a noted yacht designer and artist, drew inspiration from local working craft, creating a vessel that is both aesthetically pleasing and capable of excellent sailing performance.

This design has become a highly sought-after classic yacht, rarely appearing on the market.

‘Emily Grace’ was first commissioned in 1992 for her original owner, Martin Tregoning, author of ‘Classic Boat Seamanship’. She was sold to the current owner in 1999, who spent a year rebuilding the cockpit to be self-draining and preparing the vessel for extensive European and Mediterranean voyages. ‘Emily Grace’ has traveled through the French canals and as far east as Turkey before returning to the UK via Brittany.

Many more, ‘cloud’-based photos are available, contact us for details.

Accommodation

Accessed through double, removable panelled companionway doors with a wooden sliding hatch, the vessel features two cabins offering four to five berths and a separate heads compartment:

The forward cabin:  Fitted with two single berths in a V-berth formation, an in-filling cushion allows for a double berth if needed. Light and ventilation are provided by two effective deck-lights and a centerline fore hatch.

Access to the chain locker is through an opening hatch in the forward bulkhead. Storage includes shelving outboard on both hull sides and lockers beneath the bunks.

The heads compartment:  Utilizes the beam of the hull ahead of the main bulkhead, featuring a marine-flushing toilet unit to port (within a wooden, fully closeable shroud) and a slide-out handbasin above/outboard that drains into the heads bowl. A hanging locker (currently used for sail storage) is fitted to the starboard side. A holding tank can be supplied loose with the boat.

Main Cabin: From the main bulkhead aft to the companionway, the living space is open with partial bulkheads on port and starboard, minimizing division between the saloon area, galley, and navigation table. This layout enhances the saloon's spacious feel and maximizes light from six round portlights and the companionway hatch. A straight bench settee berth is located to starboard, while a shallow U-shaped settee berth surrounds the table on port. The adjustable table can create a wide single or a 'friendly' double berth. There are four closed lockers on each side behind the backrest cushions, and all space beneath the settees is available for storage, with water tanks fitted aft on either side of the engine.

Galley: Located at the aft end of the living space, to port of the companionway, it provides a simple yet practical catering facility with a small stainless-steel sink (fitted with a foot-pumped faucet) and a fully gimballed 2-hob burner cooker with grill and oven. Space outboard of the cooker is utilized with a deep, top-access locker, while a conventional below-work surface locker (shelved) beneath the sink accommodates a rubbish bin. Crockery storage is provided beneath the port side deck. A carry-on refrigerated coolbox is included in the vessel’s inventory, along with a suitable 240-210V AC step-down transformer.

Chart table: Located to starboard of the companionway steps, it includes a dedicated Navigator’s seat. A half-size Admiralty chart-sized lifting top is provided with deep fiddles to prevent charts from sliding off, and chart storage is available beneath the table top. Outboard of the chart table, a 12-way 12V DC distribution and fuse panel is positioned to the navigator’s right, with a fiddled and subdivided shelf for almanacs. An Autohelm ST 50 multi-function display and Furuno GP-32 GPS are mounted above the chart table, the latter featuring an output plug for inputting the vessel’s position onto a laptop pre-loaded with navigation cartography.

Mechanical and Electrical Systems

Engine:          

Equipped with a Vetus Marine M4.14 (Mitsubishi-based) four-cylinder, naturally aspirated diesel engine rated up to 33 BHP, with 2899 recorded running hours. It drives a three-bladed propeller through a conventional stainless steel propeller shaft. A ‘soft’ coupling is installed between the gearbox and the shaft to reduce torque impact and vibration. A rope cutter by Ambassador Marine is fitted ahead of the propeller, and a Volvo Penta dry-seal is installed at the inboard end of the stern tube. The engine has been serviced, and new flexible engine mounts were fitted by Weir Quay Boatyard prior to the boat being placed on the market.

Electrical: 

Two individual lead-acid batteries are selected and isolated using a rotary switch located alongside the navigator’s seat. The batteries have been ‘exercised’ and are in storage with Weir Quay Boatyard.

Tankage:

Two stainless steel fuel tanks are fitted (both with approx. 65 litres max. capacity), one on each side of the engine space, with a balancing pipe and common fuel/water separator filter housing to the starboard side of the engine.

Two stainless steel freshwater tanks (both with max capacity of 80 litres) are fitted, one on each side, forward of the fuel tanks.

Sails and Spars

A traditional Gaff Cutter rig with wooden spars. The mast is mounted on a hinged tabernacle. The bowsprit features a hinged heel fitting and an opening gammon iron, allowing it to be raised to reduce L.O.A for marina berthing (L.O.A with bowsprit lowered approx. 41ft).

The rig includes running backstays, with the Jib carried on a Wykham-Martin furler and the stays’l on a Bamar roller reefing system with twin-groove aluminium extrusions. A fixed boom crutch, located abaft the cockpit, supports the boom (fitted with lazy jacks) and the wooden gaff when lowered. The gaff has a leather-trimmed saddle, and the mainsail’s luff is largely laced with a top row parrel band.

Unlike the other spars, which have been refinished and covered while the vessel has been laid ashore, the mast – a hollow spar – has weathered somewhat on the port forward side. It is advisable for a new owner to consider opening the longitudinal joint in the mast, re-gluing it, and refinishing the surface. A surveyor/rigger should be consulted for recommendations.

All running rigging is currently removed, laundered, and dry stored at the owner’s home.

Sails:

·       Mainsail by SKB Sails of Penryn.

·       Stays’l (2018) by Sails Shape of Fowey/Lostwithiel.

·       Jib (2015) by SKB Sails of Penryn.

·       Tops’l by SKB Sails of Penryn.

·       Storm Jib of unknown make.

·       Ghosting headsail in rip-stop nylon of unknown make or age.

Instrumentation

·       Chart work has been conducted on the owner’s laptop, placed on the chart table, with a data socket/jack left loose on the table. The GPS positional input is provided by the:

·       Furuno GP-32, with a long antenna cable for deck positioning if necessary.

·       Autohelm ST50 ‘Multi’ head instrument providing depth and speed/distance run.

·       ST4000+ autopilot control head, linked to Autohelm 2000 tiller pilot and connected to helm indicator sensor.

·       Clipper GPS repeater in cockpit.

·       Raymarine ST60 Tridata in cockpit.

·       Sestrel Moore, gimballed steering compass mounted on the coach roof to starboard of the companionway.

Deck Equipment

·       Pair of aluminium-alloy, adjustable sheer legs.

·       An inflatable dinghy by Seago.

·       Two-stroke outboard engine to suit the dinghy.

·       Lightweight sun cover with fibre poles for shade over the coach roof and deck.

·       Windsock for the fore hatch to direct air below at moorings.

·       Fawn, nylon reinforced PVC, boom-supported cockpit cover.

·       Fawn mainsail cover.

·       Stainless steel deck-eyes for securing the dinghy atop the coach roof.

·       Deck chocks for securing the anchor inboard and on the deck.

·       Lofrans ‘Royal’ manual windlass with both rope and chain gypsies.

·       45lbs CQR anchor with extended shank for stowage on the bow roller.

·       8mm chain cable.

·       Danforth-style kedging/picnicking anchor.

·       Lewmar 30 self-tailing primary headsail sheet winches.

·       2 off Gibb, bottom action sheet winches.

·       2 off smaller snubbing winches for handling the ghosting sail’s sheets.

·       1 off Camping Gaz butane gas canister.

·       Mooring hook, mooring device, and deck scrubber.

·       Miscellaneous mooring lines, including heavy-weight mooring strops for attachment to a mooring buoy.

·       4 off inflatable fenders of varying sizes and shapes.

·       2 off deck hoses.

·       15 litre plastic jerry can.

Safety Equipment

·       Icom IC-M56 non GMDSS and DSC capable VHF radio with masthead antenna, plus emergency VHF antenna.

·       12V DC bilge pump with manual and auto switching.

·       PVC covered wire jackstays running along the outboard edge of the coach roof on either side.

·       Horseshoe lifebuoy.

·       Hook-on swimming ladder for MOB recovery.

·       950g dry powder fire extinguisher (warranty date expired).

General note on safety equipment: Any safety equipment such as Liferafts, Epirbs, fire extinguishers, and flares are typically personal to the current owner(s) and may require routine servicing, replacement, or adjustment to meet a new owner’s specific needs.

History and Construction

Approximately 100 of the 28ft version of the Heard 28 design were built between 1968 and 2008.

While based on a common hull design, each Heard 28 is unique and an individual yacht.

A single skin, GRP molded hull incorporates approximately 5 tonnes of cement and steel ballast, with decks made of glass-sheathed marine plywood. Solid Iroko was used for the coachroof sides, cockpit coamings, and bulwark cappings, with additional Teak and Iroko detailing. ‘Emily Grace’ was modified in the late 1990s to feature a self-draining cockpit.

Some softening of the coachroof sides has been noted around the middle of the three portlights on each side, which have been addressed with professional graving-in of veneered plywood during the winter of 2024/2025.

Disclaimer          

The Company provides the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct their agents or surveyors to investigate such details as desired. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.      

The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.