Heard 28 Classic Gaff Cutter - 2002 - £34,950
Built in 2002 for the current owner, 'Victoria Ruth' is one of the last few Heard 28’s to have been built by Martin Heard.
This sea kindly 'go-anywhere' vessel is based upon the lines of traditional Falmouth oyster dredgers and inshore fishing boats of Cornwall. She is extremely solid and this model is known to be surprisingly fast.
Heard 28 Classic Gaff Cutter - 2002 - £34,950
Built in 2002 for the current owner, 'Victoria Ruth' is one of the last few Heard 28’s to have been built by Martin Heard.
This sea kindly 'go-anywhere' vessel is based upon the lines of traditional Falmouth oyster dredgers and inshore fishing boats of Cornwall. She is extremely solid and this model is known to be surprisingly fast.
Later Heard 28’s such as this one, feature raised topsides and a longer coachroof giving considerably more cabin space & headroom while still preserving the handsome lines of this model.
Below decks she is kitted out with all the modern day conveniences with plenty of solid timber maintaining the traditional sturdy feel.
This example is well equipped and has seen very little use over the past 17 years and is now reluctantly offered for sale.
If you long to sail a traditional boat but lack the time to maintain a timber hull this is the perfect alternative.
Accommodation
4 berths in 2 cabins with a separate heads compartment.
The forward cabin provides two single berths in a V-berth formation with a split level design maximising the bunk length available within the traditional hull shape. An offset for'hatch offers good light levels. There is access to the chain locker through an opening hatch within the forward bulkhead. Storage is provided within the cabin by shelving outboard to the starboard side and bin lockers beneath the bunks.
The fully enclosed heads compartment is located immediately aft of the for'cabin and practical in terms of size and simple space with a marine flushing toilet, but no holding tank. Shelved storage unit to port.
From the main bulkhead aft to the companionway the living space is open with only partial bulkheads port and starboard thereby minimising the division between the saloon, galley and nav. table spaces. This clever layout makes the saloon feel significantly larger and maximises the light throughout the space from the 6 round portlights and deck hatch. A bench settee berth, provided with a trotter box extension forwards is located to the port side, while to starboard, an L-shaped settee berth surrounds the table and features an insulated locker underneath (towards the centre-line) lends itself to use as a coolbox. A fixed, drop-leaf saloon table with internal storage is very securely fitted. Shelves and lockers behind the seats and beneath the bunks.
The galley is located at the aft end of the living space, to starboard of the companionway and provides a well laid out, but basic catering facility with a small stainless steel sink (fitted with a manually pumped traditional faucet) and Neptune, 2-burner hob gas cooker, with oven.
The chart table is located to port and intended for the navigator to work standing. A good sized working space is provided with deep fiddle preventing charts sliding off the table while at sea, and chart storage is provided beneath the table top. Outboard of the working space, the Raymarine GPS; Raymarine chart plotter/radar display and Simrad VHF are all easily visible.
Aft of the chart table, a hanging locker is provided, conveniently alongside the companionway ladder.
Sails And Spars
A traditional Gaff Cutter rig with solid wooden spars. The mast is mounted on a hinged tabernacle. The bowsprit with hinged heel fitting and opening gammon iron allowing the bowsprit to be raised reducing L.O.A for Marina berthing (L.O.A with bowsprit lowered approx 41ft). It would be fair to say that the spars are woefully overdue stopping and re-finishing with varnish or other surface coating to a new owner's choice.
The rig is provided with running backstays.
A fixed boom crutch supports the boom (fitted with lazyjacks) and the wooden gaff.
Gaff fitted with leather trimmed saddle.
The mainsail's luff is largely laced with a top row parrel band.
Halyard pin rail with four pins to each side of the mast tabernacle.
A Schaefer 550 Jib furling system is fitted.
Bobstay is of stainless steel 1X19 wire, with tensioning tackle.
Lower stays are of stainless steel 1X19 wire.
Upper stays are stainless steel 7X16 wire.
Sails:
All sails made by SKB loft in Falmouth including:
Mainsail in cream canvas.
Stays'l in tan canvas.
Jib in cream canvas.
Mechanical And Electrical Systems
Yanmar 3GM30, 3-cylinder marine diesel engine driving a three bladed conventional propeller through a stainless steel shaft.
Spurs Shaft Rope Cutter fitted
A stainless steel fuel tank is mounted to port, beneath the cockpit seats, with a stainless steel freshwater tank on the centre-line within the keel area, beneath the cabin sole.
Battery charging is by means of an engine-driven alternator and a Forgen 500NT vertical axis wind turbine charger that is mounted on the boom gallows, together with a photo-voltaic (solar) panel.
A battery charging regulator/management unit by Merlin is fitted, together with a digital Bep Marine battery monitoring meter.
Navigation Equipment
- Steering compasses (one to each side of the companionway.
- ST60 speed display.
- ST60 depth display.
- ST60 graphic display.
- Raymarine ST6002 Smartpilot autopilot.
- Raymarine RL70C chart plotter and radar display.
At the chart table:
- Raymarine RL70C chart plotter ans Radar display.
- Raymarine RN300 GPS display.
- Raymarine S100 wireless autopilot remote.
Deck Equipment
CQR Main anchor with all chain rode
Lofrans Royal manual anchor windlass
Substantial stainless steel Sampson post and bowsprit heel fitting
4 X Bronze Self-Tailing sheet winches
Raised toe-rails around the ring deck with freeing ports
Wooden tiller with traditional pin rail stops
Safety Equipment
- Simrad RD68 VHF/DSC Radio.
- Horseshoe lifebuoy and light.
- Manual bilge pump.
- Jackstay fittings on each side of the coachroof for webbing jackstays.
General note on safety equipment: Any safety equipment such as Liferafts, Epirbs, fire extinguishers and flares etc. are usually personal to the current owner(s) and if being left on-board as part of the sale of a used vessel may require routine servicing, replacement, or changing to meet a new owners specific needs.
History And Construction
The Heard 28 has become established as a modern 'classic', incorporating many of the features from traditional working boats of the West Country, that often enjoys 'class' racing within 'Classic' sailing festivals and events.
"In the late 1960’s, Percy Dalton was commission to produce a weatherly and roomy cruising design to be moulded in GRP and fitted out by Heards of Mylor Bridge on the Fal Estuary in Cornwall. Percywas a noted yacht designer and artist, combining these skills, as previously did artist and yacht designer Albert Strange to produce a shapely little vessel, pleasing to the eye and with a very capable sailing ability. Percy who spent his working life in the Falmouth area drew inspiration from the local working craft."
In all, approximately 100 of the 28ft version of the Heard 28 design were built between 1968 – 2008. This design has become a desirable and much sought after classic-styled yacht which infrequently come to the market.
Despite being based essentially on the common hull design, each Heard 28 is slightly idiosyncratic and definitely an individual yacht in their own right. ‘Victoria Ruth’ was fitted out for the current and sole owner from new to a high standard by Heards using mainly Iroko hardwood and solid bronze and brass fittings.
A single skin, GRP moulded hull with marine plywood, epoxy-glass sheathed decks (giving considerably better adhesion than the previously used polyester-glass sheathing) Solid Iroko coachroof coamings and cockpit with Teak and Iroko detailing. Solid bronze portlights, sampson post, fairleads and winches. Encapsulated lead keel, about 5 tonnes. Hull epoxy coated from new. Transom hung rudder.
RCD Status: This yacht conforms with the essential safety requirements of Directive 94/25EC as appropriate (Recreational Craft Directive) and is categorised B – “Offshore”
