The famous craft of the era, all resulted from the Offshore racing experience resulting in an industry. Nelson launches, Fairey Marine, Don Shed designs, Vosper Thornycroft, Arthur Hagg desgns, Sonny Levi designs, Brook Marine, to mention but a few.
LOA: 30ft : Beam: 8ft : Depth: 2ft
Hull
Cold Moulded from timber with structural transverse frames and longitudinal stringers to provide the elegant outline, with three layers of diagonal 0.25" plywood laminates for the bottom and two above attached to the frames with brass fixings This was covered in Cascover Nylon cloth immersed in Resorcinol - an organic compound adhesive developed by the Borden Chemical company . Light in weight and bonded the entire structure, similar and forerunner, to the method of epoxy resin and cloth today.
The cabin gives twin 'V' berths, sitting headroom, a small heads with galley shelf forward. The cruiser requirement for her offshore class.
The open cockpit with raised engine boxes and steering position aft, giving a cushioned ride at racing speeds, a custom of the time. But today a forward steering position has been added as well, to make her more into a production cruiser.
Engines
Twin standard 145HP Perkins 6 Cylinder diesel engines, the powerboat engine of the day. These could be up-rated to 205 HP by Perkins and were called Dot 4's. Fitted with Borg-Warner 72C direct drive gearboxes to shafts, giving her a maximum speed of up to 35 knots. Batteries with cut-out switches, twin fuel tanks, 17" X 22" three bladed propellers, controls & gauges complete the installation.
Summary
Alan Victor Burnard ARINA dob 1925, was the son of a Naval Architect, who specialized in fast craft. Alan undertook his apprenticeship at John Morris Fleetlands Shipyard in Gosport, which sadly folded in 1957. Answering an advert for a naval architect position on the south coast, turned out to be the Fairey Marine Yard on the Hamble, started ten years earlier. Alan was known to the directors and his history with Fairey started. His first job was to design a 'deck' for the Ray Hunt designed Huntress 23ft hull, which had been at the yard for some time and needed a pretty silhouette, so the famous image of the Fairey Range was born.
Within a short space of time, the Cowes to Torquay offshore powerboat race was started in UK, with other races in America, conceived by Max Akin of the Daily Express Newspaper fame and war time flying ace. The object was to improve offshore fast cruiser design and engineering.
The first few races sorted out the 'men from the boys' with boat design and the Fairey Range which had grown to the twin engined Huntsman 28, excelled with their aircraft background.
One big problem of the early races, was the lack of lightweight fast revving engines suitable for planning hulls and speed. Only petrol engines were available, but Perkins Engines of Peterborough, launched their new Turbocharged T6.354 Marine Diesel (6 cylinders, at 354 cubic inches) which dominated the entry list.
The Race was on, various craft appeared from the UK, built by the big names of 'era' and many entries came from overseas. Cowes to Torquay Event was patronised by the 'Rich and Famous' of the day, all sponsored by the daily Express Newspaper. The race was very much in the post war social calendar, along with Henley, Ascott, Grand National and football, the famous names entering ran from Lord Lucan, Max Aikin, Tommey Sopwith, Billy Butlin, Crd Peter Thornycroft, Peter Twiss and so on, with all sorts of front page incidents/accidents.
Alan Burnard had made a name for himself with propeller design and wished to join the era, so designed and built 'Seafox', named after the Fairey Aeroplane which located the 'Admiral Graf Spee' pocket battleship. She was lightweight and faster than the Fairey entries and most of the production cruisers, so enjoyed a success in the 'Cruiser Class'.
Derek Wood purchased 'Seafox' from Alan Burnard in 1990 and set about restoring her from the bottom to top, together with the original engines. Derek, is very much an engineer, he had already owned a Fairey Swordsman which he returned to concourse condition together with his classic cars. Seafox was re-launched in 2018 and attended the British Powerboat Racing Club's event to celebrate Sonny Levi's life at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. 'Seafox' is a unique opportunity to own one of the famous classic powerboats of the 1960s, which can used afloat and enjoyed today. Almost none of the craft of this era have survived and Derek Wood has made this possible with her restoration.