Fletcher Boats

[ian h]

Good to see that they appear to being built again,

Bit shocked at the price though

https://www.fletcherboats.co.uk/shop/19-gts/

[Ianfs]

Looks like its all Russian owned now and they bought out Wessex Investments. As you say Ian the price is a little shocking.

[argonaut]

Fletcher have come and gone many times.

I remember their peak when there was a weekly soap about a boatyard, and the new Fletcher cruiser was the ‘new boat’
They were at their best when they teamed up with Mercury, and for a couple of years produced Fletcher Black Max packages .... very desirable at the time.

Here is one of me in my early Fletcher .... an enormous hull size of 11’6”

D36D752E-732A-41BB-BE98-6ECE700B6D10.jpeg (356.42 KiB) Viewed 11284 times

It was pretty nippy it had a Kiekhaefer Mercury 500
The original band was Kiekhaefer.

It was a 1965. Motor originally in white, I painted it to look more like the Mercury BlueBands, which were ‘modern’ at the time.
The worlds first 4 cylinder in-line outboard.

Originally pull start only, it had an electric start ‘add-on’ , but no charger, so had to manually charge battery before each trip.

I once stripped it down to change the Reed valves, biggest outboard strip down I ever did.

31A067AE-8A9D-4F3D-BF1C-72D9520420DA.jpeg (63.66 KiB) Viewed 11284 times

[shibbs]

That’s a cracking looking boat Argonaut!!
Bet you had a lot of fun in that!
The price of the new ones certainly does seem steep, I wonder how they’ll get on..
That said, I have no idea what the price of the competition are like to be honest..
Or any new boat come to think of it.

[AlboranC]

I did some research on this version of Fletcher boats at companies house and I would suggest anyone interested in one of these boats to do the same before handing over any money as a deposit on a 3D render of a boat.

I would love to be proved wrong and see brand new Fletcher's on display at the boat show, but it doesn't look very real to me.

[argonaut]

I would also be 'reticent'
Fletcher are not the family brand of British Boat builders, that ceased long time ago.

It is more of now of using the name.

I have thought it might be a nice little project (maybe article) to map out the timeline including ownership & models of each of the main British boat builders.
Fletcher, Picton, Shakespeare,

If anybody would be interested in assisting reach out to me.

[Ianfs]

This does sound like something not available on any standard search engines today, but equally it may be an enormous venture. Furthermore, now is the time to record the detail before it is lost for all time.

PM me for your thoughts Rick.

[argonaut]

If people are interested … we need to set up a couple of threads …. One per manufacturer, and then ask members to contribute any facts …

[ian h]

here is the History for Hunton boats

https://www.jeffhunton.com/history-1

[Ianfs]

Just to get you started..............


https://www.boatbanter.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=112