A Family Afloat

With room for eight, this is a big boat and with diesel-electric propulsion which provides the best of both worlds on the water

- Adam Porter

Depending on your point of view, boating is either a great family activity, or a great way of getting away from your family. I’ve lost count of the number of couples who’ve said they designed their boat mainly for themselves — and while there was a bed that could be made up for guests, frankly they were hoping it wouldn’t be used that often.

But here’s a boat designed by a couple who take exactly the opposite approach.

Jan and Tony Snook are looking forward to having time with their four grandchildren on board (and the kids’ parents, obviously). So their boat, which is named Vera May after Jan’s late mother, can sleep eight. And if that wasn’t unusual enough, there’s also room for Tony’s motorbike on a tug deck at the bow. What’s more, the boat is 70ft long, has hybrid drive, air conditioning, and is gas free — so it’s not the sort of boat we see every month.

It’s been built by MGM, who have a good track record at the Crick Show, but have given it a miss for the past couple of years.

However, just because they haven’t been to Crick doesn’t mean they aren’t still building interesting boats – and they’ll be back in 2020.

Exterior

The boat’s shell was built by Nick Thorpe. It’s a semi-cruiser, meaning there’s an open back deck, but with built-in lockers each side — just not to the height that a semi-trad would have. To maximise deck space, the stern is square although the corners are rounded enough that they shouldn’t get in the way too much. The lockers on the back deck provide both somewhere to sit, and plenty of storage. There’s a metal dodger at the very stern, and there are low doors so the deck can be completely enclosed.