New Life for Hout Bay 70 in Charter Work

The Hout Bay 70 "Spirit of Malverne" was built by a farmer on his wine farm in the beautiful Devon Valley, in the foothills of the Helderberg mountain range east of Cape Town, South Africa. She is a steel gaff schooner that I designed for the owner in the 1990's, as the biggest of our Hout Bay range of traditional gaff-rigged designs. She was 70ft on deck, 82ft overall (including bowsprit), 19,2" beam and 6'7" draft, with displacement of 48 tons.

She is a big and powerful boat and did extensive cruising in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans under her first owner. He told me of surfing her at 19 knots on large Atlantic swells en-route to St Helena island and of how she steered herself  without anyone touching the helm for 10 consecutive days, hard on the wind, on the return voyage.

"Spirit of Malverne" at her launch, at Royal Cape Yacht Club.

Saloon of "Spirit of Malverne". That champagne bottle is a Magnum, giving scale to the cabin.

Hout Bay 70 "Spirit of Malverne under sail.

After two changes of ownership she was bought by Trevor Appleby, who had big ideas to modify her for high-end charter service in the Andaman Sea and surrounding countries. This week he sent me photos of the very modified result, a beautiful schooner of 99ft overall length. The extra length has been introduced by lengthening the hull aft to form a counter stern. Aside from the change in aesthetics, the large aft deck creates a large flat dining area for outdoor dining in quiet anchorages.

In the process of modifying her hull, much of the skin plating was replaced to bring her up to like-new condition. To do this, the interior was gutted then rebuilt after the completion of the structural work. The end result is a beautiful and luxurious boat that will give very special memories to anyone who charters her.

"Dallinghoo", the Hout Bay 70 reborn for charter work.

Elegant modified stern of "Dallinghoo"

Dining on the aft deck .

The decks were stripped and new teak decks laid.

Rebuilt interior. The other half of the original saloon is now a luxurious cabin.

One of the luxurious sleeping cabins.

En-suite bathrooms.

Profile and accommodation of "Dallinghoo"

A holiday on "Dallinghoo" will be one to remember but most of us will just have to dream about it. Visit her website at http://www.dallinghoo.com/ for more info about her and the charter rates.

To see more about the Hout Bay 70 and our other designs go to our main website or our mobile website.