The Furnishings
in our Boat

Page published 1 July 2023

It Was All Change Before Our Purchase!

As part of my project to create a new web site for the Hampton Safari, yesterday I went searching for images of to illustrate various points I knew I was going to want to make. I encountered a photo I thought I recognised. It turned out this one was subtly different, but it did turn out to be an important discovery as it led me to the broker's site through which the previous owners bought our boat.

Armed with a good set of images from two years before our purchase, last year I can begin to see some of the things the previous owners had done. Working from bow the first thing you notice is that the cushions in the saloon have been re-covered. More likely they were completely replaced. Unfortunately, there is no evidence for either possibility in the paperwork supplied to us.

The engine sits under the forward facing settee in the saloon. I have no idea why someone would want to change the colour of the engine. Perhaps I watch too many episodes of "Bangers and Cash", where buyers of classic cars hate things that aren't original and "honest". I just get cynical and wonder what whoever did it was trying to hide.

At first I thought it was just an issue with the "white balance" in the two images of the galley but then I noticed that the threshold strip is no longer present in the doorway to the aft cabin. That must mean there is new carpet throughout the boat. I think it was a good choice as it coordinates well with linings in the galley and unifies the colour scheme throughout the boat.

It also had the benefit on not needing to change the curtains. While there was a matching brown stripe in that fabric there is also a toning, if not matching, blue stripe present in the curtain.

Once in the aft cabin and looking forward you can see that the boat used to have a door to the aft cabin. It seem unlikely that this was simply removed when the carpet was replaced. Rather, there was a deliberate decision to change things. That's because there is now a curtain that runs down the length of the bed. It is held up by what I believe is an extending spring-loaded pole (but I could be mis-remembering).

I can only guess at the reason for the change. The one advantage I can see for the removal of the door, is that, unlike those Safaris that lack an aft window in the cabin, keeping the doorway unobstructed does give slightly better rearward vision from the helm.

Looking forward from the aft cabin you can see that there were two threshold bars separating the saloon area from the galley and that confirms the carpet has been replaced within the last two years. No wonder the boat impressed us so when we first saw it.

Another thing that I notice is that there used to be three shelves over the engine housing and not just the two we know about. We are told that the boatyard does have the cabin door available should we wish to refit it. We will have to ask about the missing shelf as well. If nothing else, it might be useful cover cover up the screw holes that will have been left when it was removed. The evidence suggests that the previous owner took full advantage of all the shelves and maybe we would feel its loss too.

We took a decision at the beginning of the week. The boat has to come to Norfolk without delay. Hopefully, I can report on that soon!

The story continues...