Builder Cornish Crabbers

History of the company

This story took place at Rock on the north coast of Cornwall County. In the early 1970s, local architect Roger Dongray designed a 22-foot gaffer tender and wanted to build it out of wood. A friend of Dongray's, with whom they raced Lasers «together in the Kemel estuary», Peter Keeling was the owner of a small local Westerly Boats shipyard. Keeling caught fire with the idea of building a yacht for a friend, but decided that it would be 2 feet longer. The first 4 yachts were made of plywood, the fifth was made of fibreglass. The Cornish Crabber - the name of this model - was first shown to the public at a boat show in London in 1975 and received press approval. The work of Westerly Boats has since taken on a new dimension. Within a year after the show, around 40 boats of this model were sold. To ensure that Westerly Boats would no longer be confused with another shipyard with a similar name to Westerly Marine, the company name was changed to Cornish Crabber.

In 1978, Dongray built another boat for himself - a 19-foot gaffer sloop.

Dongrey's new brainchild did not at first arouse any interest in the Cornish Crabber walls. However, after her test drive, Keeling immediately decided to implement this project as well.

This is how Shrimper 19 was born, which later became the most popular model produced at the shipyard. Since then the company has built more than 3,000 boats, including more than 1,100 Shrimper 19 and more than 350 Crabber 24.

After a number of owner changes since 2013, 75% of the company is owned by Peter Thomas, who also acts as director of the shipyard.

Production .

The shipyard, like 40 years ago, is located in Rock Village, North Cornwall.

Shipyard status

It's working.

Model range

Cornish Crabber produces motor and sailing yachts of classic design in lengths from 10 to 35 feet. Sailing yachts have fiberglass hull, hafer and bermuda arms, wooden or aluminum rankout. The yard's range also includes dinghies and trailer motor boats of classic design.

Features

Cornish Crabber yachts are an example of a reproduction of a traditional British yacht in a delicate and stylistic manner. They are not replicas, but modern interpretations with quality technical execution. Practically all models, except for the largest, can be transported by trailers. The Cornish Crabber's speed and seaworthiness are at default heights.