1978 Finesse 24 - £5,750

Status : SOLD

Lying : Surrey - Viewing strictly by appointment through Topsail

(Please scroll down to the 'Images' section below for more photos.)

General Specification

Designer : Alan Platt
Builder : A F Platt Ltd., Benfleet, Essex
LOA : 7.62m (25ft 0in)
LOD : 7.32m (24ft 0in)
LWL : 6.86m (22ft 6in)
Beam : 2.46m (8ft 1in)
Draft : 0.76m (2ft 6in)
Keel : Long with bilge plates

Construction

• Wood clinker construction
• Iroko planking on oak ribs, copper fastened
• Cast iron keel with galvanised bilge fins
• Centreboard case and winch in situ, but no centreboard fitted
• Transom hung rudder (extends LOA to 7.62m/25ft)
• Cabin sides in iroko (single piece each side)
• Wintered ashore annually until winter 2017/18 (first winter on Thames)
• Not surveyed during current ownership

Rigging & Sails

• Previously sailed as a Bermudan Sloop (rig not currently fitted)
• Mast, boom (aluminium) with roller reefing, furling gear for headsail, standing and running rigging all included in sale
• Mainsail
• Headsail
• Sails both serviced 2015 (including new mainsail slides), used only twice since and currently stored in dry attic
• Galvanised tabernacle
• 2 x sheet winches
• All lines led back to cockpit

Mechanical & Electrical

• 20hp Yanmar 2GM20 inboard diesel engine
• Shaft drive to 3-blade prop
• 22 litre fuel tank
• Tiller steering
• 2 x 12V batteries

Accommodation

• 4 berths in 2 cabins
• Saloon dinette to port with mahogany table which lowers to convert to double berth
• V-berth in forecabin with infill to convert to double
• Galley to starboard with gas stove (3 burners), sink (manual cold supply) and lots of stowage
• Gas locker in cockpit
• Separate heads compartment with sea toilet (2014, no holding tank and so not currently in service due to cruising area)
• 45 litre freshwater tank
• Full height locker opposite heads compartment
• 12V cabin lights
• 2 x gimballed brass oil lamps
• Carpets and curtains where fitted
• Ventilation/escape hatch in forecabin
• Maximum headroom approximately 1.73m (5ft 8in)

Equipment

• Boat Safety Scheme certificate to 25 October 2022
• Stainless steel pulpit and pushpit
• Stanchions with guard wires
• Transom mounted boarding ladder
• Horseshoe lifebuoy
• Manual bilge pump
• Navigation lights including masthead tricolour and anchor light
• Autohelm depth
• Autohelm speed log
• Raymarine ST1000+ autopilot
• Sprayhood (2016)
• Cockpit enclosure (2016)
• CQR anchor with chain and rope
• Manual windlass (not recently used due to cruising area)
• Various warps
• Various fenders

Remarks

The Finesse 24 is a development of the Finesse 21, which boat builder Alan Platt started building in 1961. Designed in part (the hull) by a friend, Laurie Harbottell, the Finesse 21 was designed as a cruiser for sailing in the shoal waters of the East Coast. She proved to be such a success that Platt went on to build over 80 more and demand for a bigger version resulted in the scaled up Finesse 24 in late 1969. The 24-footer is distinctive in style, with a full-bodied hull, pretty swept sheer, broad transom and is every bit an East Coast cruiser, heavily influenced by the shoal-draught designs of Maurice Griffiths. Easy to handle, spacious and practical, and looking as good on inland waterways as out to sea, the Finesse 24 is reassuringly good in a seaway and, as Maurice Griffiths would put it, a "proper little ship".

This example has been in the same ownership for some 10 years and is currently used as a river cruiser on the Thames with rig removed and in storage, having moved up from Chichester Harbour on the south coast in 2017. She is now offered for sale due to the passing of time.