The Classic Motor Boat Association stand was in a fairly remarkable location at the 2015 London Boat Show, standing directly in the shadow of towering white GRP edifices with million-quid price tags. Fairline yachts are generally accepted as Very Nice Indeed, the brand together with Sunseeker and Princess are seen by people like me as the Big Three of the British boat-building business. Much loved in the UK, they export to countries far and wide. They also, for people like me, represent a totally different world, one which I have absolutely none of the credentials required to enter.
By contrast, the achingly beautiful curvaceous forms of the boat you see above was recently saved from being burned on a bonfire after a long period of abandonment. This boat represents a story of love and dedication, rather than simply a massive outpouring of money.
This is our kind of boat.


I’ll admit to having never heard of Boesch boats before. A Swiss concern, according to their website  (they’re still around) they began in 1920 when boatbuilder Jakob Boesch acquired the boatyard of  Treichler & Co. In the 1930’s the company began to dabble with planing hull-forms. Series production of what became known as the 500 series began in 1954, soon earning a good reputation among water-skiers.

As time went by and the world economy changed, Boesch boats began to tilt their marketing towards an increasingly more select, wealthier clintele, which perhaps explains why I had never heard of them.  What they provide today ticks every one of the boxes we associate with elegant, fast powerboats with a healthy regard for history and pedigree. And if the boat in these images is an example, then they clearly have nothing to hide.

Like last week’s boat, which clearly took more than a few design cues from cars of its era, the Boesch has an engine regularly found mechanically linked to a pair of wheels rather than a propeller. Unlike last weeks boat, though, said engine is (or can be made to be) pretty fearsome. This subtle, unassuming, elegant 16’8″ runabout is driven by a small-block Chevy.
Sticking an SBC in a boat like this should have profound consequences vis-a-vis hacking rapidly across the water, and with 260hp to its name this Boesch can hit 45mph, probably quite rapidly, and whilst sounding pretty exquisite into the bargain.

For a boat that came perilously close to conflagration through abandonment and indifference, I’d say Grumpy has every reason to have a smile on her face.
(Photos copyright Chris Haining / Hooniverse 2015, with great thanks to the Classic Motor Boat Association)