How old is Erbas?

Ostensibly, Erbas was built in 1969/1970 and fitted out by professional shipwrights as a show boat for Marcon, her builders.

I say ostensibly because Erbas is definitely a Mk.II Sabre with the taller rig, the vertical skeg and so on which are features that came in some while after production started. As the prototype Sabre was built in 1969 and around 25 Mk.I's were built before the changes to the hull and rig were introduced it seems to be pushing it for time - although on average around 40 Sabres a year were built during the 10 year production run so it isn't impossible

Were it not for some anomalies in the paper trail I'd stick with the 1969/1970 date. However, there is quite good evidence that she was in fact moulded in 1974 and commissioned in 1976 with the class number 119

There are two strands to the paper trail. The first follows the bills of sale back through several owners ...

Bruce & Jane Peckett with Richard Green (Current owners)
Nic and Linda Kitchin
Roger Cordrey
RM Bridges and K Smith
T Nash

It appears that when Mr. Nash sold Erbas to Messrs. Bridges and Smith, the paperwork necessary for the formal transfer of ownership was not completed. Consequentially, when Mr. Cordrey purchased the boat, he ran into problems with the Part 1 registration which necessitated the former owners completing declarations of ownership and a bill of sale which, unfortunately, are all undated.

It is that bill of sale, created some time after the actual sale took place, which states that Erbas is Sabre no. 119 although it gives a year of 1970.

(Given the difficulties and costs of transferring ownership of a Part 1 registered vessel, it is perhaps no surprise that Mr. Cordrey subsequently transferred Erbas to the much less rigorous Part III Small Ships Register!)

So, as far as date of build is concerned, the earliest evidence in the bills of sale dates from the 1989 sale of Erbas to Mr. Cordrey and the source of the date of 1970 appears to be Mr. Nash with that information subsequently copied to the other paperwork then and for ever more to the present day.

We now move to the bundle of survey reports we received in the folder of paperwork

Here we find the earliest document we have (or at least that I've found so far!) - a 1985 survey commissioned by Mr. Nash. The introduction states "Please find enclosed the survey report on your Sabre 27 Erbas." which implies that Mr. Nash was already the owner at that time, rather than a potential purchaser

This survey very clearly states in its preamble that the hull was moulded in 1974 and that she was privately fitted out and commissioned in 1976. A subsequent survey carried out on behalf of Mr. Cowdrey in 1991 states exactly the same information.

Some later paperwork states that the hull was moulded in 1968! This predates the prototype Sabre by one year and is, I suspect, a result of deducting two years from the 1970 date on the assumption that the 1970 date was her commissioning date (not 1976) and therefore she must have been moulded two years before that (e.g. 1968 not 1974). I think this simply reflects some confusion in following the paper trail.

My conclusion is that I'm personally convinced that Erbas is in fact at least four years newer than we previously thought. I'm confident about stating that she was moulded in 1974 and commissioned in 1976

As for the fit out, it is indeed carried out to a very high standard and could certainly be the work of a professional shipwright. Equally, however, I have seen work to a similar or even higher standard carried out by an amateur (in one case with a background in banking and no previous carpentry experience!). It matters not, quality is quality regardless of who did the work!