In recent years, the 1960s Kim Holman designed day racer Stiletto has been a regular visitor to the SYH workshops for fine tuning and maintenance ahead of each sailing season.
Once described by Classic Boat magazine as “a fabulously elegant 33ft keelboat with low topsides, built by Whisstocks, with a design brief of ‘standing room for a bottle of Gordons”, Stiletto is a stunning example of classic boat design and build. She can regularly be seen competing with much success in Cowes and on the east coast classic racing circuits.
During her most recent stay in the SYH workshop, Stiletto had maintenance work carried out on her interior and cockpit, including new seating.
Boat yard services director, Joshua Major comments, “The new cockpit benches were hand-built by SYH’s joiners and are copies of the original seats, with modifications to improve stability and practicality.
“Throughout each stage of Stiletto’s maintenance, we have stayed true to her original design whilst maximising her performance for racing.”
In keeping with Stiletto’s design, the new seating was made out of straight grain teak from Salcombe based Stones Marine Timber. The seating legs were constructed using slightly thicker timber for extra stability and are designed to tuck away underneath the benches ensuring halyards and feet don’t get caught during racing.
Stiletto’s stripped-out interior was re-varnished, re-painted and damage sole boards were replaced. SYH also designed, created and fitted a bespoke mahogany chart table with a hard-wearing Formica top.
The workshop phase was only the start of Stiletto’s journey. Once the refit was complete, she was placed in a purpose-built container designed by SYH ready for shipping to Antigua. As well as designing the custom shipping container, SYH organised all the logistics.
