Linton Hope 33 ft Thames Rater 1894 - Vendu

About as dainty as a sailing boat can be - but do not be fooled - DOROTHY has a formidable race record (including BCYC Round the Island Race 2008) and numerous Concours d’Elegance wins. It would be hard to find an easier way to participate in classic regattas or avoid expensive marina berths – she has her own trailer and extensive inventory – Charming.

- 4 x Coir traditional fenders
- 6 x plastic fenders
- 6 x Blue fabric covers with name and logo
- Embroidered fender covers
- Wooden boathook
- Alloy boathook
- Wooden paddle
- Deck scrubbing brush and bucket
- Legs for hull
- Trailer; 2004 as new modified to carry mast and spars. All up weight < 3,500 Kg
- Trailer tyres new 2012
- Tan canvas cockpit cover
- Tan canvas boom / mainsail cover with DOROTHY name each side
- Tan canvas over boom shading cover mast to rear of cockpit
- Green Overwinter full boat cover with skylights
- Aluminium spine and 3 wooden frame support for winter cover
- Padded bag for stowing lift off cabin doors
- Large quantity of embroidered clothing by Musto and Slam
- Numerous spares stored in a flight case for regatta support when abroad
- Mooring on Dart between upper and lower ferries

- Tiller steering
- Yamaha 5 HP outboard motor in well with plug
- Motor stows with padded cover below for racing so the boat appears as original
- Lopolight masthead tri and anchor LED lights via internal wiring and waterproof plug
- Concealed LED lights in cockpit, controlled from cabin CB
- Junction box serving electric circuits
- New circuit breakers
- LED battery voltage display
- Waterproof control pad serving autopilot and bilge pumps and 12 V socket
- Sony CD radio and concealed speakers in cabin
- 12 V battery boxed under fore cabin berth
- Solar trickle charger
- Internal and external fuel tanks for outboard
- Gas bottle and petrol stowage in well for external drainage

- All instruments battery powered and demountable
- Raymarine ST2000 autopilot
- Raymarine RC400 colour chart plotter with channel charts, battery or 12 V power
- Norcross handheld depth sounder
- Colour chart plotter
- Handheld depth,
- Antique gimballed Compass, mounts on coaming and stowed in hardwood case

- 3 x Electric bilge pumps; main and forward port and starboard
- Large manual bilge pump; cockpit
- 4 x Automatic life jackets with spray hoods and harnesses
- Grab bag with flares
- Traditional life ring with DOROTHY name
- Safety throwing line
- Foghorn
- Leadline

- Hollow Columbian pine keel stepped mast
- Spruce boom and gaff
- Carbon overlaid with spruce topsail yard
- Ash whisker pole
- Pine spinnaker pole, stowage cleats and blocks on foredeck
- PBO black synthetic standing rigging
- "Classic " polyester braid in braid running rigging
- Spare stainless steel standing rigging in storage
- Wooden blocks with old coin side keepers
- 2 x Harken modern ratchet blocks to reduce main sheet load when racing
- Sails, cream by Westaway 2003, considered undamaged and in GC
- Mainsail
- 3 x Headsails
- Classic spinnaker
- Red/black jackyard topsail
- Sails cream Premium Dimension Polyant 2008
- Mainsail
- No 1 jib

- Large cockpit
- Access below via double hinged locking lift doors and sliding hatch in coach roof
- Mainly pitch pine interior, some teak doors and bronze ports; the 2 forward opening
- Simple main cabin with skylight above
- 2 x settee berths with Victorian maroon pattern cushions
- Doorway in forward cabin to galley and head compartment
- Simple 2 ring gas hob on back of drop down door starboard, stowage outboard and below
- SL head with pine seat & cover port side
- Access to fore cabin
- 2 x Vee berths with waterproof material Victorian maroon cushions

- Original carvel teak planking on oak frames
- Copper fastened to steam bent oak timbers
- Lead external ballast keel - bolts replaced in the rebuild
- Swept teak deck over ply sub deck
- Varnished teak cover boards and toe rail with scrubbed teak capping
- Varnished teak seat / lockers in cockpit
- New cabin in the style of the original built in the 1980s, bow fronted and all in teak

From aft
- Bronze fairleads Ensign staff socket and mushroom vent
- Ash blocks on deck for mainsheet tackle
- Tiller
- Autopilot mounts onto a teak turning block – when stowed the boat looks original
- Low cockpit coamings
- Teak and bronze cleats each side on deck
- Bronze cleats each side on coamings
- Deep cockpit with raw pine sole
- Access to lazarette in aft bulkhead under coaming
- Varnished bench seats over hatche stowage each side
- Folding teak cockpit table
- 2 x Lewmar bronze single speed winches on pedestals outside coamings
- 2 x Bronze winch handles and leather holsters in cockpit
- Raised trunk cabin with varnished aft bulkhead
- Double doors and sliding hatch access to accommodation
- Cleats and teak fiddles on coach roof aft
- 2 x Lewmar bronze single speed winches on coach roof outboard; one each side
- Raw teak handrails leading forward each side
- 2 x Bronze Lewmar single speed winches on coach roof inboard; one each side
- Traditional butterfly skylight
- 2 x Bronze ports in trunk cabin elevations each side
- Mast with pin rails and boom
- Deck prism fwd of trunk
- Spade anchor, stainless steel chain and polyester rode in mesh bag under fore cabin berth
- Bronze mooring cleat o centreline
- Bronze mushroom vent beside
- Roller furler on forestay
- Bronze fairleads

DOROTHY was built for a Mr. Lawson of Mayfair, who raced her as a Thames Rater; one of the earliest racing classes still surviving to this day as the Thames A Rater which has evolved into a spindly, elongated, "size zero" version of DOROTHY. It is difficult to convey how revolutionary DOROTHY must have been in her day, the sport of yachting was in its infancy and most boats at that time were a domesticated version of a working boat.

Linton Hope, her designer expressed the challenge of designing and sailing a Rater thus; “River sailing is to ordinary sea sailing as fly fishing is to bottom fishing, or as snipe shooting to shooting tame pheasant”

In 1912 she was bought by Charles Ffolliott and moved to Dartmouth, where she stayed until she was rescued from a beach by a local boat builder in the 1980s. As a boat yard owner, working pretty well exclusively on wooden boats he was to rebuild her from a bare hull for his own family use also replacing the rotten deck and coach roof in the style of the original. In near exquisite condition she is kept on a mooring on the river Dart to this day. A member of the British Classic Yacht Club, DOROTHY is also included on the Register of Historic Vessels.

Some post restoration regatta successes include:
- 2006 1st Gaff class Dartmouth Regatta, 1st Plymouth Classic Regatta
- 2007 Concours Winner BCYC Regatta
- 2008 1st Classic Round the Island Race IOW 1st Gaff Class Dartmouth
- 2010 2nd in class Brest Classics Concours winner Thames Classic Regatta

2005
- The stem, previously repaired by scarfing and bolting pieces on, completely replaced
- All s/s bolts replaced with bronze
- All copper fastenings tested and replaced where weak
- Cracked tiller replaced with new laminated and bent oak

2007
- All floors and keel bolts in galvanised steel replaced with bronze
- Shroud chain plates were lengthened and replaced in bronze into the upgraded floors
- Frames and beam clamp in the area around the mast
(In racing Dorothy had previously shown signs of strain in this area)
- Teak spline added the full length of the hull on both sides