Produced:  1967 –1980
No: M 93, T->300 by ‘75
Keel: LK+ optional BP
Berths: 2 (Weekender)

KELPIE

Macwester produced two versions-open dayboat racing (lower coamings and go faster gear), and a ‘weekender’ with cabin.  All had removable ballast to simplify trailing. Its design had a profound influence on all the Rowan classes.  93 built by Macwester under license by Pearson Brothers of Littlehampton up to 1970. In 1970 rights sold to West Kirby marine Services Ltd (later known as Blakes Marine Services) because of glut of orders for all Macwester types.  Blakes modified the design and extended the cabin top on the weekender.

Produced:  1970 –1978
No Built: M 240
Keel: LK+ optional BP
Berths: 4

ROWAN 22

Development of Kelpie. Long keel with optional bilge plates and Petter Stuart diesel or Stuart 5hp petrol engine.  Most were built with a dinette to port arrangement, though some later models had a more traditional port & starboard settee arrangement.

Rowan Weekender was a variation introduced in 1975, with an outboard engine, and basic interior, at just over half the cost of the inboard version, and which proved particularly popular on the continent.

Production ceased after the Rowan Crown was introduced in 1978.

Produced:  1978 –early 80s
No Built: M 63, T-?
Keel: LK + optional BP
Berths: 4

ROWAN CROWN

A stretched version of the popular Rowan 22, built for little increase in cost with a more streamlined deck moulding.  Petter Mini 6 outboard fitting through a removable door in the transom.  It was named in recognition of the Jubilee Year in which it was designed.

One of the four designs which Trident continued to build after buying Macwester Marine in 1979.  An unknown number were built by Trident.

Produced:  1973 –1980
No Built: 36
Keel: Rose; LK+CB, 8m- FS
Berths: 4

ROWAN ROSE/ROWAN 8M

Rowan Rose: Was designed in 1972 and started production in 1973. Sloop with Petter Mini 6 diesel engine or Stuart 10 hp petrol engine. Shallow long keel and centreboard.

Rowan 8m: In 1975 the 8m was introduced with a deeper fixed fin keel and skeg, mainly for the Scandinavian Market.  Both have 4 berths and an aft sited galley.

Produced:  1972 –19?
No Built: > 300 by ‘75
Keel:
Berths:

CREELER

An MVF style fishing boat, especially designed to enable owners to easily complete the craft themselves.  Available in various stages of completion, the boat was unique at the time in having one side of the hull and side decks and coamings moulded in one piece.  The two halves were then joined on a central keel which could be as deep or shallow as the owner required.

Produced:  1967 –1972
No Built: M 466
Keel: TK
Berths: 4/5

MACWESTER 26

The original Macwester. Design commenced in 1st July ’64; first boat at The London Boat Show. Immediate success with unusually large beam & high internal volume.  12 firm orders taken at the show, price £1490 with sails or £1695 with Vire engine. Choices of rig (standard or tall) and 3 internal layouts (standard amidships galley, aft galley, & dinette).  Sailed ok but prone to weather helm and poor windward performance largely as a result of shallow keels and wide beam preventing close sheeting of the jib.  466 of the class built by September 1972 when moulds ceremoniously broken up.

Produced:  1970 –early 80s
No Built: M 220, T-?
Keel: TK
Berths: 4-5

MACWESTER 27

Development of the 26. Very similar with hull and keels modified after tank testing for efficiency. 

Joint first in The Yachting World One of a Kind Rally for cruising yachts in 1975 (Series 2 version).  16 built by Bull and Co, Essex, distinguished by moulded deckhead lining.

Series II in 1975 – new deck/interior with lower shrouds moved to coach roof, flush forehatch, main hatch garage, and reduced wood work (e.g. grp bulwarks, no toe rails).

Series III in 1978/9 – updated deck and interior.

Series IV in 1981 under Trident Marine – deck & interior.

Series V in ? under Trident Marine.

Produced:  1967 –1970
No Built: M 50
Keel: TK (1 FS in 1970)
Berths: 5/6

MACWESTER 28

A stretched 26, offered in two basic forms – aft cockpit, with the same hree internal layout options as the 26, and centre cockpit with a larger (BMC Captain) engine.  Centre cockpit version was the very first of the Wight family, referred to as the Macwester 28 ‘Wight’ class. 

Macwester built one 28 with a fin keel in 1969 (called the Mac 28 ‘Celerity’ )

tand shortly afterwards sold the production rights to Atlanta Marine, so that the design lived on under the same name Atlanta 28. At the same time they developed the 30’ Wight class.

Produced:  1969/70 –1972
No Built: M 12
Keel: TK
Berths: 6

MACWESTER 30 SLOOP

Macwester developed the 30’hull from the Macwester 28 and initially gave it a sloop rig.  The first8 of the 30’ hulls (T to T8, where T stands for the Thirty) were sloops although the majority were rigged as a yawl or ketch – see below.

The aft cockpit sloop offered a much larger main cabin and toilet than with the centre cockpit. All 12 were built with the Volvo MD2B engine.

Produced :  1970 –1972
No Built: M 73
Keel: TK
Berths: 6

MACWESTER 30 Wight Class Yawl/Ketch

Developed from the Mac 28 Wight class, continuing the motor sailor Wight theme with either a BMC Captain, or Volvo diesel. Initially rigged as a yawl, a later modification in 1971 introduced the ketch rig to reduce the over hang of the mizzen boom and at the same time offered an improved interior (forecabin bunks at split levels easing locker access, improved lining material and so on).

Produced:  1972 –1977/8
No Built: 4
Keel: TK
Berths: 6

MACWESTER WIGHT Mk 2-Sloop & Ketch

The Macwester 30’ hull was lengthened by 1ft and given higher freeboard improving the accommodation below decks and was first shown at the London Boatshow in 1973.

Not many of these hulls were sold with the sloop rig, the vast majority of owners opted for the centre cockpit and ketch rig. Note, however, that the Wight name now applied to both sloop and two-masted versions.

Produced:  1972 –1977/8
No Built: 186
Keel: TK
Berths: 7

Produced:  1976 –early 80s
No Built: M – 70, T?
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 6/7

MALIN

The Malin was first shown in the 1977 London Boat Show and uses the Wight series II hull with a completely new deck moulding in line with the updated Macwester 27 deck.  The most obvious difference is at the aft cabin where the coach roof has been extended out to the gunwhales, providing much more room in the cabin and a large sunbathing area on deck. The boat, as with the Wight sold well abroad.

Macwester also introduced a fin keel option with the Malin.  The Malin was another of the classes that continued to be built under Trident Marine.

Produced:  1972 –1977
No Built: M4 10
Keel: LK and CB
Berths: 6

PELAGIAN

A wheelhouse motor sailor with hydraulic centreboard and twin 32hp BMC Captain or 50hp Commander diesels.  Fast, and extremely manoeuvrable under power, and adequate under sail.  It was complex to build due to the need to fit twin diesels, central heating plant, the centreboard and its lifting gear And the batteries all in a comparatively small (6ft long) engine room.  As a result the company decided that they could only afford to build two per year.

Produced:  1977/8 –1985
No Built: 20
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 6

SEAFORTH/HEBRIDEAN

The flagship of the Macwester range from 1977 was a further development of the Malin.  Two years were spent in designing & researching for the design, and the boat received favourable reviews and was popular.  The Hebridean was the same boat but with a deck saloon.  The 20 of this class built by Macwester 38hp BMC 1800cc diesels included both the Seaforth and the Hebrideans.

Trident Marine continued to build the Seaforth until 1985 and fitted Volvo 65hp MD30 diesels in some boats.

Produced:  1977 –1978
No Built:  ?
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 5/6

ATLANTA ROCKALL

This model was introduced by Atlanta after they moved into larger premises in1977 and is basically the same boat as the Macwester 26, but offered with the 27’s deeper bilge keels or a fin keel.  Also known as the Rockall 26, but not to be confused with the Atlanta 26, which was based upon the Colvic 26 hull.

Produced:  1977 –?
No Built:  ?
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 5

ATLANTA VIKING 800

This boat was the same as the Macwester 27 Series I, although apparently offered with a larger sail area.  It was still in production as late as 1980.

It is actually unclear whether this boat is the Rockall 26 under another name.  The dimensions available would suggest not, but they may be wrong.

Note also that although taken from literature published in the yachting press, the sail area quoted is suspect.

Produced:  1970 – 1977
No Built: >300 by 1975
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 5

ATLANTA 28

In 1969/70 Atlanta Marine bought the rights to the Macwester 28 from Macwester Marine and marketed effectively exactly the same boat under their sail insignia.  They offered both fin and twin keel versions. The latter used the twin keel design that had been developed through tank testing for the Macwester 27.

Over the years they did make many minor modifications to the deck layouts, following the trend for the new Macwester 27s.

Produced:  1975 –?
No Built: /
Keel: TK or FS
Berths: 6

ATLANTA VIKING 8.5

In 1975 Atlanta Marine produced new moulds based upon the Atlanta 28, with a longer waterline, longer cockpit, fuller aft sections to provide greater buoyancy, increased ballast (now 40%) and longer coach roof providing a roomier cabin and allowing an extra berth.

This boat, which was alternatively known in its early life as the Atlanta 8.5, and simply the Atlanta Viking, was still in production at least as late as 1980.

The same basic boat was offered as the Broads Sailor in 1979.