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The Bell Woodworking Seagull and Seamew are both small
sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...
-rigged marine ply sailing boats of the
Trailer yacht A trailer sailer is a type of sailboat that has been designed to be easily transported using a boat trailer towed by an automobile. They are generally larger than a sailing dinghy.Royce, Patrick M.: ''Royces Sailing Illustrated'', pages 52-57. ...
type designed by
Ian Proctor Ian Douglas Ben Proctor (12 July 1918 – 23 July 1992) was a British designer of boats, both sailing dinghies and cruisers. He had more than one hundred designs to his credit, from which an estimate of at least 65,000 boats were built. His pion ...
, who was also responsible for the design of many small sailing dinghies in seven different classes including the extremely popular Topper, and
Wanderer Wanderer, Wanderers, or The Wanderer may refer to: * Nomadic and/or itinerant people, working short-term before moving to other locations, who wander from place to place with no permanent home, or are vagrant * The Wanderer, an alternate name for ...
. The Seagull is widely regarded in the UK sailing community as a 'plywood classic', 'A few extra feet can go a long way'
''Practical Boat Owner'' July 2001 p58-62 - a boat which many young families learned to build and then learned to sail in. After the Seagull and Seamew Ian Proctor later went on to design similar sized boats such as the Nimrod,
Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...
, Prelude, and the Pirate.


Seagull

By the mid-1950s, Ian Proctor had been responsible for the design of many small sailing dinghies, however he had yet to work on anything larger, that is, until he was approached by Bell Woodworking - who were responsible for the kit of the GP14 sailing dinghy. The Bell Woodworking Company wanted Proctor to design a small
sailing cruiser A cruising yacht is a sailing or motor yacht that is suitable for long-distance travel and offers enough amenities to live aboard the boat, yet is small enough to not require a professional crew. A yacht that would require a professional crew ent ...
which would be suitable for both coastal and inland waters. Bell also required a design that was easy to produce in kit form and a design that the amateur builder would find easy to construct. The outcome of Proctors work was the 'Seagull' The Seagull sold in numbers, and although Bell did not have any exact figures for the number of both kits sold and boats built in house, the number of kits is estimated to be somewhere between 250-300. It is known that some kits were also shipped to the eastern US Seaboard. In the early days of its inception many young families bought the Seagull as a kit and built it over a year or so, for some it was their first boat and they even learned to sail in the Seagull.


Sailing Details

What made the Seagull stand out from the crowd, however, was her sailing performance. Here was a DIY sailing boat, which most people perhaps would have estimated as possessing (at best) adequate performance. However, the Seagull, during testing, showed that she could still sail fully canvassed in 32kt winds.


Accommodation

The cabin, although considered small for a boat of its size by today's standards, enjoyed 1.14m (3'9") of headroom, two berths, room for a chemical head to port and a small galley area to starboard. The cockpit was large and could seat up to six adults, or could be used if a boom tent were employed for an additional two small berths.


Special features

Auxiliary power was provided by an outboard motor mounted on the port quarter of the transom, a small well inboard of the transom allowed the motor to be tilted out of the water when not in use. Although some boats were fitted with a small single or twin cylinder inboard engine by retrofit.


Construction

The Seagull featured a lifting keel and ballast stub which weighed – the use of such a retractable keel at the time was seen as unusual. The keel was raised and lowered by means of a winch mechanism, which was situated in the cockpit in early boats but moved to the cabin on later kits and builds. The hull was a four plank lapstrake hard-chine design, with each plank glued and fastened to the frames.


Seamew

Following the success of the Seagull, Bell Woodworking commissioned Proctor to design a big sister to the Seagull. This resulted in the Seamew, the first of which was built in January 1963. Again she was along similar lines as the Seagull. The Seamew was given the Portsmouth no. of 106. As with the Seagull, the Seamew sold well, - a testament to the reputation and performance of the Seagull who preceded her. Roughly 150 Seamew kits and boats were produced, with some also being shipped to the USA.


Sailing Details

As far as performance was concerned, the Seamew was similar to the Seagull, but she was 'stiffer'- the increased ballast ratio helping to achieve this.


Accommodation

The cabin also benefitted from an extra 3" of headroom, and there were 3 berths instead of 2 with room for a sea toilet in the forepeak and a small galley area with sink. The cockpit was large and could seat up to six adults, or could be used if a boom tent were employed for an additional two small berths.


Special features

The same retractable bulbed keel as the Seagull but heavier weighing .


Construction

The hull was a four plank lapstrake hard-chine design, with each plank glued and fastened to the frames. Also the Seamew was designed to have a small inboard engine fitted to the bilge.


Owners association

There was a very active Seagull/Seamew association up until the mid-1970s. However, as plywood boats (and especially homebuilt plywood boats) became less fashionable in the late 1970s and early 1980s – giving way to fibreglass construction methods – the owners association disappeared due to lack of interest in 1983. There is no official association presently.


References

{{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats Boats designed by Ian Proctor