In her day – which began in 1973 – the John A Bennett-designed Colvic 31 received deserved admiration as the kind of motor-sailer, complete with a proper deckhouse, which any sailing enthusiast thinking about moving into more comfortable boat territory could seriously contemplate writes W M Nixon. The boat is advertised here among the popular listings on Afloat Boats for Sale.
And at their lovely old world boatyard of Kilmacsimon, set among the trees on the west side of the estuary between Kinsale and Inishannnon, George Kingston and his team created a particularly good version, the Simon 31, based on the Colvic hull and deckhouse, but with lots of clever Kingston touches added.
The result was an able yet unostentatious boat which suited the average Irish summer very well. The fact that we’re in a summer which is even more average than usual will make this 1980 version of interest for people who wish to continue cruising, preferably with a bit of sailing thrown in, but are fed up with having to haul on and haul off the foul weather gear several times a day.
For sure if the weather’s fine, you can helm this ketch from the cockpit. But there’s an equally well-serviced helmsman’s station at the forward end of the roomy deckhouse, and if the weather turns foul you can trundle comfortably along under that most accommodating of rigs, the engine at gentle revs with headsail and mizzen pulling well and the main neatly stowed.
With her full draft of 4ft, she certainly has sailing capability. As for her general roominess, it’s astonishing – this is one very big 31 footer. And her looks are handsome, speaking eloquently of practicality.
The price of €19,950 is realistic, for as some of the photos show, she’s beginning to show her age in a few areas, and experienced advice would probably have it that an engine replacement might be in order. But a fairly heavy classic diesel like the Thorneycroft BMC can go on for a very long time, for if I remember rightly, this is the marinised version of the engine developed for London taxis, so not only is it bullet-proof, but replacement parts are very competitively priced.
As to sea-going capability, the Colvic 31 motor-sailer was the boat used by cruising author Wallace Clark for the ventures of his latter years, in one of which he was awarded the Irish Cruising Club’s Rockabill Trophy for Seamanship. This was in recognition of his skill in bringing his Colvic 31 through the appalling tide-rip which can develop off the Mull of Oa, the southwest corner of Islay in the Hebrides. As he cheerfully admitted, it was his own mis-timing of tides which resulted in his being somewhere he shouldn’t have been next nor near in the first place. But the way in which his little boat came through, battered and bedraggled but triumphant, was a credit to John Bennett’s very sensible design.
