One Design — A real commitment to making the Farr 1020 the most genuine One Design available in this size range was made at the design stage and strict rules were established before the first boat was sold thus ensuring the accuracy of the One Design concept. Even with kitset builds the minimum package available was to a level that all key items were supplied by the builder e.g. hull, deck, bulkheads, rudder, keel, mast and full set of construction and fit-out drawings together with the class rules.

Luxury Cruiser — True to the design brief Farr made amazing use of space The requirement was for liberal use of natural timbers and plush soft furnishings to give the boat a comfortable and luxury feel. The galley had to be spacious, the saloon roomy and capable of seating at least eight people and the boat needed to be capable of sleeping seven. There had to be plenty of space above decks with good lockers and a large a cockpit. The innovative boarding platform design had to provide easy access on and off the boat and make an excellent swimming and diving platform.

A Kit builders Dream — market research confirmed a substantial home-build market so the kitset build concept was a key design issue and the method of construction referred to below had to facilitate an easy and accurate home build that would comply with the One Design rules.

A New Concept in Construction — We (Sea Nymph Boats Ltd/McDell Marine Ltd) have always been innovators in production boatbuilding techniques and the Farr 1020 build method had to be cost effective and ensure consistent high quality. The Farr 1020 has an extremely rigid hull achieved by the unique structural grid liner incorporating a number of different lay-ups each designed specifically to give maximum strength to weight ratio. All laminating is carried out in temperature and humidity controlled conditions and accurate control before and after moulding to ensure each Farr1020 complies exactly to the One Design standard. The construction method also had to allow the quick turn around of the moulds to enable maximum output.

This was the biggest project we had embarked on at that time and required a substantial investment so we had to do our homework and make sure we were on the right track.

Our faith in the Farr 1020 exceeded our expectations with 150 boats sold between 1983 and 1989 an average of over 20 boats per year. It was mainly the share market crash in 1987 that stopped the momentum of Farr 1020 sales like other boats of that era. By the time the market started to improve in the mid nineties, new models from the big overseas builders had started to appear.

Boats were sold into Australia, Japan and USA. Some have since changed hands and found their home in other ports around the world.

Most satisfying from our point of view as the team who conceived the idea of the Farr 1020 and built and sold it, is firstly, that most owners still tell us how much they love their 1020, and secondly, we don’t know of any 1020 owner who has sold his/her boat for less than they bought it for.

Kim McDell, McDell Marine Ltd