Custom Saunders Roe Medina Class TS Motor Yacht

Brokers Comments

Saunders Roe is a name mostly associated with aviation innovation, but with roots in boatbuilding on the Thames, then Cowes. Their 1930s Medina Class of fine, teak-bodyed motor yachts gained an enviable reputation for seagoing properties and luxury; so well-manufactured from the finest materials that they have survived mid to late 20th Century deprivations to become highly desirable restoration subjects. Now rejuvenated Medina Class yachts are ranging further than their builders could ever have imagined, to the Baltic and the Mediterranean. None finer than the last manufactured, MAGYAR; meticulously restored by Harbour Marine Services of Southwold for an proprietor pre-owned to the strict disciplines of classic car restoration, and an experienced sailor under sail and potential. MAGYAR represents an opportunity to enjoy classic motor yachting in the greatest of luxury and syle, at sea and in port.

Restoration

MAGYAR underwent an extensive four-year restoration at Harbour Marine Services of Southwold, Suffolk. During this process, the body had some frames replaced or repaired and fresh additional wood floors added. The planking being teak was exceptionally sound with only local repairs required and one small section of fresh planking where previously damaged. The entire deck was re-laid and much of the wheelhouse and aft coach roof was re-manufactured.
Some of original inside panelling and doors had been removed or altered beyond re-use under earlier proprietorship, so the inside was re-constructed to the original type with the original Saunders Shipyard joinery retained where possible and the rest completed with original inside joinery salvaged from KELVINIA - manufactured alongside Magyar in 1938 - and these then pulled together and updated by Harbour Marine Services. Small areas of the inside were re-planned, along with much finessing of the design of areas such as the galley and quantity.
All systems are either fresh or refurbished, with the inclusion of full heating and hot water. All gasoline and water basins replaced. All fresh through-bodys and seacocks. All chrome/ bronze/ galvanized fittings - either original or salvaged from sistership KELVINIA - were reconditioned/ re-plated/ re-galvanized and re-tailored.
MAGYAR is as near to a fresh boat as it’s possible to get, whilst still using the vast majority of her original timber and fittings.
2019 Post-restoration survey available.

Awards

CLASSIC BOAT AWARDS 2019
- Nominated 'Restored potentialed boat, over 40ft' category

THAMES TRADITIONAL BOAT FESTIVAL 2019
- The prestigious Osland Trophy for the Best Restored Boat
- The Bill Gardham Trophy for Restoration and Presentation
- The Thames Heritage Cup for General Traditional Appearance of Boat and Crew
 

History

Saunders Roe/ Saunders Shipyard Yard No. 1810
The last of eight Saunders-Roe 45’ Medina class motor yachts manufactured between 1935 and 1939, MAGYAR was bought from the yard by Squadron Leader Richard J.A. Ford, a career Royal Air Force Bomber Command officer from Folkestone, Kent, and son of the highest ranked Royal Marines officer, Sir Richard Vernon Tredinnick Ford, KCB, CBE.
MAGYAR is one of the two boats mentioned in period advertisements, KELVINIA being the other. They were manufactured side-by-side in the Saunders Shipyard at East Cowes and advertised throughout 1938 before finally being sold in 1939, almost days before the Second World War broke out. During this same period, Saunders Roe crafted and manufactured Sir Malcolm Campbell’s BLUEBIRD K3 which took the water velocity record at over 130 mph.
The Medina Class had gained fine reviews in the contemporary yachting press, including by the editors of 1938's 'Yachtsman's Annual and Who's Who': "We can... claim to have had some experience of these craft under give-and-take seagoing conditions - a very different matter to a test in sheltered water... On both occasi