A typical Andrews Day Launch, one of the twenty or so built in the nineteen fifties and sixties by the eponymous yard at Bourne End by the side of the middle Thames. Some went further afield to clients but most stayed local where they were used for entertaining and for occasional weekends afloat. The central cabin varies from one boat to another, all have space for a galley top and a porta loo under one of the seats in the aft cockpit.
Lady Marlow has borne this name since her launch and has had only 3 owners since she was built. The current one has owned her for the last 30 years and kept her well maintained during the three decades of his ownership.
The history is quite interesting as was commissioned by a well known Marlow person of the time called Jack Cotton who is mentioned in an article we have about the boat dated 1954. He subsequently sold Lady Marlow to a Howard Barrow who sold it in 1992 to Nick the current owner. Nick says that he had a new Ford Watermota fitted about 15 years ago but still has the original engine, an Austin Skipper, if someone would like to buy that and refurbish.
The 1954 magazine article shows four elegant upholstered chairs in the cabin with lloyd loom chairs, or basket chairs as they are described, in the forward cockpit. The fact that the entire bulkhead opens on this model means that your party is not divided up between those inside the cabin and those seated in the forward cockpit. Now the cabin has cream cushions with blue trim on longitudinal bench seats allowing the boat to be a useful weekender on occasion. The cockpit and cabin sole are covered in smart seagrass matting. Unusually there are large windows between the cabin and the aft cockpit which make the whole boat feel airy and light.
The boat is presented with a full length cover, a new BSS certificate and a recent pre sales survey.
