Arthur Hagg designed boats

[Firefly]

In recent years I have seen two of these locally, with Belle Amie recently ashore at Baltic Wharf.
This boat was a Tyler moulding and was for sale for some time with Sandeman. The other boat a 42
I think was at Lincombe a few years ago.
Does anybody know much about these. How many were built and if they were a success.
They are not exactly pretty, but somehow appealing as a semi displacement cruiser.
David

[Folly Reach]

I had an article about Hagg boats which I shared with Ben Curtis.
Arthur Hagg started out as a furniture designer for I think Maples.
He went on to become an aircraft designer before turning to boats when he retired.
The wooden ones tended to be lightly constructed which goes someway to explaining why not many exist now..

[CharlesL]

In 1958 MBY described a Hagg design as a ‘boat for the future’, and his sleek boats were very distinctive. An unusual feature was the widely spaced twin engines on shafts which allowed access on the centreline for the full length of many of the boats. The engines were contained in upholstered boxes as part of the accommodation.
Hagg had been a designer at de Havilland, and a legend says his work included the Mosquito, another that he owned the Dorset Lake Shipyard where so many of his boats were built, including the stunning ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’.
Charles

[MGabriel]

Charles, surely 'Arthur Hagg. The Man and his Boats' is in the pipeline? The Hagg 36 was by far one of the most recognisable and I thought Gentleman like craft, sadly seen less and less. MBY did run an article not that long ago about a 36 that was restored and runs in the Med.
In my youth, we kept the family boat (Ranger 36), in Lymington and there was a Hagg 42 a few boats away from us called 'SheBeta'. The owner was a very nice ex Navy chap, he sadly had a heart attack and died whilst anchored in Totland Bay. It would be nice to know where SheBeta is now.

[Ben]

David - Quite right, Belle Amie is a smashing looking boat, I recall it has a gyro stabiliser system, I'd love to experiment onboard with that.

Ian - yes, you did give me an article, 2 house moves since then.

There is a Hagg ashore at Island Harbour.

[CharlesL]

Yes Marcus, I agree that Hagg designed boats are fascinating, but he second half of the C20 was rich with stunning boats and fascinating characters that designed and built them. I'm still trying to update the Bruce Campbell book, have drafted chunks of Westcraft Watson and the Ragged Chine, but the Walt Walters book took over a year to research. And then Ben keeps finding interesting diversions....

Charles

[martinh]

I was quite taken with a Hagg 36 which I viewed many years ago. He also designed a 46 footer called 'Suzianna' built by Randall & McGregor in the '60s.
I will try again to master the process of uploading a picture ...

[Ben]

Ah. Yes. That is true. But...in my defence...the interesting diversion is very interesting!

[modlegend]

I'm rather late to this discussion but the Hagg 36 in France, mentioned in this thread, had two articles in MB&Y. This was my boat from 1976 to 1984. She was called (and still is as far as I know) KYANOS. I bought her from her original owner when she was c10 years old and was my first 'big' boat....My father (who was Alan Burnard's no.2 for many years!) was a WW2 aircraft designer and had a book about Arthur Hagg in his library (aeroplanes and boats). I rather liked the 'aeroplane' lines to his boat designs....reverse shear and curved bow. After a London Boat Show trip and looking at various used boats, I spotted a brokerage advertisement in MB&Y for the Hagg 36 (berthed at Birdham)...still got the magazine!...and bought her on the spot for the asking price (£16k...about £80k in todays money?). She was a really lovely boat and did some Cherbourg trips in her in wild weather!...lovelly sea boat.
When she was sold I tracked her to the South of France and found her there on one occasion. Fairly recently MB&Y published a nice picture of KYANOS on her 50th Birthday on the Riviera. She is missed!...I have a Google album of many pictures of the boat ....still looks just as good today.