All Weather River Cruiser

At home on the Norfolk Broads

Hampton's Early Safaris

As described on the History page, the MkI Safari was conceived in 1968, with the first two examples included in Hampton Boats Ltd own hire fleet in 1969. As with the Hampton's earlier 22ft "On Safari" class it had a forward steering position but the major new design feature was the sliding wheelhouse over the saloon.

Alec Hampton seemed to be aware of the vagaries of the British summer. One of the phrases used in the promotional material for all his forward control boats is the phrase "all weather cruiser". The attraction of the simplicity of a sliding wheelhouse over the often complicated mechanism of the canvas canopies found on most aft cockpit cruisers is obvious. It is also one of the attractions of the boat to private owners these days as they are much more likely than holidaymakers to want to use their boat in less than ideal weather throughout the year.

Another advantage the sliding wheelhouse of the Safari25 had over the earlier "On Safari" boats was that, when mooring, crew members were no longer compelled to go to the aft door and make their way forward along the gunwales as the plan also shows steps by the helmsman's seat. These allow exit from the saloon once the wheelhouse is slid back, although they are so steep that, perhaps, they should be called a ladder.

The Mark I Boat

While the Early Drawing Alec Hampton produced in February 1968 showed a three berth layout there was no indication of the location of the engine. Perhaps that was because, at that stage, a final decision was still to be taken. By the time production started the forward facing seat in the dinette had become extended over the centre line to become a settee, under which was found the engine as shown in the Blake's catalogue in 1969.

Besides the showing the extended seat under which the engine was mounted and the shelf under which the gearbox would be found, the cupboard in the galley forward of the sink is now labelled as such, although that was where the fridge was located and all drawings that followed do label it as the fridge space. Another feature seen in the 1969 drawing is the dotted line between the dinette and cupboard to port. Hampton's technical drawings indicate this represents a change of floor level. The floor in the saloon is raised by four inches. This change in floor level appears in all Hampton's future drawings, including those for the MkII, released in 1972 and the MkIII in 1976, although many of those fitting out the moulds kept their saloon floor at the same level as the rest of the boat.

The shelves forming part of the dinette in a Hampton-built three berth boat can be seen in the photograph. This example comes from a MkIII boat where the table has been modified. Originally, it would not have been supported on a single central Desmo leg, but by wooden brackets mounted on the lip of the shelf at one end and a fold down leg at the other. At full resolution it is possible to make out the old screw holes where the shelf brackets have been removed.

It is not known at what point Hampton began producing a four berth version of the Safari25. It is hoped that those with copies of Blakes catalogues for 1970 or 1971 can confirm whether the Hampton entries for either year offers a four berth boat for hire.

Fitzwater Tour

To get an impression of how a MkI boat appeared we now have available a photographic Tour of Fitzwater. This is the boat launched under the name Classic Safari, the late MkI four berth boat that featured on the cover of the Sales Brochures that Hampton Boats Ltd issued in the early 1970s. It's layout differs from the three-berth shown above but is similar to that shown in the MkII drawing seen below.

The Mark II Boat

From first production in 1969 until 1972 the design of the Safari25 was continually refined. The design was proving popular and mouldings were being supplied to other yards for them to fit out as they required as well as being available fully built. The evidence suggests that requests from other yards when ordering mouldings led to various "specials" being produced. Eventually, these various extras added for customers turned into a fixed set of features that became part of the standard boat and at this point the Safari MkII was announced.

By this point Hampton were also producing a four berth variant of the boat. A layout plan of this appeared in the new Promotional Material that was produced at the time. One leaflet was aimed at potential holidaymakers for Hampton's own fleet and another was aimed at the "complete-your-own" market that many boat builders had discovered was ready to be tapped. This second leaflet included a list of features found in the MkII boat:

• Windscreen and base
• Instrument panel recess
• Handrail chocks
• Tow rails
• Mud weight chock
• Non-slip deck pads
• Flat section around sheerline for fixing rubbers
• Hollow section keel to accommodate stern gear
• Aft cockpit with drain point
• Gas bottle hatch and container
• Sliding wheelhouse track
• Cabin top and under deck lining grounds
• Aft cabin door rebate

The introductory paragraph to this list could lead you to believe that all the features listed were new in the MkII boat, but some were part of the boat's original design and others included in later MkI boats. Not mentioned in the leaflet is something the Shorebase site says. It reports that the keel is larger on the MkII boat. This probably refers to the fact that what was shown as the oak skeg on the early Contructional Details drawing of the MkI hull, has been incorporated into the hull moulding on the MkII boat. Photographic evidence suggests that at least some builders extended the MkI keel with a steel bracket that rose to meet the angled keel rather than use a wooden infill.

The drawing of the four berth variant that appeared in Hampton's own Hire Boat Brochure, published once the MkII boat had been announced, shows a number of differences in the layout. The primary one is that the saloon seating became L-shaped and could be extended to form a double bed. Partnered with this is the innovation of a dining table that slides out from under the foredeck.

Given the additional crew likely to be aboard it becomes necessary to provide a second wardrobe. This uses space taken from the toilet/shower cubicle. It remains unclear why the smaller cubicle requires the positions of the shower and toilet to be reversed.

Also unclear is the reason for switching the location of the drawers and dressing table in the aft cabin. The dressing table is no more than a shelf. Most likely it is because the open space beneath the shelf provided much better access to the locker under the aft deck.

The four berth boat also lacks the steps that provided easy access to the foredeck for mooring. Maybe the thought was that with more people aboard, the helmsman could stay aboard and would not need to exit the saloon quickly to assist with mooring.

It is hoped that owners of Hampton-built MkI boats viewing this page will supply photos to replace those showing the fit-out of the saloon with one from their own boat. It would also be good if two images can be supplied to replace those below of the four berth boat, one showing the cushions in place and another with them removed, so any storage facility behind the seating can be seen.