Brigand – Steve Hudson

• Sold
• 67FT
• Traditional
• 2014

If you would like further information on the boat or would like to arrange a viewing, please use the form below or call the office on 01270 525040.

Exterior

One absolute must for the owners was the Steve Hudson steelwork; he’s particularly a fan of the distinctive Hudson bow substantial, long, curvy, and purposeful in appearance, and it looks even better when combined with the tug deck.

Brigand is a boat that almost demands to be looked at. Stand back and you can. appreciate the traditional lines. The gunwales rise towards the bow and stern; the cabin top also rises at the stern, at the same time as the cabin curves inwards.

But get close and you can see that there are details everywhere to enjoy. SM Hudson has a number of different specifications for steelwork and Brigand is built to the highest. That means there are rivets, recessed panels at the rear and a stop beam across the roof. There’s a Josher-style T-stud at the bow and Josher-style dollies at the stern. The swan neck is a larger diameter than usual with a big square boss at the base.

The tug deck and bulkheads at the bow and stern all have grooves to simulate planks. There’s also a groove along the base of the handrail as a nod towards the time when handrails were wooden. There are anser pins on the gunwales and cabin rings on the forward bulkhead are more traditional features.

The roof of the engine room has a removable panel (the engine went in via this route) and there’s also a pigeon box. There’s a dog box over the galley. The upstands are steel, while the double glazed ‘lights’ are in mahogany frames.

What you can’t see is a 15mm base plate. There’s also a keelson running the length of the interior, with floor bearers coming off it. Hudson’s are generous with the amount of framing in the construction particularly on the roof, which helps to explain why the cabin sides and top look so smooth and flaw-free.

The gas locker is in the bow and, because of the way tugs sit in the water, it’s fairly shallow, taking the smaller size of gas bottle.

Across the forward end of the tug deck there’s a large hatch and here modernity comes roaring in; it rises at the touch of a button on hydraulic rams. This locker gives access to the bow thruster tube, as well as providing storage. The hydraulics mean there’s no danger of the lid dropping and also no need for a padlock. The tug deck also contains the water tank and more storage, which is accessible from inside the boat.

SM Hudson does everything in-house, including the paintwork and sign-writing. Brigand has a classic colour scheme of black and grey, with maroon panels at the stern.

The name is big and bold along the side and the sign-writing in the panels is skillfully done. The roof is grey ahead of the boatman’s beam and raddle red aft of it; the gunwale tops are also painted raddle red. The slides (there’s one above the doors on to the tug deck as _well as at the stern) are decorated with traditional club shapes.

Layout & Fit-Out

This 67ft boat has a traditional layout with the saloon at the bow, incorporating a small dinette, and the galley beyond. Next comes the main cabin, followed by a walk-through shower room. Then there’s an engine room, with a back cabin at the stern.

The fit-out uses American light oak with horizontal butt and bead tongue and groove above the gunwales and plain panels below. There’s more tongue and groove on the ceiling, while the floor is solid oak through the living areas. 

Saloon and Dinette

From the tug deck at the bow a set of steps leads into the saloon. These can be moved out of the way to reveal the significant and useful storage area under the tug deck. On one side of them there’s a Morso Squirrel stove with an understated grey tiled hearth while, on the other, there’s a corner TV unit, which continues down the boat as a combination of shelves and cupboards, and also incorporates a cast iron radiator.

There’s room for just one Captain’s chair and this part of the boat is probably the least spacious of all. But there is plenty of other seating, thanks to an ingenious dinette. At first it looks like any other L-shaped version, but only the bench seat across the boat is fixed. The return is a moveable box so there’s great flexibility in how it can be used. There’s also a choice of table; a small square one for everyday use and a larger rectangular one, stowed under the gunwales, if more space is needed.

Galley

‘The galley is light and bright thanks to the large dog box in the ceiling. There are doors on both . sides with glazed inners’

The galley is light and bright, thanks to the large dog box in the ceiling. In addition, side doors on both sides have glazed inner doors so you can get extra light even when it’s chilly outside. One of these sets of glazed doors has a clever bi-fold action,. because of its position close to the door through to the cabin.

On one side of the galley an L-shaped run of units has Avonite worktops with a moulded sink, and there’s a 12-volt Shoreline fridge below. Across the boat a dresser-style unit incorporates, cupboards and a plate rack, built to a design that Linda came up with. The look is cleverly finished with vertical tongue i3-nd groove. The tiled splashback is in a brick pattern.

On the opposite side there’s a Thetford oven and grill below the worktop, with a Spinflo four-burner gas hob above. There’s also plenty of storage.

Cabin

The bed is in-line and a flap extends it by six inches. There’s storage underneath and a newel post at the corner provides a real country cottage look.

There’s storage everywhere. High level cupboards run over the head and side of the bed, and there’s a full height wardrobe at the foot. There’s also a unit styled like a dressing table, with low and high cupboards and a mirror in between. Another cast iron radiator completes the look.

‘Everything that could spoil the traditional look is hidden away… the inverter. batteries and heating boiler are all under the floor’

Shower Room

Sensibly, the floor in this walk-through shower room is hardwearing Karndean, rather than wood. As it’s in an oak finish, you can hardly tell the difference.

The shower is a large quadrant unit, lined with Wet Wall laminate. Between the shower and the cabin side there are a couple of cupboards and a heated towel rail below the porthole. Opposite the shower there’s a unit with a basin and a cupboard below and a mirror above. The tiles are white with bevelled edges and set in a brick pattern.

The toilet is a Dometic drop-through – so there’s virtually nothing to go wrong. The holding tank is directly underneath, sitting on the baseplate, and set across the whole width of the boat so it won’t affect the trim as it fills. It’s around a foot deep – a decent depth is important as a pump-out machine can never empty a tank completely.

Engine Room

Of course, the main feature here is the engine itself, of which much more later.

The other really noticeable thing is the change from a contemporary interior to traditional scumbling. This is all done in-house and has been painted to a very high standard. Naturally, there are side doors both sides so that the owners can show off the heart of the boat, and there’s a pigeon box in the roof.

Everything modern that could spoil the traditional look is hidden away; the fuse panel is in a cupboard, while the inverter, batteries and central heating boiler are all under the floor, which is made from substantial non-slip boards.

It’s always useful to have a supply of water in an engine room like this and here it’s been done with a real sense of style. There’s no swish basin with posh taps; simply exposed copper piping, a pair of brass taps and a bucket. It’s the sort of detail that makes you smile every time you see it.

Back Cabin

There’s bench seating down one side with storage underneath. Vents hide the modem addition of a fin-rad run off the central heating system. On the other side there’s a traditional multi-function unit, including a drop-down bed with cupboards above, a drop-down table with a crumb drawer and more storage.

‘They offered to sell him the stove from the lock cottage. It wasn’t in the best condition and needed quite a bit of work’

It’s decorated with scumbling and roses and castles.

There’s also an Epping stove which has a story. When Brigand was being built the supply of new Epping stoves had dried up. The owner mentioned this to a colleague volunteering with him at the Lyneal Trust on the Llangollen. They happened to be doing up the lock cottage at the top of Hurleston Locks and offered to sell him the stove from there. It wasn’t, by all accounts, in the best condition and it needed quite a bit of work at the boatyard before it could be installed.

Alongside the stove there’s a brass lantern, but it’s electric rather than oil, and traditional bed knobs next to the rear doors. There’s a substantial helmsman’s step with a coal box below. Modern switches are tucked discreetly away below a ticket drawer.

Technical

The engine is a Lister JP3 (which, as the name suggests, is the three-cylinder version). It dates from 1943 and was a searchlight generator. Steve Hudson had been buying, restoring and marinising engines like this for years. In its fully restored state, it looks absolutely beautiful. In traditional fashion, there’s a day diesel tank in the engine room with a handpump. The owner says one advantage of this is that it’s easy to see whether there are any problems with the fuel being pumped up from the main tank.

One element he wanted to carry forward from his previous boat was the brass silencer fitted to the exhaust. It really doesn’t do a great deal to quieten things down and there would normally be a bigger silencer fitted.

Modem additions to the engine include a PRM gearbox, and two alternators – a 160-amp one for the domestic batteries, and a 95-amp one for the engine and bow thruster batteries. There are four ll0Ah domestic batteries, plus one for the engine and two for the bow thruster, which is a 95kgf Vetus. A. 240-volt supply comes from a Mastervolt 2.5kW inverter. For central heating, there’s an Eberspacher diesel boiler and the calorifier is in the back cabin.

On The Water

Steering this boat is immensely pleasurable. First, there’s the fantastic noise from the engine. Thanks to the brass silencer it’s quite loud, but you could still enjoy listening to it all day. The owners previous boat had the twin-cylinder engine, a JP2, and they says this one is much smoother, with far less vibration through the boat.

‘The owners haven’t just rushed in and spent without any thought. They got their decisions right’

There are traditional controls, again all made in-house: a grab handle for selecting forward or reverse and a speed wheel. With such a slow revving engine, it’s difficult at first to work out how fast you’re going – particularly as the boat moves through the water with very little wash thanks to its long swims.

The tiller is quite heavy to move, due in part to the size and the thickness of the rudder, but that’s not a criticism: it feels very positive and the boat responds well. In addition, the rudder post is set at an angle, so the rudder centres itself after a turn, and the boat will stay in a straight line if you let go of the tiller.

Conclusion

This is a hugely appealing boat. Solid steelwork, traditional lines, a vintage engine and a well built, personalised interior – the list of positives just goes on and on.

It is also a massive and fitting tribute to the design and building skills of Steve Hudson.