Lady Lucy
A 1940s William Osborne classic cruiser, restored by Freebody’s
Some boats are simply bought and sold. Others are handed on, the way you might hand on a family heirloom. Lady Lucy is one of those.
There is no mistaking a William Osborne. Their lines are iconic and unmistakable, and you can tell one from the far bank of the river. The Littlehampton yard built beautifully proportioned motor yachts and lifeboats for the RNLI. The Osborne name is still famous today and many of the ore war models were used at Dunkirk in 1940, including the celebrated Little Ships Aquabelle, Gerfalcon and Naiad Errant. Although built war of which Lady Lucy comes with the same iconic lines and that Osborne pedigree.
In 1951 she came up to the Upper Thames, and she has spent most of the last sixty years in the calm of Hurley Mill Pond. Over the years she has been a much-loved part of river life. She has taken friends and family between the Tideway and Oxford, with the late Rodney Bewes of The Likely Lads among her guests.
Brought back to life by Freebody’s
Every great classic eventually needs a great restorer, and Lady Lucy had one of the best. Peter Freebody’s yard at Hurley is renowned for traditional wooden boat building. Over two years they rebuilt her, giving her a new double diagonal mahogany hull, which is the strongest and finest way to build a wooden boat of this kind.
When she returned to the water, she won the Osland Trophy for Classic Boat Restoration, one of the most prestigious awards a wooden boat can receive. It recognised more than a beautiful finish. It recognised a restoration done honestly and properly, the Freebody way.
Aboard
Lady Lucy is a true cruiser, made for long days on the river and evenings moored up somewhere quiet.
- Aft cockpit: made for sunshine, a glass of something cold, and the river slipping past
- Galley and saloon: a warm, welcoming heart to the boat, with plenty of space to cook, dine and gather
- Wine store: her own, of course
- Spacious wheelhouse: light and airy, with a clear view of the river ahead
- Twin berths forward, plus a separate heads
The details
Lady Lucy is the kind of boat you notice in the details. Her traditional, original chrome fittings have been kept and cared for: the beautiful cleats, her bow plate, and the small touches that modern production boats left behind long ago. Run your hand along her rails and you can feel the attention that has been lavished on her.
Specification
| Builder | William Osborne Ltd, Littlehampton |
| Built | 1946 |
| Restored by | Peter Freebody & Co, Hurley |
| Hull | Mahogany, double diagonal |
| Length | 11 m (36 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) |
| Engines | Twin inboard diesels, 120 hp combined |
| Accommodation | Aft cockpit, galley and saloon, wheelhouse, twin berths forward, heads |
| Award | Osland Trophy for Classic Boat Restoration |
| Viewing | Windsor |
A must-see boat
Classic Osborne cruisers with this pedigree rarely come to market, and ones restored to this standard come up even less often. Lady Lucy has history, an award-winning restoration and a lifetime of happy days on the Thames, and she is ready for her next chapter.
Lady Lucy is available for viewing in Windsor. Contact Henley Sales & Charter to arrange your visit.
Details
Lady Lucy and Pension s
Thanks to Professional Pensions for this wonderful video of Lady Lucy. It’s first minute aren’t about pensions but about my boat so sorry Pension lovers, but this is just some lovely shots , mostly taken by drone of the boat at Hurley – half way between Henley and Maidenhead.
We are gong through our fourth hot spell of the summer and more boats are on the river than I have ever seen before! Sadly Lady Lucy is not on the river. That’s because I am not up to managing the weekends which were a feature for thousands who have been on this boat with me over the last 20 years.
It has been on the Peter Freebody website for sale at £95,000 for the last year and it has not had one offer in that time. The market is stagnant and that is because people like me are being advised to maintain prices at what we would have got coming out of Covid.
I am not going to wait around for nirvana to return. I put £300,000 into restoring the boat between 2002 and 2005 and a lot more in maintaining her since then and there seems to be a view among boat people that my boat is worth six figures. It isn’t if people won’t pay that for it so from today the boat’s price has been dropped from £95,000 to £57,950
That’s right; £57,950
A formal offer should be made to me at the contact details below.
heather@dennets.uk
https://www.dennettboatbuilders.co.uk/portfolio
Tel: 07886736654
However, if you would like a conversation about the boat, please call me on 07785 37768 or mail me on henry.h.tapper@gmail.com , try me outside of working hours as I am hard at it still!
The boat will be yours on a wonderful mooring ion Romney island between Windsor and Eton. You can take it away or keep it there but you are assured it will get the tenderest care as Tom Jones boats do.
You can take her up to Oxford, though not past Oxford because of the height of its superstructure, you can go out to sea on it, she has many excursions abroad over the years. She was built for the sea in Chichester in the year after the second world war. Fable has it that Lady Lucy II was built to replace Lady Lucy I which was sunk in Dunkirk. There are still the paintwork for Lady Lucy II on its life saving rings!
But the boat is up to date and ready to be taken to the river. All inspections of the boat are via heather@dennets.uk
The boat with friends at Henley during the regatta – Gloriana on the Berkshire bank!
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