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Hurleys in Holland

We have receieved the following research from Gertjan Schurink, one of our members in Holland. We are grareful to him for his thorough and painstakng research.

Importing the Hurley 22 in the sixties

I live very close to Edam (1 mile away) and know the son of the importer, Mr. van Drunen. He still has a small workshop but at another location, has some chandlery and services my outboard every year. The company of his father was known as Triba and later Corba. Triba (Triba Edam Watersport) was the importer of the Hurley 22 yachts in Holland starting in 1967. They probably stopped importing them when Hurley Marine stopped making the H22 in 1974. Your site states that When Hurley Marine Ltd went out of business in 1974 the Hurley Marine agents Triba bought a set of Hurley 22 moulds and the rights to use the Hurley name. The name probably ,but whether they bought the moulds is highly uncertain. Whatever the truth; they never ever build a single Hurley, so he told me. They just sold them, and even owned one. Attached is an old sticker and on the right one can see what is probably a Hurley 22.

The seventies; Holland Yachting

In August 1974 Hurley Marine went out of business having endured two years of a recession and the H22 moulds were bought by two ex-Hurley employees who set up an enterprise called South Coast Marine, In 1975 SCM re-started production of the H22 having the hull and deck mouldings produced by Moody Marine Projects. Around 40% of SCM H22s were exported to Holland and sold there as the Hurley 700. Holland Yachting at Harderwijk started importing the 22SCM (probably in 1977) and called them Hurley 700 in the Netherlands. Most likely because 22ft is about 700 centimeters or 7 meters. There are slightly different versions of the interior (the timber) about, but the interior is very similar to a SCM. After 1980 they where fitted with aluminium colored masts instead of a gold colored, an anchor locker and the interior cabinets were fitted with doors. In the picture (att. 2x700.jpg) a 1979 (Akka) and a 1980 (Iris, mine) can be seen. Service and warranty Holland Yachting had a communication to all Hurley owners nearly every year to show them all accessories including pricing. Even long after they stopped importing them. The attached document is from january 1987 and prices are in Dutch guilders, in those days 3 guilders was roughly 1 pound sterling, There where also two recalls, maybe more but that´s unknown. One in 1984 and asked all owners to get their Hurley back to Holland Yachting because of a leaking deck (at the mast) causing the deck to rot . It was a very expensive repairs but they offered their repair for free. The second recall is about the companionway hatch for hurley 700’s build number 1035 and up. It’s a very bad preserved recall but still worth publishing it on the internet, It even states that someone form the UK will be available to do the repairs. It can´t be done elsewhere so owners had to sail to Harderwijk. It proves that until 1987 Holland Yachting was involved, long after SCM ceased to exist. At the bottom of the pricelist (pricelist.pdf) it states in Dutch that they where the sole importers of the Hurley 700 in the whole of Europe. If any new Hurley´s where build after 1981 is very unclear, maybe some where left in stock? I think not. The Netherlands is not that big and I have seen many Hurley´s, in good nick, scrapped or in bad shape, but most of them are without the anchor locker and they have the golden mast.

Were any Hurley 700 build in the Netherlands?

No. This story leads me to believe that none of he Hurley 700´s where actually build in the Netherlands. In the late 80´s some Hurley 800´s where build here but that´s a different boat and different story all together; they are akin as a cucumber to a kangaroo. The Hurley 800 was build by Danish yard STB but was in fact a Junker 26. Holland Yachting imported them too as a casco, leaving the interior design to themselves or the costumers. Probably due to the succes of the Hurley 700, the started selling them as a Hurley 800. Using the well known, popular name Hurley it is very probable that the name ¨Hurley¨ was rightfully owned by Holland Yachting. The Hurley 800 site (in Dutch) is very outdated and as this mail is about the 700 so I leave it at that.

Numbers built

April 1980, at the beginning of the next recession, SCM went into receivership having built about 425 boats. It is very hard to try and find Hurley 700´s build in 1980 and thereafter as I said earlier, so that must have been the end of it. As SCM exported 40% and build 425 boats, there must have been at least 170 Hurley 700´s in Holland and an unknown number of 22´s. The 700 is fairly common even today. The 22 is rare but some are still sailing today, most of them twin keels. There are twin keel 700´s about, but very few, I am certain. In my Edam harbour there are two 700´s. Nearby Hoorn has two and so on. They can be seen once in a while and are a common enough sight in any harbour. But their numbers are declining. In the picture (stort.jpg) enclosed is a boatyard where dumped or sunken boats are stored. Sadly in the right bottom a 700 can be seen, probably a late model. The overal state of many 22 and 700´s is rather poorly. They are cheap to buy, some only 200 euro´s, averaging only 1500 euro´s but some need a lot of attention.

I feel this story is part of the Hurley heritage and I believe there is no such thing as a Dutch Hurley. They are ¨just¨ Hurley 22SCM and smart marketing and selling made it a 700.A very popular boat back in the day, and even now, over here. Some assembly was done here, repairs and servicing. In Holland masts, booms, rigging and so on where added. Many mast are Dutch made.

The attachments

LLoyds testing proves the build quality of the Hurley is remarkable. ¨De Waterkampioen¨ (Dutch sailing magazine) 1967. recall 2 is about the hatch repair, partly illegible, pricelist is usefull, the sizes of the sails, types and so on are stated. A ¨Bolle Jan¨ is special sort of genaker.

Associated Attachments
H22 H22
H22 H22
H22 H22

Click here to see a price list and here for a recall notice relating to a hatch problem.


The following account of the history of Hurley yachts has been provided by Mr Hans Keller of Hurley UK the official importer of Hurley Yachts from Holland. The Dutch agent for Hurley Marine was a company called Triba of Edan.

"When Hurley Marine Ltd went out of business in 1974 the Hurley Marine agents Triba bought a set of Hurley 22 moulds and the rights to use the Hurley name. (This statement is not confirmed or proved). Nothing was done with the moulds until the late 1980's when a company called Jachtbouw Twente bought the rights just to use the name and commissioned Borghen of Denmark to design an 8.3metre sailing cruiser in the Hurley spirit building them in Holland they were an instant success. The result was a beautiful sailing cruiser with enclosed ballast. When I decided to move to Wales in 1997 I purchased one for myself to sail around the UK. I started what we called Hurley UK Ltd as a subsidiary of Jachtbouw Twente.

The hulls were constructed by Coniplex of Contest fame and later Jachtbouw Twente bought the rights to the Contest 34, which was discontinued by Coniplex. They called it the Hurley 1050.

The owner of Jachtbouw Twente fell ill and later after a family row he sold the moulds and Hurley name to Jachtwerf De Eemhof who still build the Dutch Hurley's. The new owners sadly did not want to market the vessel in the UK."

Hans Keller.
www.jachthaven-eemhof.nl

I have not seen any copy of any agreement whereby the Hurley name was sold to the Dutch company. I'm not sure how many of the Hurley 700 yachts were built. Could anyone please tell us?

Nick Vass HOA

plaque
Hull Number plate from a Hurley 700 (Hurley 22)

To see what can be achieved on these remarkable boats please see the following document from Jens Feddern. It is very impressive. Click here.

The Hurley 800 and 830 were built in Holland by Yachthaven De Eemhof. The Hurley 800 started out as the Contest 28 which was introduced in 1981. The Contest 28 was a development of the older Contest 27 which was introduced in 1969. The Contest 28 was built in Holland by Conyplex NV and designed by Dick Zaal. The Hurley 800 was developed into the 830 by adding a sugar scoop stern. Just like many Moody yachts of the eighties.

Examples of Hurley 800s
dh1
dh2 dh3
Click on images for full size