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Elsewhere on this website,
the pictures and text of the renovation of our
Hampton Safari in 2002 had generated so much interest, (mainly from
other owners), that I made efforts to research the model.
As far as I am aware, there is no Hampton Safari Owners Club and
Hampton Boats has now ceased trading, but I have been fortunate enough to
contact the designers and builders of the class and am most grateful for
their invaluable assistance in compiling this web page.
The history and photographs have been very generously provided by Mrs Heather
Hampton, (wife of the designer, Alec Hampton), Phillip Hampton (their son)
and Kenny Stone (their boatbuilder for many years and who played a key part
in the design and production of the Safari.) |
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In the 1960's,
Alec Hampton's boat hire business 'Hampton Boats' at Oulton Broad
consisted of a fleet of traditional mahogany cruisers like the two
shown on the right.
The upper photo
is of W343 with Alec at the wheel.
The lower photo
of S875 shows the development of the same type of boat towards forward
control, still traditionally made from mahogany, but with the shortened
rear cockpit and wheel steering from the front. There was no sliding
wheelhouse, but she did have sliding sunroof.
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Alec then designed
the mark one Hampton Safari for production in fibreglass. The length
was increased from 22' 6" to 25'6" and the beam from 8'
6" to 9' 6". A plug was made from marine plywood, which
was then used to form the female hull moulding.
The boats were
moulded firstly by Rydgeway Marine of Kessingland, and then
by Bob Smith of Lowestoft.
This photo shows
an early mark I fresh from the moulders, before the windows were
cut out and the windscreen fitted.
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The mark one
gave way to the mark II, still with the sliding wheelhouse, but
with many detailed modifications such as the integral gas locker
etc. (detailed in this brochure).
The original
sales brochure was scanned and is published here by kind permission
of Mrs Hampton.
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click
any page to view full size |
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A
slighltly different brochure was produced for the hire boat market.
It
is a testament to the original design concept that even now (30
years on), there are still a few boats available for hire with
various Broads hire fleets, both Blakes & Hoseasons.
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The company
ran this advert in the boating press in 1981.
(click
the advert to view it full size)
Using
the same 25'6" hull, the advert shows the three superstructure
designs, the mark II, mark III and the Sedan.
The
mark III dispensed with the sliding wheelhouse roof but instead
provided a forward cockpit with front door to the saloon. This eliminated
the potential for draughts from the sliding canopy (although many
DIY owners have devised solutions with draught excluders etc.)
The
Sedan was a return to a the more conventional rear raised wheelhouse,
but only two were ever built.
The
picture shows the three marks in a row at the boatyard pontoon (with
Mrs Hampton standing on the Sedan).
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Although a total
of 256 Hampton Safaris were produced from 1969 to 1982, most were
supplied to other hire-boat yards as bare mouldings for their staff
to complete. During the peak years, Hampton Boats ran 14 Safari
25's in it's fleet, but this reduced to just two in the final season
of 2002. Sadly, the yard has now ceased trading, and will surely
be missed by the large regular clientele, some of which have been
regulars for nearly 30 years.
(Hamptons themselves
only built one Safari for private use, in 1971 called 'Blue Tit'
for John Jarrold, who was then the Mayor of Norwich.)
The two photos
here, from Company Christmas Cards, are from 1962 and 2000, showing
the yard at the same location, though greatly expanded.
The third Christmas
Card is of a watercolour painting of their yard commissioned by
Hampton Boats.
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Hampton
Boats also distributed memorabilia for the regular clients, including
such items as the coaster, shown here. |
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In
March 2004, I was contacted by Craig Slawson, who has painstakingly
compiled and maintained lists of most Broads hire boats over the past
30 years. He has very kindly supplied and allowed me to publish a
comprehensive list
of all of the Hampton Safari 25 boats, showing their histories.
Click on the thumbnail to view the PDF file (8 pages, 139k).
Craig has a website at
http://www.salticus.org.uk where he is setting up a sql
database of Broads Hire Boats History. |
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Finally, I have included
my gallery of Hampton Safaris that I have seen here on the Norfolk Broads.
All of these photos were taken since the year 2000, so the quantity and
condition of the boats still in private and company ownership shows the
regard in which they are still held.
(If you happen to own any of the boats shown here and object to it's inclusion,
please email me at the address shown on the Shorebase home page and I
will of course remove the picture. Alternatively, if you would like me
to add a caption or a photo of another Safari, I would be most pleased
to do so.)
My own boat,
built in 1975 for Harmony Boats of Norwich. (more
photos) |
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'Blue Tit'
(is this the boat that was built for the Mayor of Norwich in 1971
?) |
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'Camelot'
moored at Loddon, Winter 2002/3 |
Brian Dumpleton's
'Clare' on the River Ant. |
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Once
again, I thank Mrs Hampton, her Son and Kenny Stone for the provision
of most of this material and the extensive background knowledge that
they enthusiastically gave to enable the creation of this web page.
I'm sure it will interest current and future Hampton owners who may
wonder about the history of their boat. |
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Shorebase/Boats visitors since June 1997