Welcome  to the 

Bell Seagull and Seamew web site

  managed by Edwin Dewhirst  who has owned and sailed

Seagull no 145  Sabine's Gull since1980

                          

 

 

 

       

                                          

 Sabine’s Gull  sailing in Caernarvon Bay with Snowdonia as a backdrop           S.G on Ullswater  Oct 2011

Aug 2007 I have now given Sabine her full name which is  'Sabine's Gull'

 named after a  rare European gull which spends most of the year at sea.

 

 

 

 

This web site is dedicated to the preservation of Ian Proctor designed / Bell

Woodworking Co. produced Seagull and Seamew yachts. The site seeks to discover

and make a register of all surviving examples of these fascinating craft which

were in many ways years ahead of their time. The site also keeps a register of

known owners so that information can be shared and social contact may be made if

required   So if you are an owner or know of someone who has one please let me know.

 

Contact me  at  Dewhirst@supanet.com  or  e.Dewhirst@yahoo.com   

Tel  01254 830678   or 07711 835870

Links

  http://groups.yahoo.com/Bell_Seagull_and_Seamew

  http://www.trail-sail.org.uk

 http://www.dinghycruising.org.uk       

 

In the mid 1950s the Bell Woodworking commissioned Ian Proctor to design a small

sailing cruiser suitable for coastal, estuary and inland water cruising that

could be supplied in kit form for home completion by anyone with reasonable

woodworking ability. He used the same 4 planks a side form of construction that

he had used for the successful 16ft Osprey racing dinghy.. The result was the

Seagull which is 18ft 6in in length, 6ft 9in beam and 1ft 5 in draft with the

keel up and 3ft 8in with it down.  There are 2 berths in the cabin with room for 2

children to be accommodated under a boom tent in the cockpit. (See specification

pages for details of both Gull and Mew). The first boat was launched in 1956 and

proved to be both fast and seaworthy and kits and completed boats sold in numbers.

 

Following the success of the Seagull, Bells then commissioned Proctor to design

a larger sailing cruiser to cater for the demand for a boat with more facilities

for families. The result was the Seamew which is of the same construction as the

Seagull but at 22ft in length she could be fitted with a small inboard engine, 4

or 5 berths and a marine toilet. The first boat was launched in 1962 and again

proved to be fast and seaworthy. She went into production in 1963, again selling

in numbers.

 There was a thriving Bell Seagull and Seamew Association but due to competition

from, and the availability of larger fibreglass cruisers in the 1970s the numbers

fell and the association was wound up in 1983 through lack of interest. Now it is

just one man banging his drum to try to rouse interest in keeping these grand

little cruisers sailing.

 My own involvement with the Seagull began in 1980 when looking for something a

bit bigger than my 14ft Tarpon camping/cruising dinghy. After looking at several

other small yachts I came upon Seagull no 145. She had been badly neglected in

the 70s but the current owner had had her fitted with new decks and coach roof by

a boat builder, then decided to sell. She was sat on a 4 wheel trailer and the

hull had been given a coat of paint, but there was a lot of work to do. I took

one look at her lines and decided that she was the boat for me and after a bit

of haggling over the price she was mine.

My first task was to remove a rusty old Coventry Victor inboard engine and

replace the bulkhead into the cabin that had been cut away to accommodate it,

but which allowed all the water getting into the cockpit to have a free run

through the cabin. The cockpit locker sides and most of the lids needed

replacing and while I was at it I built a 'bridge deck' locker against the new

cabin bulkhead ...

 

Over the years I have refurbished the keel which now gets a regular overhaul, re

built the lower part of the keel case and scarphed in a new section of deadwood,

re fitted the cockpit and made it self draining with 3in. coamings for the

locker lids and built a pick a back trailer to my own design.

 

 Since then I have been cruising twice a year(mostly single handed) and

have now logged in excess of 20,000  miles, sailing most of the South coast with 2

trips to Scilly,. All the West coast from Lands End to Cape Wrath, cruising the

Inner Hebrides many times with 5 crossings of the Minch have sailed all the East

coast of the Outer Hebrides from Barra to Stornoway . I have trailed to the

Moray Firth twice, sailing to Orkney each time. Further south I have been across

to the I.o.M about 15 times and across to Ireland 5, sailing all the East coast

and the South coast as far as Kinsale. During that time I have met some pretty

rough conditions but never doubted the seakeeping qualities of my little

Seagull.

 Meanwhile I had only ever seen 2 Seagulls and 2 Seamews afloat and a few laid

up, most in varying degrees of dilapidation, which led me to decide to try to

find out how many of the 400 or so that were built are actually surviving. In

the autumn of 2000 I wrote to the boating magazines asking for a letter to be

published in which I invited Gull and Mew owners to contact me, the result was

that I was able to compile a list of the owners of 18 Gulls and 12 Mews. Since

then I have produced an annual newsletter which I have sent to all the owners on

my list, some of whom have kept in touch with me.