RENOWNED BOATYARD IN PIN MILL, EAST COAST
A warm welcome to Harry King & Sons Ltd. Here tradition is important to us, which means, knowledge, experience and good old fashioned customer service.
old fashioned family run boatyard, boatbuilders and repairers
Harry King & Sons Ltd has a long and rich history of excellent craftsmanship and customer service.
George Garrard established the boatyard in 1850. His apprentice Harry King took over running the business in 1898. The business was passed down the King family until Geoff, grandson of Harry, retired in 2005. The boatyard is now run by Gus Curtis who started working for Geoff in 1988 and, along with his wife, Sarah, now runs both the boatyard and the majority of the swinging moorings at Pin Mill.
Gus has both a farming and sailing background, and had restored his 60′ MFV ‘Adax’ and now proudly sails his Thames Bawley ‘Gladys’, which he re-built with Sarah’s stepfather shipwright Joe Dunnett.
Harry King, along with his sons Norman and Sam, built two boats for Arthur Ransome, the author of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, along with hundreds of beautifully crafted yachts and working boats over a number of decades. Sam also built clinker dinghies and we have continued to build them to the same design. Our experienced team is small and dedicated. Most of us sail on The Orwell and surrounding rivers and so understand the needs of our customers very well and go out of our way to fulfil them. Harry King Boatyard offers a reliable, honest, friendly service which is also good value for money.
We are currently compiling a list of yachts and boats built at Harry Kings Boatyard. If you are or were the owner of a King’s built boat we would love to hear from you. We are particularly interested in the type of boat, the year she was built, the name of the person who commissioned her and where she is now . If you can spare some time please give us a ring or send us an email, thank you.
we cater for most craft
We have a range of experience and skills, with our services covering most that the modern day boat owner needs. We have on site shipwrights, marine engineers, rigging services, welding and fabrication. we have storage ashore for around 160 boats ranging from day boats to 38ft yachts. We cater for traditional wooden craft to modern day yachts with the skills and expertise to restore, repair, advise, and maintain them.
Some of our services
- Full winter storage package.
- Water and electric points.
- Mast stepping and storage.
- Dinghy and car parkng.
- Grp, metal fabrication and woodwork.
- General fitting out and painting.
- All repair and maintenance work.
- Re-sprays and polishing.
- Full rigging service.
- Inboard and outboard engine servicing and repairs.
- Customer pontoon.
Quality boat restoration
we carry out complete restorations down to small repairs, all with the same level of care and skill. we keep the boat owner updated and discuss options to keep the work needed to a sensible solution, including the price. we understand the issues of keeping a wooden boat in good order at a realistic cost, both time and expense. this ethos extends to all boats in our care. we are happy to advise the diy boat owner as well as offer long term cost effective repair solutions to spread the expense of owning a boat.