A shallow-bottomed coastal cruiser, the 250 remains in production to this day. Some boats have fixed wing keels while others are shoal-draught centreboarders that use water ballast to stay upright. She has a large, open cockpit with a tiller or a small wheel, and an easily handled rig comprising a small blade jib and a large, fully-battened mainsail. The open-plan cabin offers 4ft 6in headroom. There’s a V-berth forward, extending aft to twin settees, which form a U-shaped dining area around a table fixed to the mast compression post. Either side of the companionway are an enclosed heads and a fair-sized galley (the worktop doubles up as a chart table). There is a big double berth aft, under the cockpit. The wing keel models are stiffer and track straighter under sail, and the absence of a centreboard case adds an extra 5in headroom in the cabin. However, the centreboarders are more suitable for trailing and creek crawling. They will sit happily on a mud mooring and, if there’s no space
to swing in an anchorage, they can be driven up the beach.

LOA 8.2m (26ft 11in), LWL 6.48m (21ft 3in), beam 2.59m (8ft 6in), wing keel draught 1.04m
(3ft 5in), centreboard draught 1.75m/0.51m (5ft 9in/1ft 8in), wing keel displacement
1,905kg (4,200lb), centreboard displacement 1,474kg (3250lb). Price guide: £12,000 to £22,000.