Ed Burnett 23 ft Gaff Cutter 2018 - Sold

PANACEA's design was close to Ed Burnett’s heart: a proposal for his father; partly the result of deep experience with his own 23 ft Harrison Butler gaff cutter aboard which he lived as a student of yacht design, and regularly sailed between Southampton and Falmouth. Add Ed’s earlier traditional boatbuilding experience with Gannon & Benjamin on Martha’s Vineyard, his reputation for attention to detail and the execution of incredibly precise drawings, and it’s easy to understand what a pleasure PANACEA was to commission, and to build, and then to enjoy afloat. Now all the provenance and pleasure and beauty of the lightly used, still young PANACEA is available to her next owner at significantly less than new build cost.

"I [was] looking for a traditional yacht of a size and design that would give good sailing performance and could be sailed short-handed. I was really taken with this design, and from the available video clips [of the first built, FROLIC], by the way she sailed... and building PANACEA would, in some way, help honour Ed's memory. PANACEA is a beautiful boat that has been built with great care, skill and devotion by Ben and this shows through in the end result: she is a visual treat."

[From Nigel Sharp's Classic Boat magazine December 2018 article: "The Perfect PANACEA"]

"Glamour is all well and good, but simple boats bring simple pleasures and a great deal of enjoyment can be had from boats with few pretensions and a relaxed feel.

"This little cutter started life as several different boats, all discussed over a considerable period with my father.

"Typically the conversation would begin with 'Why don't you design something like...' or 'What I want now is...'. Either statement would, of course, be followed by a description quite different from that which had been delivered the previous month, week, or perhaps just prior to lunch. One day, after several years of this goading, I decided the time had come to do something about it.

"With such a broad range of requirements, it was immediately apparent that no one boat was ever going to be able to do everything perfectly. There are many small boats out there that try to tick all the boxes - self draining cockpit, enclosed head, four berths, usable galley, standing headroom etc.

"The problem is, if you try to do all these things in a small package you can very easily end up with a boat that doesn't really do any of them that well, and suffers quite a bit in the trying. The solution in this case was to keep things simple and versatile, and rely on the fact that a straight forward and honest little boat will always hand out a good measure of enjoyment for those who are prepared to recognise it.

"So here is a little boat that has a nice big cockpit, two bunks, a loo, and a bit of space for a galley. For the rest of it, it's just trying to be a nice little boat. You can go for a sail around the bay, perhaps do a little fishing, or just chug up the river on a quiet evening to spend the night. After all, the things you are likely to remember more are the other boats you saw around you, the fish you caught (or didn't), and the various noises coming from the mud, the birds and the river banks as the tide went out in your favourite anchorage. The boat sets the scene - the fun you make yourself."

[From the book: 'Ed Burnett Yacht Designs' compiled by his parents, Adrie and Jeremy Burnett, 2018]

Ed Burnett Design No. 110

The first to this design in 2005, FROLIC, was built in the south west of Ireland by Liam Hegarty of Oldcourt, Skibbereen, for an English client with a sailing base in west Cork. FROLIC gained many admirers via traditional classic yachting media, and the then new avenues of social media. In fact it was videos of FROLIC sailing that first caught PANACEA's Australian owner's attention, and a promotional video by her eventual builder, Ben Harris - then based at Restronguet, now at Gweek Quay, Cornwall - played a big part in winning him the build commission.

Launched in early summer 2018, PANACEA's maiden sail was at Falmouth Classics after which she was shipped in a container to Western Australia where she has been enjoyed - and of course admired - as a family day-sailer on the Swan River.

The build featured in a detailed series of Classic Boat magazine articles by Nigel Sharp, and PANACEA was nominated in the Traditional Newbuild category of the Classic Boat Awards 2019, coming Runner-Up.

- Straight grain larch planking on steamed oak frames
- Oak sheerstrake and garboard planks
- Oak centreline
- Bronze strap floors
- Lead ballast keel
- Teak laid deck on plywood

- Varnished teak cap rail
- Raw teak swept decking on ply

AFT DECK
- Transom hung rudder
- Tiller through taffrail aperture
- Bronze mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Bronze mainsheet padeyes port and starboard
- Ording elm and bronze mainsheet purchase blocks
- Belaying posts port and starboard

COCKPIT
- Cockpit coaming/ backrest butts to cabin trunk
- Swept upper continuation to companionway port & stbd
- Bronze Highfield runner levers outboard port and starboard
- Bronze runner sheaves port and starboard
- Raw teak cockpit sole grating
- Laid teak on ply benches/ locker lids
- Varnished oak outboard fiddle to benches
- Stowage outboard
- Stowage lockers under benches
- To port batteries; to starboard fuel tank
- Engine panel and throttle control to port

RAISED DECK
- Murray bronze jib sheet winches port and starboard
- Varnished teak winch plinths
- Tufnol staysail cam cleats port and starboard
- Traditional teak jib furler cleat to starboard
- Varnished teak sliding companionway hatch
- Varnished teak washboards
- Varnished teak butterfly skylight
- 4 x Tufnol foresail sheet fairleads
- Bronze framed deck prisms port and starboard
- Laid teak forehatch on varnished teak coamings

WELL FOREDECK
- Sampson Post/ bowsprit bits
- Aft facing bronze chain pipe
- Rail mounted bronze mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Bronze anchor roller to port of stemhead

GROUND TACKLE
- 8kg Delta anchor
- 2.5 m of 8 mm Galvanised chain + 30 m warp (2021)

- Access via varnished teak sliding hatch
- Varnished oak and white t&g painted finish
- Teak sole
- 2 x Companionway steps down over engine box
- Semi quarter berth settees; Urecel cushions; Sunbrella covers
- Drop down oak fronted lockers/ back rests outboard
- Fiddled shelves over
- Dressers port and starboard fwd of mast
- (Potential for a galley)
- Lockers under
- Top opening oak fronted lockers outboard
- Fiddled shelves over
- Jabsco manual marine head under seat fwd of the mast
- Large chain locker/ stowage area in forepeak
- Skylight hatch in deck head over saloon area
- Forehatch over head

GAFF CUTTER RIG
- Douglas fir mast and spars
- Bronze pin rail around mast at deck
- Stainless steel standing rigging
- Dynema running backstays
- All running rigging in as new condition
- New topsail rigging and spinnaker halyard (2021)

SAILS
- Total sail area: 398 sq ft/ 37 sq m
- Cream "Clipper" canvas by SKB
- Mainsail with 2 reefing points
- Hanked staysail
- Jib on bronze furler
- Tan topsail rigged on a fibreglass spar (older but in good condition)

CANVASWORK
- Full covers (2020)

MECHANICAL
- Beta 20 hp diesel engine
- Traditional drive train
- Twin Disc Technodrive gear box
- Featherstream feathering aperture propeller

TANKAGE
- Vetus 42 litre diesel tank and connection system

ELECTRICAL
- Alternator on engine

- 2 x self inflating life jackets
- Fire extinguisher in port cockpit locker
- Manual bilge pump located on cockpit locker

- Crutch for main boom
- Boat hook
- Fenders
- All original build specifications from Ed Burnett

JUNE 2021
- Repair varnish and recoat 3 x coats all teak, Duragloss
- Repaint topsides - 2 x coats Epifanes Enamel
- Antifouled

MAY 2020
- Topsides painted with Epifanes Enamel
- Antifouled with International Micron Extra 2
- Spars varnished with 3 x Epifanes
- Blocks wooded; 6 x Epifanes varnish
- Deck prisms rebedded
- Gearbox oil changed @ 25 hours
- Anodes changed on engine and Featherstream propeller
- Featherstream propeller lubricated with OEM grease
- Engine filters and oil changed

Sailing images
- Nigel Sharp (#s 1, 3-8 (and for quotations)
- Nic Compton (#2)
Drawing
- Ben Harris Facebook