1992 Rival Bowman 48 AC – New Photos

A classic example of one of the most legendary bluewater yachts of all time in super-practical aft cockpit raised saloon format. Extensively fitted out for serious short-handed offshore adventures and with the benefit of a major 2023/4 refit.

FURTHER BROKER’S COMMENTS:

KELPER BAY is a 1992-launched aft cockpit, raised saloon example of the highly desirable Chuck Paine designed and Rival Bowman built Bowman 48 ocean cruising yacht.

Fitting in at the top of the Rival Bowman range above the Bowman 45 and 40/42, the Bowman 48 shares many design similarities with the US-built Morris Yachts, both of which were widely regarded as being the very finest quality build and designs in the bluewater cruising yacht market on their respective sides of the Atlantic.

This enormously capable bluewater yacht design was manufactured to Lloyds specifications in Southampton by Rival Bowman Yachts from the early 1990s until they were purchased by Rustler Yachts in 2002 and then offered as an option by Rustler Yachts thereafter.

As Hull No.3, KELPER BAY was originally commissioned and custom finished (as with all larger Bowman’s) for a Dutch yachtsman and named ‘HIGHLAND FANCY’. Her first owner sailed her from the Rival Bowman shipyard in the UK to the Caribbean via two seasons in the Mediterranean, where she remained for several seasons before returning to Europe via the Azores. Sailing on to the Med’, she was decommissioned for a year or two when her owner became too ill to continue sailing.

After passing through a second Dutch ownership, she was sold to a UK yachtsman, renaming her ISLAND BREEZE, who then enjoyed three seasons of liveaboard sailing before succumbing to a back injury that eventually forced her sale to her current UK-based owner.

KELPER BAY is now offered for sale fresh from a comprehensive 16-month refit where her systems and equipment were refreshed, overhauled or replaced to create a 100% reliable ocean cruiser suited to short-handed bluewater sailing. Her specification highlights include:-
• Aft cockpit with raised deck saloon profile
• 3-cabin interior arrangement plus 2-heads and showers
• Teak interior joinery
• Alcantara upholstery
• Forward sail locker arrangement with watertight bulkhead
• Teak laid side decks
• Skeg-supported rudder
• Shoal-draft lead ballast keel
• Lewmar electric primary and halyard winches
• Cutter rig furlers for yankee and staysail
• Fully-battened mainsail system with Frederisken battencars, 3-reefs led aft to cockpit and lazyjacks/lazybag.
• Twin spinnaker poles
• Furling gennaker and spinnaker
• Perkins M90 diesel engine with MaxProp 3-bladed feathering propeller
• Vetus bowthruster
• Westerbeke generator
• Watermaker
• Raymarine updated plotters plus radar, AIS and navigation instruments
• SSB radio
• Bimini and sprayhood
• Simpson davits
• Tender and outboard
• Passarelle
• Holding tanks

2023-24 REFIT HIGHLIGHTS:
• Hull stripped and epoxy treated
• Coppercoat system applied
• Rudder completely rebuilt with new foam core
• Interior flooring removed to allow checking and retorquing of keel bolts
• Teak decks and teak cockpit overhauled
• Teak capping rail and rubbing strake overhauled and with new sections fitted as required
• Interior bilge spaces repainted
• Stern gear overhauled and refurbished
• Major service to engine and generator
• New bowthruster motor fitted
• Winches serviced
• Furling gear serviced
• Standing rigging inspection by Selden appointed agent
• Running rigging replaced
• Sails laundered with new UV strips fitted where required
• New canvas including sprayhood, bimini, stackpack and cockpit cushions
• Anchor windlass overhauled
• New anchor chain and swivel
• Electrical installations checked and serviced
• New fresh water pump system
• New hot water tank
• New seacocks and skinfittings
• Full overhaul of fresh, grey and blackwater systems with new pumps etc
• Inspection, cleaning and descaling of tanks
• New water pump fitted for refrigeration system
• Interior lighting upgraded
• Renovation of interior teak joinery
• Laundering of cabin upholstery and curtains
• Deckhead hatches overhauled with new seals and perspexes where required
• Deck saloon windows rebedded
• Tender overhauled
• Outboard engine serviced

OWNER’S COMMENTS:

I purchased KELPER BAY through Grabau International in the summer of 2023. I was searching for a well-founded, high-quality cruising yacht capable of taking me and my family across any ocean in comfort and safety. The reputation of the Chuck Paine-designed Bowmans is legendary, and with the Bowman 48 being the queen of the fleet, finding an aft cockpit, raised saloon version for sale made for a very obvious and easy choice.

Although well-updated and upgraded in her previous ownership, upon taking ownership, I embarked on a major refit program to bring KELPER BAY back to her original glory, with every system overhauled and in complete working order. The quality of her fitted systems and equipment meant that much of the work involved professional overhaul and refurbishment rather than outright replacement with equipment that arguably might be of a different quality. Along with this overhaul and servicing program, her underwater sections were inspected for osmosis (none found) and then stripped, dried and epoxy treated as a future precautionary measure before being copper coated, her internal structures (bulkheads/stringers) checked for cracks or delamination (none found), her keel bolts retorqued, her rudder completely rebuilt, and her exterior teak refurbished.

Unfortunately, family commitments have changed, and our original bluewater cruising plans have been put on hold. Rather than seeing KELPER BAY sitting in a marina, I have decided to sell her and replace with a small motor yacht to potter up and down the coast. Whoever buys KELPER BAY will, therefore, benefit from over 12 months of hard work and approaching £100,000 investment in her refit and restoration.

DESIGNER’S COMMENTS:

The Bowman 48 has been long recognized by the British yachting establishment as being the finest British built design ever offered to the conservative long-distance sailor. She came about in response to the success of our Bowman 40, of which some 60 beautiful examples have been built since its introduction in the late 1980’s. Those are small numbers to the mass production crowd, but indicative of a wonderful response by the high-end yachtsmen who prefer a customized vessel and are willing to bear the attendant higher costs. Ten Bowman 48’s are now cruising the world’s oceans…

This design is an excellent representative of the more traditional design style which we have always specialized in at our office. The process is to select an aesthetic treatment that is timeless in its appeal, and to combine that shape with fully modern appendages, such as the highly successful Paine Keel with its efficient bulbed endplate, and updated interior treatments. While such a design will never approach the speeds of Bermuda Series types, they are fast in comparison with traditionally styled yachts of a few years ago, and have a lovely motion and forgiving steering and stability characteristics at sea.

The design is completely optimized with all of the necessary gear, tankage, etc. to begin world cruising immediately after launch. In this way, the potential embarrassments of designing for weekend coasting and then adding the weights necessary for a round the world voyage are eliminated. Even the generator is included in the standard design and sales package and the yacht sails brilliantly with full cruising equipment, because she was designed with these weights in mind from day one.

The deck features an integral pilothouse which permits large windows to be fitted in order to avoid the cramped feeling that can result from the conventional low house. The feeling of light and air that results is wonderful, as can be easily discerned from the accompanying photo. All of the long distance cruiser’s needs are anticipated, and owners may be assured that the deck fittings are oversize for their loads, and the bow roller adequate for the oversize anchors that he is liable to fit aboard what is in most instances his home for the duration of the voyage.

A long and cordial relationship has existed between Bowman Yachts and the Paine office. The Bowman 48 will take you anywhere your heart desires in safety, comfort, and at excellent speed.

THE RIVAL BOWMAN STORY:

“Peter Gregory of Victoria Yachts never tired of finding ways to attract customers. For the 1983 London Boat Show he came up with an idea of stationing his designer at a drafting table in the act of designing yachts.

I had my weather eye open for a new British customer and Rival yachts were at the top of my list. Their previous designer had passed away and the time would come when they would want a new design. I didn’t want to be an ambulance chaser so struggled with how I would introduce myself without appearing overly aggressive. I was spared the trouble.

Just in case an opportunity might arise I decided to spend my time stuck at that drafting table sketching my idea of the next Rival Yacht. The largest yacht in the Rival line was a 41 footer and the next smaller a 38 so I figured 40 feet was about right. I had the sketch just about finished on my 3rd day standing at Peter’s drafting table when 2 impeccably dressed “city types” walked over and peered down curiously at what I was doing. It turns out they both owned Rival 36s and were at Earls Court looking at larger boats. They loved their Rival 36s and would have preferred to stay with the same builder if only he had something larger. They took one look at my sketch and they had the answer. They dragged me and my sketch over to the Rival stand and introduced me to Charles Maunder, the Managing Director of Rival Yachts. They said in unison “Charles, if you build this design and add it to your line, we’ll both order one.”

The first Bowman 40 was introduced at the London Boat Show a year later. I had already seen it earlier that fall, when I flew over for sea trials. They had that first boat in the water and the first thing Charles said was “It floats 2 inches deeper than you said it would.” I said “It can’t possibly” But I took the freeboards and he was right. I had done all my laborious calculations using a VisiCalc estimate in excruciating detail – how could it possibly be that much heavier? They explained that of course they could not build the boat to the scantlings I had shown on my American style construction plans. “We can’t build boats as lightly as your drawings showed – to sell boats on Britain we have to use Lloyds scantlings” And that was the answer. Lloyds scantlings assumed the use of more fibreglass mat and less woven roving than we were used to using in America. And since mat is weaker than roving, you have to use more of it to achieve adequate strength. I even considered making some concession to Charles on the royalty to compensate for my failure to estimate the weight correctly but fortunately I held my tongue.

Then we sailed the boat. It was windy, as it always is on the Solent on the fall and the boat stood up to all that wind beautifully and went like a train on rails. Charles was overjoyed with the way it sailed – much faster than the former Brett designs. The boot-top was repainted two inches higher on the hull, the displacement figure was changed on the sales brochures and Bowman Yachts went on to build more than fifty of the yachts and came back to me for 3 more designs.”

Words by Chuck Paine and reproduced from the Rival Owner’s Association.

1992 Rival Bowman 48 AC ‘KELPER BAY’ for sale – Asking £169,995 EU VAT paid – full details here

Do you have a yacht like this to sell? Grabau International is always looking for new high-quality cruising and motor yacht listings in the UK and internationally. For further information about our tailored brokerage services, please look here or feel free to contact us.