Cornwall-based boat builder Cockwells has acquired the rights to the Hardy brand of motoryachts. The deal includes the moulds and rights to all eight of its current range of boats, including the award winning Hardy 65.

The purchase was concluded with a third party that had previously acquired all the assets of Norfolk-based Windboats Marine from the administrator. Windboats folded in April after acquiring Hardy in 2013, although the brand’s heritage goes back to the mid-1970s and includes more than 4,000 delivered boats. Cockwells plans to build the Hardy range at its main facility in Mylor Creek, near Falmouth and presently employs around 80 people. Its reputation for building high-quality timeless craft with handcrafted wooden interiors should compliment the Hardy range of trawler-style motoryachts. A similar deal to buy the rights and moulds to the original Aquila 27, subsequently relaunched with a new layout and bespoke wood interior as the Duchy 27, has proved a big success for the yard and the range has since been expanded to include smaller and larger Duchy models. It hopes to repeat that success with the Hardy brand.

“The sturdy and immensely seaworthy range of Hardy semi-displacement models, all from designer Andrew Wolstenholme, will prove an excellent fit with our existing Duchy 21, 27 and 35 semi-custom line-up,” says company founder and CEO Dave Cockwell, “which will soon include the all-new Duchy 45 and eventually a flagship 60.”

Cockwells also designs and manufactures custom-built tenders and limousines for superyachts. To date it has successfully delivered ten of these sized between 23ft and 34ft (7-10.5m) to some of the largest yachts in the world.

See the MBY article here.