BENNETT BOATYARD was set up in the early 1960s by Keith Bennett when he took over a disused barn on Bryher to  build his own designs of sailing and motor catamarans.

Keith, who had sailed from the mainland in an early self-build Shearwater catamaran, set up base on the island in 1957, and from the outset recognised the enormous potential for the catamaran particularly for inter-island use and was one of the pioneers in developing the motor-cat concept.

The barn proved an improvement on his earliest boat-building premises – the first being a pit in the beach, the second a Nissan hut hitherto used as a pigsty. It was over twenty years, however, before the ‘new’ boatshed boasted mains electricity and mains water and during those years a multitude of boats, both monohull and multihull, had emerged from the boatshed.

From runabouts for local use to 35ft. sailing cats, Keith never relished building the same boat twice so the majority of the 200 boats he built were variations on a theme. Some were exported to – just a few examples – Barbados, Gibralter, France, Portugal, Switzerland and mainland Britain.

Daniel, Keith’s son, worked with him for the last two years of Keith’s life during which they designed and built ‘Caracal’ a 30ft. motor cat which remains the family boat. This was to be the last large cat built in marine ply and epoxy for nowadays all building is in fibreglass and the emphasis has changed to small boat building, repair and boathire and storage.

The premises have moved a small distance but remain a welcoming and interesting place for boat lovers and visiting yachtsmen to call in.