Duchy 35: A Comprehensive Walkthrough

“A classic, timeless boat that will never go out of fashion.”

Shaft-drive diesels, long range, full keel, and classic good looks. If you’ve seen my previous video on the Duchy 35 in England, she’s a beauty, but she was full of a lot of shiny timber, which is not particularly practical for our market. So, in this video, we’re going to focus on the first Duchy 35 in Australia and all the features that this particular owner has fitted to this boat, which are much more suitable for our climate.

CREDITS: DAN JONES

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

So welcome to Quarantine Bay, guys! What you see behind me is actually where they used to drop off all the diseased people off ships coming and arriving from England. I’ve even got a family story. Many generations ago, some relatives of mine arrived here on a highly diseased ship, and they got the people off, stuck them in the quarantine station, and they set the ship on fire right out there and burnt it to the water line and sunk it. It was so full of germs. So there you go, a little bit of history.

What looks like timber is actually not timber. So everything you’re looking at here [the transom], I didn’t even know this was possible. Look at these curves and the design of what looks like timber. This is not timber; this is Flexiteek. It’s been custom done right the way across the decks here. It looks great, and I thought it was timber, but it’s not. So for your maintenance side, for the sun that we have in this country, you don’t have to worry.

I just think that it’s awesome that the startup and pack-down process on this boat is quite simple. There’s just one cover which attaches to the trailing edge of the rooftop and comes down and goes over this whole cockpit area. So you don’t have to cover the seats individually. Once that’s removed, you’re ready to rock and roll for the day. So super convenient, much better for our climate.

And we have the Seakeeper on right now; we do have waves rolling in, there is some swell. If you’re interested in how this boat drives in that swell, we have just done that quite a detailed video, driving it right up to full speed and taking the waves on all three points. That’s going to be separate to this, and I’ll link to that at the end of this video. Pricing’s in the description below, by the way; I know a lot of you asked me that quite regularly.

TRANSOM

So come out the back of the boat, Dan Jones is my name, g’day! If we haven’t met before, thanks for coming, thanks for joining; you’re watching Dan’s boat life. This is our fixed transom, and just want to pay attention to this rubber [attached to the edge of the swim platform] all the way around, and that goes forward. I’ll just capture some drone shots of that. This is just to give you a little bit of protection at the dock because she’s a beautiful blue hull, and we don’t really want to scratch that if we can avoid it.

I know I’ve pointed this out in the previous video, but look at the stainless steel. Everything’s done in-house. These boats are actually made in England, in Falmouth, at least I think it’s Falmouth. Because all the towns sit so close together, they’ve got different names, and I get confused in England because I’m used to there being more space or some outback in between the towns.

COCKPIT

So we do have a particular custom layout of this boat, which is also more suitable, perhaps, for your Sydney day boat scene. I’ll go through that in more detail in a second. But we’re going for the full flow-through, so we don’t have all the highly polished Timber doors; we have the powder-coated black aluminium ones instead, and they’re constantly open to give us maximum flow-through. And then we have multifunctional furniture to allow everyone to sit around here [cockpit], but there’s more.

Underneath these seats [cockpit seats] are actually storage. Inside these storage lockers, we have some bags, and then there are little lunch tables which slot in. I’m going to cut to those so you can see. So we can actually sit at tables here [centre of cockpit].

And then underneath the deck hatch, this whole thing hinges up to port on a gas strut, and the Fisher Panda genset is centrally mounted aft, and it’s also insulated. So the insulation of the hatch is about that thick [3 inches], and then the Genset is in its insulation as well. The other thing that you’ll find when you’re in this storage space is the access to the steering gear. We have an autopilot as well that’s starboard aft, and all the batteries, main battery switches are all operated from inside. Also, breakers for things like your Seakeeper and then your electronic control system. What do we call it, sea bus? Empirbus. It’s quite interesting. I’m learning as much as I can, but I’m going to demonstrate what I know as we make our way through.

Now, the other thing worth pointing out: tying fenders [sides of the boat]. See that, guys? That’s actually where you would secure a fender, and you’ve got a few of them dotted around the boat just to keep it looking good. And this track is to do with the cover so that there are no gaps. I mentioned the cover before; it zips on here [cockpit ceiling] and then it goes bolt ropes in these tracks and then completely protects everything.

Now, the next thing suitable for Australia – this mesh sunshade, and see the carbon fibre poles here [both sides of the transom]? They seems like they weigh nothing. They are probably grams, not kilos, so anyone can operate them. This has its own bag; we drove at full speed with this up. It doesn’t flap around; it’s totally fine. I was questioning that at the beginning of the day, thinking we’d need to take it off. Not necessary; totally fine; leave it up all day if you wish.

So I think I’ve covered everything there [cockpit]. A couple of downlights here [doorhead], just pay attention to the detail that we see in the roof; that’s very nice. That’s what you’d expect of this sort of style.

SALOON

So now you can bring the party indoors and enjoy a meal inside if you need to. Underneath me [saloon seats], there’s actually a drawer just below with some beautiful custom tools, which is an option because it’s all done by the guys at Cockwells.

They don’t just build Duchy; they also make beautiful Custom Superyacht Tenders. I think it was their original business. Imagine the billionaire guys who have these mega yachts and how they have these  – gorgeous, absolutely – I’ve been there, so this is why I’m trying to explain it to you — stunning tenders where every little detail has to be thought about.

The reason why I didn’t film it is because they signed non-disclosures with these guys; they’re not allowed to publicise what they’re making for these people. But I did get to see it with my own eyes, and it’s the level of craftsmanship and quality going on with all these young English guys and girls doing their thing. It’s quite impressive, and so the same mob are building these boats is what I’m trying to explain.

So, storage under here [starboard side saloon seat] , leather seats, but this layout is another one of the Australian sort of favourites because this particular owner had a real think about how he’s going to use his boat and how he and his wife would get the most enjoyment out of this thing. So yes, you can put a galley up; that’s possible, and I think we had that on the last boat. Galley up, and you’d have a fixed helm seat, facing forward. But if you’re like most Sydney people and you do a lot of day boating and then occasional overnighting and coastal trips, are your friends really going to stay the night with you? Do you really need that second cabin, or would it be better as storage? So this particular owner had a good hard think about that and realised, you know what? Our friends are gonna benefit more from having this space and having the galley down because 99% of the time we’re going to be doing this.

So I got a fridge here [under the saloon seat in the port side], more fridges. Underneath me [saloon sole], there’s actually a big suction cup, and it lifts up a very solid, well-insulated hatch, and that gives you access to the front of the motors and the Seakeeper, which is centre-line mounted.

Then we have the hot water-insulated cylindrical tank on the starboard side. I forgot to mention the water tanks; they are aft, 300 litres each side. They’re hard plastic, and they’re accessible from that aft hatch that we pointed out before. So that’s what’s going on there.

Your primary engine access here [main door sole], Ford engine access here [saloon sole], this table [saloon table] can drop down, there are cushions that’ll go in place and turn this into a bed. So on the one time in 10 years that you have some friends that want to stay the night or they have too many wines and they can’t drive home, they can sleep here. I think that’s sensible thinking.

So now we’ve got both of these seats [seats behind the helm] facing aft, but we can do this [flip the seats to face forward], boom! So, how good’s that? Plenty comfortable, lots of legroom for tall people. You know the owner is six foot three, and he reckons that’s probably about the limit height-wise for comfort. There was a little bit of space above his head, but knocking your head on the doorway for people six foot three and over would be a consideration, so just bear that in mind.

This window [next to the port side front saloon seat] goes up and down. It’s electric, so you actually just press a button, and this will go up and down electrically. I think that’s important even though this is air-conditioned. And the design of the roof has some overhang so it’ll knock out the hot midday sun. I like having that as an option.

We’ve got some reading lights here and here [above the port side front saloon seat window], proper chart table storage like you would expect on a sailing yacht or many of you are going to be used to, knickknack storage here and here [left side of the chart table], all of this timber is oak. So they probably have their own forest, and some guy called Barry who goes and selects the trees individually for you. I could just imagine some English guy with a chisel and a pencil in his ear and doing it all very well. I’m making it up, but I can just imagine that.

So that’s all very cool, now underneath here [helm seats] are more storage, but one of them… [opens the storage drawer under the starboard side helm seat] here we go, look at that [wine glasses] for details, guys. So that’s all felt – beautiful. Everything’s nicely arranged. Isn’t that lovely? And pay attention to the dovetail joints; it’s all good stuff. So there you go.

So we’ve got an air conditioning outlet just next to the skipper. We have an inlet just there [By feet], we also have aircon above the windows. Next thing, these windows are actually heated glass, so in wintertime when you have the condensation, you could just press a button and you can get rid of it. Isn’t that cool?

HELM

I think one of the main advantages that many of you are going to be sort of looking for in a style about like this is a helm door. It really is a true advantage if you’re coming from sailing and you haven’t done motor-boating before, and you’re just getting into a style like this.

The steering wheel is beautiful; this must be pointed out because it is a little work of art this one. That’s very nice, and all the little touches as we make our way around the boat are something that I know you’re going to appreciate, and it’s not something that you see on many boats which are more of a mass-market production style.

But what it will also allow you to do, because there’s actually some mobile phone connectivity to this, so if you are on your way down to the boat and you live say half an hour away, and it’s a hot day, you can fire up the gennie and stick on the AC, so the cabin is going to be at your temperature before you arrive.

It even has functionality within the system that if it notices the power level dropping below a certain voltage, say you’ve had an electrical storm and the shore power’s gone out, it will actually sense that, fire up the gennie and recharge your battery. So that’s super handy for busy people.

And I also remember when I was in Falmouth visiting the factory with Sam last year, they can actually monitor every boat in the Duchy fleet. They had a big set of screens up there, and if anyone was having problems with their boat or any alarms were showing up, it actually comes up back at home base. So they’re ringing you before you know you have a problem. So go figure; that’s kind of cool!

HEAD

So get in there [the head] and have a look. You’ll have what is quite a large toilet basin wet area with the opening window, and you’re just standing on those teak slats there. I assume that’s teak for the shower, which is fine. I’ll just get in there for perspective. I’ve still got that much space [a span] above my head while standing on this grate, and there’s plenty of arm-room to move around. So it is a proper cubicle, but the loo is going to get wet. So you decide whether that suits you or not. There’s a bit of storage in here [behind the vanity mirror], an extractor fan [above], and a window [on the side], which is all good stuff. The other thing I just want to point out is that this is magnetised [catch on the head door], so when you close… boom! Did you see that? Cool details!

GALLEY

So let’s just point back into the galley. She’s a neat galley, but what are you going to do? You’re probably going to heat up food. You’ve got your two burners, your sink, and your second fridge just there [under the sink], and storage underneath the burner.

There’s a microwave in there [above the galley countertop] and a little bit of storage behind me here [next to the microwave]. You also have this opening [above the storage and microwave] if you’re making some smells when you’re cooking. You’ve got some downlights just here [in the deckhead], and that looks like an extractor fan, so I would say that button there turns that on and off.

Now come forward. We have the two steps, and actually, one of them… I better point this out before we go forward, is the bin, quite a deep bin that pulls out. You can just put a bin bag on that, and then you’ve got these stainless steel grips which are both elegant but quite functional. They do work on your boat shoes or your bare feet, courtesy lights just there [under the steps].

CABIN

Okay so now let’s go forward and it’s a good use of limited space because we are now getting to the limits of our 35 feet in total. So if we had one door, we would stop access to port or starboard because the door is going to be double this length. So they’ve just done a double door is what I’m trying to point out and allows me to get in and go to either side.

So I’ll go to starboard and just come and have a look. And you have this on both sides, we have these storage bins, See that? All Corian countertops. So just get in there. You can also see the  construction of the hull, so all very nicely done.

And then we have these storage lockers all the way forward. I’ve got AC, I’ve got two opening little port holes on either side, if you want natural ventilation. And I have an aft facing opening escape hatch for ventilation.

This [mirror next the bed] is going to open and get us into the anchor locker, got some reading lights, you’re going to need to lie down a bit if you’re reading, you won’t sit up too well because of the roof design but that’s not a hinder there. and then you’ve got a little bit of storage for knickknacks just there [next to the mirror]

And we do also have cupboards because there’s a void in here [starboard side]. So this is deep storage in here [underneath the void] accessible via two doors, we have hanging locker [port side], excuse my equipment bag on the port side, so that’s a hanging locker. See how it lights up the little thing [cabinet light]? That’s cool.

But the final thing is that there’s actually a little… If I pull this [bed], the whole bed goes up on gas struts, and you can do that with one hand. There’s deep storage in here, access to the bow thrusters as well, but then you can also see your other drawers here. Beautiful dovetail joinery and nicely done. So that’s good sensible usage of space that we like to see in any boat really. So let’s go forward and have a look at the bow.

BOW

Also, the fairlead clips through here, and you can secure a springer forward and aft, nice and easy. Waste aft [on the decks near the helm door]. But all of you are going to want to know about the door, how does it work? You have one hatch like this on the inside and this one on the outside. [Opens the helm door through the hatch] Boom! So you’ve got stainless steel rails here [below the door] and up here [above the door] like a guiding rail, so to speak, and that’s how it works. Pretty easy, locking point forward, seems to work nice and simple.

There’s another one of those fender attachment points. But as soon as you go forward and you lose your grab handle here [roof], you gain a grab handle here [railings on bow], so boom! Just think about that!

Look at the waves, and now come back. See how stable we are? We have the Seakeeper on. If you have someone who is not happy on rocky boats, this is something to focus on in addition to the Seakeeper. So it really is cool.

One, two, three windscreen wipers, three-piece toughened glass, windshield heated as I mentioned. Let’s just focus on the roof, come up here and have a look back. So notice how much space we have? You could get up and walk around on this, but I’m also thinking people who want to store water toys. So this is the area where you’re probably going to do that if you have those floaty matty things or SUP boards or any of that sort of stuff. It’s going to go pretty well, you have somewhere to secure it, and it’s just a great place to put it.

So you’ve got your VHF aerial aft, you’ve got your Raymarine Centre Line mounted, very stylish mast there with the all-around white light, the horns, we’ve got our spotlight, another one, it’s quite bougie classic – it fits the style.

And then check this out [sunbed]! These cushions store below on that midship’s locker, that storage locker that I pointed out before. But this is what you do on a boat like this middle of Summer. Come and hang out up here. You’d need some colour-matched big cushions, go and find something that looks cool with the boat, make sure it fits all the other styling that you do on the inside, but that’s going to be really nice. I’m imagining one of those big soft round beach towels with the tassels that come out on the end, that would look so cool up here. You do a stripy number or something like that. Anyway, you do you.

So dual bow roller, we have the anchor on the starboard side, the stainless steel anchor to Garminchain after the swivel, and then you can just put your mooring line to this cleat.

Can you see that just there? Big chunky, one big awesome piece of stainless. So I pointed out the little door down below the cabin; that’s how you access the anchor locker, not from here. So that’s how it’s done. It’s on a gas strut, all really well done.

SUMMARY

So I think that covers everything, guys. So who is this boat right for? It’s many people, is my thought process on this. It’s somebody who definitely has come out of a sailing lifestyle will appreciate this.

And you can get some pretty decent range. If you slow this boat down to sailing yacht speeds, you get over a thousand nautical miles with these 1100-litre tanks and even with the standard tanks, which is like half of that 600 litres, you could still get a pretty decent range at a sailing yacht speed. Obviously, we can do over 30 knots on this if we choose.

Who’s it not going to suit? Well, somebody doesn’t like this style, simple as that. If this is not your style, if you’re more modern and racy, go and buy an Azimut or whatever modern European style that suits you.

It’s pretty clear that this is aiming at that demographic of person who loves a classic timeless boat which is never going to go out of fashion, and I think the fact that we have achieved these Australian options. You know, having the fake teak, having the flow through at the back there which really works for our lifestyle, I reckon makes this boat epic for anyone in Australia or New Zealand for that matter too.

So we’re going for a drive. If you really want to come along, click on the link coming up on the screen right now. You’re invited, you are more than welcome, and I want to prove to you how well this thing goes through waves because we do have waves out there today, so you’re going to see what it’s all about and see whether this is a style of boat that suits your boat life.

Anyway, subscribe, support the Patreon, give us a like, share with your mates, all that good stuff. My name is Dan Jones; you’ve been watching Dan’s Boat Life. Thank you! See you on the next one.

The Duchy 35 is just one of the many impressive models in the Duchy Motor Launches range. To see the full list, here’s a complete overview of the Duchy range. If you believe this is the type of boat you’re seeking, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. If you want to know more, check out the Part 1 and Part 2 reviews of the Duchy 35 by Dans Boat Life, as well as the offshore sea trial, and the article about the first Duchy 35 to arrive in Australia, sold by Davis Marine Brokerage, the exclusive distributor in Australia.