Rampart 48 Twin Screw Classic Motor Yacht 1962/2002

Many years preserved by the Western Mediterranean’s salty seas and balmy airs; few and careful owners; in current ownership, a major life-extending refit and possibly more use over the past 20 years than in her previous 40… This magnificent example of British wooden motor yacht designing and building has had the best of lives, and it really shows. The Rampart 48 STAR OF KILLARNEY has been a well-known, loved - and busy - classic high-end day charter vessel both on the River Thames and on the south coast of England: from Henley to Cowes. For her next owner, for either personal or commercial use, this brings a vessel set up for short-handed operation that has had to pass regular inspections, be mechanically and electrically dependable, and with a level of fit out and comfort in keeping with her provenance and classic good looks.

We purchased STAR OF KILLARNEY in 2001 because we were looking for a spectator vessel for use at events such as Henley Royal Regatta and Cowes Week which was also suitable for entertaining in and around the Solent area. Her length was important because of the restricted availability of berthing for boats longer than around 50 feet. Her extensive deck area and 360° vista from the wheelhouse were also significant attractions.

TIM GILMORE LTD, DOLPHIN QUAY BOATYARD, EMSWORTH

2017
- Deck re-payed

2012
- All ballast keel keel bolts replaced

MAJOR REFIT 2001-2002
STAR OF KILLARNEY surveyed well on purchase by the present owners in 2001, leaving them free to concentrate on maximising facilities for commercial daytime entertaining charter. Emphasis was placed on (1) mechanical reliability – switch on and go, (2) simple single-handed operation and (3) enhancing aesthetics, for example by replacing brass with stainless steel or chromium plated fittings. Headroom in the wheelhouse was increased so that even relatively tall passengers could stand without being required to stoop.
- Virtually every mechanical and electrical part replaced
- Aft cockpit rebuilt
- Deck refastened with plugged silicon bronze screws; seams re-payed
- Aft trunk cabin replaced adding 2 x extra portlights and 2 x galley hatches
- Wheelhouse/ deck saloon replaced with increased headroom
- Companionway to saloon widened and sliding hatch added
- Aft galley bulkheads removed/ lowered giving open plan layout
- Re-engined
- Twin rudders replaced with 2 x surface area
- All new galley/ shower/ wc equipment
- All new tankage
- Original cable steering replaced by Admiral Hydraulic

- Coded to MCA SCV 2 until 2017

THE RAMPART BOATBUILDING CO. BUILD NUMBER: 621

During the last decades of yacht building in timber as the norm, the Desty family's aptly named Rampart Boatbuilding Company resolutely fended off the advances of the petro-chemical industry by asserting their right to build up to three highly desirable, traditionally built yet contemporary-styled vessels per year well into the 1970s. But in 1962 in the UK, to build a motor yacht of almost 50 feet in anything other than wood was still well-nigh unthinkable. Rampart built well using the best of materials; their stylish boats lasted well and gained a strong reputation and following - one of a select few yards capable of satisfying the desires of successful men buying their dream ship. Norwich-born Roye Palmer was one of these men.

He was an aviator by the age of 19 and became a Second World War Royal Air Force bomber pilot in his early 20s. A survivor (60 percent of operational RAF Bomber Command airmen were killed, wounded or taken prisoner between 1939 and 1945) invalided out of the service in 1944, he'd entered the licensed hospitality trade with gusto and a penchant for property entrepreneurship. In the 1950s he purchased a huge Durban, South Africa, 1939 Art Deco apartment block and converted it to The Killarney Hotel. It became the largest hotel in Africa, and the social hub of Durban life - and night life. Palmer sold The Killarney in the early 1960s and seems to have 'retired' in his early 40s to Mallorca.

Palmer's dream ship took her name from his successful hotel. After a maiden voyage south via the Channel Islands and the French canals, STAR OF KILLARNEY's home port through the 1960s and into the mid 1970s became Real Club Nautico de Palma, an ambitious, friendly club with fabulous facilities and the embryo of the huge marina it has become. Palmer didn't keep her long, but the name has stuck.

STAR OF KILLARNEY's next owner until 1974, Royal Motor Yacht Club member William Henry Whitaker of Billingshurst, Sussex, also kept her in Palma, and was also in the licensed trade. Her third owner, H.R. Richards may be presumed British, but his address was care of Real Club Nautico de Palma. For the first 15 years of her life, STAR OF KILLARNEY must have been well known in the Balearic Islands.

In 1976, top offshore yacht racing navigator David Arnold became STAR OF KILLARNEY's fourth owner, returning her to the south coast of England for a refit at the Chichester Harbour yard of Dennis Vernon, founder and developer of 'Chichester Yacht Harbour'. Subsequently, through the late 1970s she was closely associated with the Admiral's Cup campaigns of Edward Heath's later MORNING CLOUDs and Robin Aisher's YEOMAN XX and YEOMAN XXI, acting as Arnold's base and a de facto mother ship. In 1979 she was also much used as an RORC committee boat for the 1979 Admirals Cup races in the Solent.

She then returned again to the Mediterranean lifestyle for a further almost 25 years, during which ownership transferred to Richard Mahony. After a period chartering in the Mediterranean, Mahony returned STAR OF KILLARNEY north to the 'home' waters she'd only briefly known. She day chartered out of Dover/ Folkstone from the late 1990s until purchased by her present owners in 2001.

In present ownership, fter the significant 2001-2002 refit described above, STAR OF KILLARNEY became a well known, loved - and busy - day charter vessel both on the River Thames and on the south coast: from Henley to Cowes. In June 2012 she was one of the 1000 boats selected to participate in the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant through London on the tidal Thames. She is also included in the UK's National Register of Historic Vessels (NRHV).

©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.

CONSTRUCTION
- Mahogany planking on Canadian rock elm timbers
- Timbers run across wood keel - no steel floors
- Cast iron ballast keel
- Teak swept laid deck (re-payed 2017)
- Mahogany superstructures

OTHER CRITICAL DIMENSIONS
- Air draught (mast up): 7.75 m / 25 ft 6 in
- Air draught (mast down): 3.15 m / 10 ft 3 in
- Water draft (forward): 0.97 m / 3 ft 2 in
- Water draft (aft): 1.28 m / 4 ft 2in

GENERAL
- Teak swept laid deck nibbed to forward covering boards
- Varnished teak covering boards and rail
- Varnished teak king planks
- Varnished teak handrail on cast stainless steel stanchions

FROM FORWARD

SPACIOUS FOREDECK
Capable of accommodating 12 x 'Lloyd Loom' armchairs (not included) backed against the handrail. It also has a “coffee table” with exchangeable legs and top to convert into a dining table seating up to 8 people
- Stainless steel pulpit
- 2 x Bow rollers port and starboard of stainless steel capped stemhead
- Chromed mooring fairleads port and starboard
- Chafe strips
- Chromed mooring bollard cleat
- Chromed raised mushroom vent over forepeak
- Alloy hatch over forepeak offset to port
- 2 x Alloy hatches over owners' cabin
- Varnished teak table over on stainless steel legs (see above)
- Forward chromed spring line bollard cleats port and starboard
- Chafe strips

WHEELHOUSE/ DECK SALOON
Mahogany uprights
- Almost all-round visibility
- 3 x heated Windscreens
- 3 x Side windows port and starboard
- Starboard mid window slides open
- Sliding window and hinged hatch companionway to port
- 2 x Aft windows
Painted, glassed roof
- Stainless steel wrap-around handrail
- Chromed Carlisle & Finch searchlight
- Liferafts stowage chocks
- 2 x Glomex antennae
- Chromed air horns
- Chromed raised mushroom vent
- 'Tannoy'
- Single spreader spruce mast on tabernackle
- Spruce boom/ derrick
- Radome and radar reflector
- Quarter round fashion baffles port and starboard
- Offer spray protection to galley hatches
- Lifebuoy stowage outboard port and starboard

SIDE DECKS
- Mid chromed spring line bollard cleats port and starboard
- 2 x Dorade box engine space intakes port and starboard at scuppers
- Chromed cowls
- Aft chromed spring line bollard cleats port and starboard
- Hinged rail gates port and starboard

AFT TRUNK CABIN
- Mahogany uprights
- 4 x Chomed lights port and starboard
- Alloy hatches port and starboard over galley
- Stainless steel RIB tender stowage chocks

LARGE COCKPIT
- Low coaming aft
- King plank becomes coaming port and starboard
- U-seating port, starboard and aft
- Stowage under
- Samson posts port and starboard

AFT DECK
- Chromed mooring cleat bollard
- Chromed mooring fairleads port and starbard
- 2 x Chromed ensign staff bollards
- Removable aft rail
- Stainless steel ladder access to bathing platform
- Stainless steel and teak bathing platform

GROUND TACKLE
- Ideal Windlass Co (USA) H2F stainless steel windlass
- Horizontal chain gipsy and warping drum
- Controlled from either deck or helm for single-handed operation
- Hall bower anchor
- Galvanised, calibrated anchor chain
- CQR galvanised kedge anchor in foredeck chocks
- Danforth type galvanised kedge anchor in foredeck chocks

GENERAL
- Black inlaid varnished teak plywood sole
- White painted deckheads; varnished beams in deckhouse

FROM AFT

MAIN SALOON
- Double door/ sliding hatch companionway from cockpit
- Vitrifrigo C42L drink chiller fridge by companionway (2023)
- Locker by companionway
- L-shaped settee to starboard; stowage under
- Settee to port; stowage under
- Settees can be used as berths
- Double drop leaf table offset to starboard
- 2 x Chromed/ painted hull portlights port and starboard
- 3 x Chromed trunk side portlights port and starboard
- 4 x Bulkhead lamps
- 14 x Side-deckhead spotlights extending forward to galley
- 6 x Courtesy lights just above sole
- Sharp TV screen

GALLEY
To Port
- Avonite solid surface top surface fore and aft
- Large custom Penguin Refridgeration fridge
- Fridge compressor replaced, and re-gassed 2023
- Neff 240 V 4 x plate induction hob
- Neff 240 V combined fan cooker and microwave
- Drawers under
- Lockers under and outboard
- 1 x Chromed/ painted hull portlight
- 1 x Chromed trunk side portlight
- Alloy hatch in deckhead
To Starboard
- Avonite L-shaped solid surface top
- Inset stainless steel sink outboard
- Sunk drainer area
- Mixer tap and hand spray
- Lockers under and over
- Small shelf outboard
- 4 x Adjustable spotlights over
- 1 x Chromed/ painted hull portlight
- 1 x Chromed trunk side portlight
- Alloy hatch in deckhead

FORWARD 3 x STEPS UP TO DECK SALOON/ WHEELHOUSE
- Engine space under
- Lockers aft port and starboard
- Tops for chart reading
- Standard lamps with shades port and starboard
- Ship's clock and barometer
- Settee/ berth to starboard
- Sliding mod window to starboard
- Companionway to port side deck with steps
- Sliding door; hinged hatch in deckhead
- 2 x Deckhead lights
Helm position to port forward
- Morse throttes
- Ship's electrical panel
- BMV battery monitor
- Navigation displays and repeaters
- Navtex
- Chromed steering compass binnacle
- Sestrel steering compass
- VHF Radio
- Locker and starboard dash sideboard forward
- Standard lamp with shade
- Windscreen wipers port and starboard
- Kent clear Screen central

FORWARD 3 x STEPS DOWN TO FORWARD ACCOMMODATION
Shower compartment to port
- Stainless steel inset sink unit; Avonite top
- Hot and cold taps
- Lockers under; shelf outboard
- Shower; varnished teak grating
- Soap holder; towel ring
- 5 x Deck lights
- 1 x Chromed opening port
WC Compartment to starboard
- 2 x SeaLand Vacuflush fresh water toilet
- x Deck lights
- 1 x Chromed opening port

OWNERS' CABIN
- Dressing table to port; drawer and locker
- Mirror over
- Berths port and starboard; stowage under
- Port berth converts to a double
- 2 x Hanging lockers
- 2 x Alloy hatches in deckhead
- 4 x Bulkhead lamps with shades
- 4 x Chromed opening ports

FO'C'SLE
- Large custom Penguin Refrigeration chest freezer to starboard
- SeaLand Vacuflush fresh water toilet
- Stainless steel sink inset in Avonite top
- Hot and cold taps
- Lockers under
- Alloy forehatch offset to starboard
- Steps to hatch in port bulkhead
- 2 x Deckhead lights
- Forward to stowage and chain locker
- Could be adapted for child berths

MECHANICAL
- 2 x Perkins Sabre M135 6 cyl 135 hp each (2002)
- Estimated hours: 2000
- Traditional drive train via Halyard Aquadrive anti-vibration units
- Fischer Panda PMS 8000NE 7.7 kVA auxiliary generator
- Max speed: c.12 knots @ 2,200 rpm
- Cruising speed - c.8.5 knots @ 1,600 rpm
- Consumption/ range - TBA

ELECTRICAL
- 12 V, 24 V and 240 V electrical circuits
- Mastervolt Mass Combi inverter/charger

OTHER
- Admiral Hydraulic Steering
- Webasto heaters

TANKAGE AND ASSOCIATED
- Plastic fresh water tank under aft cockpit sole : 1000 L
- Pressure water system
- Stainless steel diesel tank amidships : c.800 L (partitioned between main and reserve)
- Reserve fuel tank to port balances aux generator weight to starboard
- Black water tank receiving from both WCs

RIG
- Tabernacle-stepped spruce 'mizzen' mast with steadying sail
- Spruce boom/derrick
- Lazyjacks for ease-of-use single-handed
- Rig works really well even in strong winds on a beam sea

CANVASWORK
Covers for:
- Cockpit
- House sides and windscreens
- Dorades
- Hatches
- Foredeck table
Rail Dodgers for:
- Cockpit

NAVIGATION
- Magnetic steering compass
- Raytheon ST60 Tridata,
- Raytheon RL70C Pathfinder Radar and Raychart plotter
- (HSB Series Color Display)
- Raytheon ST6000+ Autohelm and autopilot control unit

COMMUNICATIONS
- Garmin 100i VHF radio
- ICS Nav6 Navtex

- 6-Person hermetically sealed, hydrostatic release liferaft
- 8-Person hermetically sealed, hydrostatic release liferaft
- 15 x Self-inflatable lifejackets (for 12 x passengers; 3 x crew)
- Engine space auto fire extinguishing system
- Fire extinguishers in galley, saloon and forepeak, all in service date
- 1 x 4 kg ABC Powder
- 1 x 2 kg ABC Powder
- 1 x 1 kg ABC Powder
- 1 x Smoke alarm
- Jotron EPIRB
- Kim Man-overboard rescue sling at aft cockpit
- 2 x Horseshoe lifebuoys with float activated lights
- 1 x Trem floating heaving line
- 1 x Manual diaphragm bilge pump
- 3 x ITT Rule electric submersible bilge pumps
- 1 x Perkins Sabre engine-driven bilge pump

- Avon RIB 2.8 m tender
- Honda 4 stroke 5 hp outboard motor
- Stainless steel swim ladder at bathing platform
- Stainless steel side boarding ladder