Lady Bee (Stow & Son) 39 ft Twin Screw Motor Yacht 1938/2017

RUDA was built from the best of materials and has perhaps the most characterful and deceptively spacious interior of any boat of this size we’ve seen. She's the fine result of an attempt, stymied by the Second World War, to re-boot the fortunes of one of England’s best yacht building traditions (the yard that built TALLY HO) with a high-quality entry into a motor cruiser market burgeoning through the 1930s, somehow unaffected by the Great Depression. In present ownership for over 30 years, RUDA has been very well cared for and proven, offering a comfortable, practical and elegant home for a 22,000 km Grand Tour of Northern European seas, rivers and canals, exploring as far east as Helsinki. Remarkably, this was powered by her original Ailsa Craig engines, now housed in a museum and relatively recently replaced by modern, economic Beta diesels.

- Provisional details for a new listing
- New photos and specs to be added coming weeks

In the thirty years that RUDA has been in the care of her current owners, she has proven herself to be a capable and comfortable long distance, live-aboard cruiser, travelling over 20,000 km from France to Finland along coasts, canals and rivers.
Here you can explore some of the places she has visited: https://www.motoryachtruda.co.uk/

2020
- New galvanised steel and oak rudder and stock

2017
- Original Ailsa Craig engines replaced with current Beta units

1999-2004
- All keelbolts replaced

c1990
- Completely re-fastened
- New leading edge of stem; hood ends refastened

UK NATIONAL HISTORIC SHIPS
- Registration number: 1809
NAME MEANING: ADUR BACKWARDS
- The name of the river that enters the English Channel at Shoreham-by-Sea

In c.1934, RUDA's first owner, Gordon M. Haworth, scion of a successful Manchester cotton spinning and textile manufacturing family (the business still trades under his grandfather, Richard Haworth's name) settled on England's south east coast at Hove, Sussex, and purchased from her original owner, Lord Rendlesham, the 52 ft triple screw motor yacht LADY BEE, designed and built at Falmouth in 1920 by R.S. Burt.

We imagine through the combination of a passion for yachting, the knowledge that waterfront property might always have a value, good timing, and entrepreneurship in the genes, under the company name Lady Bee Ltd., Gordon and his son Frederick began to purchase River Adur boatbuilding businesses at nearby Shoreham-by-Sea and Southwick. In particular, the famous Stow & Son yard with a reputation for finely designed and built yachts, almost exclusively powered by the wind. The last Stow proprietor, Harry T., had died aged around 70 in 1935, apparently leaving behind no family successor at least with the desire to continue, but a highly skilled workforce looking for and needing work.

Harry’s younger brother, Ernest Alfred Stow, a qualified and talented naval architect, was very much still alive to design the new business’s ambitious entry into the 40 ft motor cruiser market then dominated by famous names such as Silver of Rosneath, Rampart of Southampton, Saunders-Roe of Cowes, Thornycroft on the Thames, and Hyland/ Staniland of Thorne. Stow and Son had enjoyed a fine reputation for design, quality of build, and reasonable pricing - all of which was reflected in RUDA, the first of the proposed ‘ADUR’ class of 39 footers. Plus, we imagine, a lot of research, and Gordon Haworth’s experience as an owner - by now of multiple power yachts including the beautiful Camper & Nicholson’s 85 ft steam yacht ROMOLA.

But war clouds were gathering. Despite apparently being exhibited afloat on the Thames during the 1938 Earls Court Motor Show, as far as we know no more were built, and RUDA remained in Gordon Haworth’s ownership until being requisitioned then compulsorily acquired by the Admiralty in 1941. There is no record of her being used the previous year at Dunkirk. Her wartime patrol duties, armed on the foredeck with a Vickers K gas-operated machine gun, seem to have been based on England’s southeast corner; she may have ended the war on the Medway estuary.

RUDA’s second owner from 1947/48, prosperous ‘Garden of England’ fruit grower Herbert Payne, lived near the River Medway at West Farleigh, Maidstone, Kent, and was a member of Gillingham-based Medway Cruising Club. Like Haworth, Payne owned more than one yacht and kept RUDA for ten years.

Subsequent owners/ and home ports where known were:

1958
J.J.W. Salmond, Salisbury
1959
Agamemnon Boatyard Ltd., Bucklers Hard, Hants
1960
D.B. Parkes of Lymington, Hants/ Bucklers Hard, Hants
1960
Victor H. Doree, Leicester/ Lymington/ Salcombe
RUDA appears to have been one of his 'Blue Waters Charters' sailing holidays fleet that operated out of Salcombe
1964
G.D. Luck, Fowey, Cornwall/ Fowey
1972
S.G. Hurst, Liskeard, Cornwall/ Fowey
1974
G.S. Greenfield, Sutton Coldfield, Worcs/ Worcester
1980
C.R. Watton, Birmingham, W. Midlands/ Worcester
1980
Roger Hodgson
1995
Present ownership

Since 1995 RUDA has played huge part in the lives of her current owners, the vehicle for 22,000 km of adventures on Northern Europe’s seas, rivers and canals, from France to Finland. Using a boat like this, even with less ambitious cruising goals, is the key to longevity. RUDA promises to give back in return for many years hence.

©2025 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.
(with acknowledgement also to RUDA's present owners' researches and superb website)

- Pitch pine splined carvel planking
- Teak splined carvel planking to raised foredeck
- Teak superstructure
- Canadian rock elm and oak close spaced timbers
- Copper rivet fastened
- Galvanised steel floors
- External iron ballast keel
- Black iron keel bolts
- Teak swept ‘yacht-laid’ deck

GENERAL
- Teak laid deck
- Teak superstructure
- Galvanised stanchions; stainless steel guard wires

Air draft:
- Mast up: 5.9 m
- Mast down: 2.6 m

FROM AFT
- Bronze flagstaff holder with varnished staff
- Bronze fairleads port & starboard
- Bronze mooring bollard cleats port & starboard
- Galvanised hawse pipe for kedge chain
- 7.5 kg galvanised claw kedge anchor with chain and eight-strand warp
- Kedge tape warp on roller, mounted on stanchion rail
- MOB recovery sling and line on roller
- Galvanised ‘pig-tail’ fairleads port & starboard
- Varnished hatch to lazarette and gas bottle locker
- Bronze plate cover to emergency tiller post
- Bronze boom crutch sockets on varnished pads

AFT TRUNK CABIN
- Raised varnished hatch over aft cabin
- Opening framed window on rear of cabin
- Bronze support brackets for mast crutch
- Raw teak mast crutch on galvanised posts
- 2 x Fixed windows port & starboard side of cabin trunk
- 2 x Bronze mushroom vents port & starboard
- Central low profile vent with insect screen
- Tender stowage chocks with 4 x galvanised ring bolts
- Fender plank
- Mast in tabernacle
- Bronze chain plates on cabin sides
- Boom/ derrick with bronze drop-nose pin fitting on mast
- Two bronze half-cowl engine room vents port and starboard
- Bronze clamshell engine room extractor vent port side

WHEELHOUSE/ DECK SALOON
- Air horn
- Brass electric horn
- Three GPS antennae
- Navtex antenna
- 2 low profile vents with insect screens, port & starboard
- Full width sliding hatch
- Bronze flag halyard cleats
- Manually directible searchlight
- 50 W/ 24 V BP solar panel array
- Varnished teak handrails port & starboard
- Twin forestay attachment points
- Bronze half-cowl engine room vents port & starboard
- Aquasignal >12 m port & starboard nav lights in varnished mounts

SIDE DECKS
- Galvanised mooring/ springing T-cleats, port & starboard
- Galvanised fairleads, port & starboard
- Bronze pump-out deck fitting plate to starboard
- Fuel tank fillers port & starboard under foredeck steps
- Shore power connector under foredeck step, port side
- Deckwash outlet and hose w. spray head under starboard foredeck step

RAISED FOREDECK
- Bronze bollard cleats, midships port & starboard
- Varnished teak butterfly skylight hatch over saloon
- Bronze deck fitting for stove pipe
- Raised varnished teak forehatch with ‘bullseye’ deck light
- Bronze mushroom galley vent to starboard
- Bronze mushroom vent on centreline above anchor locker
- Bronze mooring bollard cleats at bow, port & starboard
- Bronze mooring fairleads at bow, port & starboard
- Bronze T-cleat on centreline
- Galvanised double bow roller on stem head

GROUND TACKLE
- Galvanised double bow roller on stem head
- Simpson-Lawrence manual windlass
- 1 x Chain gipsy
- 1 x Warping drum
- 15 kg Spade main anchor
- 75 lb CQR storm anchor on chocks
- Fisherman pattern anchor on chocks and rail
- 40 m galvanised anchor chain
- 72 m of Liros three strand anchor warp
- Galvanised davit to lift anchor
- Automatic anchor deployment hook
- Snubbing chain hook on bridle
Kedge:
- 7.5Kg galvanised claw kedge anchor
- 5 m of 10 mm chain spliced to 45 metres of eight-strand warp
- Kedge anchor tape warp on recovery reel, mounted on stanchion rail

OVERVIEW
- Entry via sliding wheelhouse doors port and starboard
- Period interior restored during the refit
- Almost all is original except for the galley; rebuilt using same style of joinery
- 6 x Berths:
- 1 x double, 3 x fixed singles; additional 1 x double and 1 x single in saloon

WHEELHOUSE
- Central helm position
- Traditional ship's wheel
- Lockers below side deck, port & starboard
- Original bronze engine controls
- Sestrel-Moore steering compass
- Navigation displays
- Barometer
- Engine day tanks with seats above aft, port & starboard of aft companionway
- Original ship's bell engraved 'RUDA'

FORWARD ACCOMMODATION
3 x Steps down to Saloon sole

SALOON
Original Honduras mahogany and lacewood panelling
- 2 Athwartships banquette seats to port
- Honduras mahogany table (converts to double berth)
- Bookcase to starboard
- Lockers, drinks locker and 3 x drawers to port at forward bulkhead
- Locker and 4 x drawers to starboard at aft bulkhead
- Copper Pascall Atkey ‘Pansy’ charcoal stove
- Banquette seating to starboard
- 2 x Deckhead lights
- 3 x Gimballed bulkhead oil lamps
- 4 x Bronze opening ports
- Butterfly skylight in deckhead
- Mahogany casing with bronze grille covering heating radiator

FORWARD VIA DOORWAY TO ATHWARTSHIPS GALLEY
Carpentry in mahogany matches the boat's original woodwork
To Port
- Varnished wood worktop
- Stainless steel double sink
- Mixer tap with tall bronze faucet
- Drinking water filter
- Numerous food and utensil lockers, drawers and stowage
- 2 Deckhead lights
- 2 under-shelf light
- 2 bronze opening ports
- Prism decklight on centreline
To Starboard
- ‘Force 10’ stainless steel 4 x burner hob and oven with grill
- Deckhead vent above
- Stainless steel work surface
- Original shelving above
- Cupboard and locker

FORWARD CABIN
- 2 x Bunk berths to port
- Lockers below bunks to port
- Refrigerator to starboard
- Basin with hot and cold brass taps to starboard
- Brass manual pump tap by basin
- Microwave to starboard
- Shelving to starboard
- 2 x Bronze opening ports
- Raised forehatch with bulls-eye decklight.
- 2 x Deckhead lights
- Door to anchor locker

RETURN AFT VIA WHEELHOUSE TO AFT ACCOMMODATION
- 3 x Steps down to aft corridor
- Deckhead light

WC COMPARTMENT TO PORT
- Sliding door
- ‘Baby Blake’ manual and electric toilet
- Porcelain hand basin with mirror above and locker below
- Mirror light
- Locker below side deck behind toilet
- Hot and cold taps
- 1 x Deckhead vent
- 1 x Deckhead light
- Brass stern tube greasers
- Opening bronze portlight

SHOWER TO STARBOARD
- Standing headroom pressurized thermostatic shower
- Stainless steel shower tray with automatic pump
- 2 x Lockers
- 1 x Deckhead vent
- 1 x Deckhead light
- Opening bronze portlight

AFT OWNER CABIN
Original Honduras mahogany carpentry
- Double berth to port
- Single berth to starboard
- Foot lockers to port & starboard
- Lockers under berths
- Clothing locker, chart storage, 2 x drawers on centreline
- Bronze grille covering heating radiator
- Hanging locker to starboard
- Locker and 3 x drawers to port
- Book rack to port
- 4 x Fixed windows
- Opening window aft
- Hatch in deckhead
- 1 x Deckhead light
- 1 x Deckhead vent

MECHANICAL
- 2 x Beta/ Kubota V2203-M-EU32 50 hp 4 cyl diesels (2017)
- 180 hours
- 2 x PRM reversing hydraulic gearboxes
- 2 x Stainless steel shafts
- 2 x R&D couplings and bronze stuffing boxes
- 2 x Handed 3-blade bronze propellers (2017)
- Cruising speed: 6.5 knots; max speed: 9 knots
- Approximately 7 L/ hour total consumption

ELECTRICAL
Engine start batteries:
- 2 x Varta Promotive Heavy Duty SLA (2024)
- each 120 Ah/780 cold crank amps (2024)
- each charging independently from 2 x 12 V 65 A engine alternators
- 2 x two-pole isolator switches (one each for complete electrical isolation)
- National Luna BMS 10211 dual battery monitor and alarm
Domestic/Service Batteries & Charging:
- Bank of four batteries configured as two independently switched 24V banks comprising:
- 4 x Victron deep cycle AGM VRLA batteries (total 440Ah) configured for 24V, charged by:
- Engine alternators via 2 x Sterling Power BB1260 12V/24V, 30A intelligent chargers
- Victron Phoenix 24V/25A when connected to shore power, and
- BP 350u 50W/24V solar panels via Victron BlueSolar MPPT 75/10 regulator
- Phase Three PT-24-20CE backup charger
- Victron BMV501 battery monitor
Shore power/ 220V
- Shore power inlet with RCD and MCB circuit protection
- Victron Energy Phoenix 24-350 inverter
- Waeco 7100-024PP Pure Sine inverter
- Newmar breaker panel

TANKAGE AND FUEL SYSTEM
Diesel:
- Total 640 L in two main tanks and two day tanks
- 2 x 285L steel main tanks (with cleaning access hatches and drain valves) in engine room
- 2 x 35L day tanks either side in wheelhouse
- FuelGuard FGD560 washable 30 micron filter/decontaminator between main and day tanks
- ‘Number 0’ 10 Lpm rotary hand pump to feed day tanks
- Fuel level sight glass for each day tank
- Any-to-any valving to dual filter sets for uninterrupted fuel flow to engines
- CAV Delphi HDF296 filter (with priming pump), each engine
- Fleetguard FFG 10 micron spin-on filter and sedimenter, each engine
- Emergency fuel supply connection to portable tank via parallel filter set
Fuel washer:
- Rule 10 Lpm inline fuel pump
- Pentek 80 micron washable stainless steel element XX micron filter
- Pentek 10 micron replaceable element filter with vacuum gauge
- Valved pipework to facilitate tank-to-tank transfer and circulation through filters for washing
Gas:
- Two 13Kg propane bottles in lazarette gas locker
Water
- Deck filler on foredeck
- XXL fresh water in 2x galvanised tanks and 1x Tektanks HDPE tank
- Valved manifold for tank selection
- Jabsco Par-Max 31620 regulated flow water pump with strainer
- Brass manual pump at galley sink
- Brass manual pump at basin in forecabin
- Water level sight glass in galley
- 10 micron Pentek particulate filter under galley sink
- Jabsco shower drain pump with strainer and float switch
Hot water
- Hotpot calorifier heated by starboard engine supplying domestic hot water
- Alternative heating by Eberspacher 9KW diesel heater
- Alternative immersion heating via shore power
Black/ grey water
- Tek Tank 143 L with macerator at WC compartment

HYDRAULIC
Steering:
- Hydraulic system with Whitlock SHP helm pump and ram cylinder
- Raytheon Type 2 electro-hydraulic pump for autopilot

OTHER
- Eberspacher 9KW diesel water heater heater. Radiators in aft cabin and saloon
- Refrigerator with Danfoss BD35F compressor
- 2 x TMC two-speed electric windscreen wipers, one manual wiper
- Jabsco 35760 engine room ventilation fan
- FloJet deckwash pump
- Jabsco macerator toilet evacuation pump
- Manual seawater flush pump

- Mast in tabernacle:
- Single spreaders, hinged for stowage with flag halyard blocks
- Aquasignal deck light
- Aquasignal steaming light for vessel >12 m
- Metz ‘Manta-6’ VHF antenna
- V-Tronix MD2x backup VHF antenna
- Metz dedicated (162MHz) AIS transceiver antenna
- Anchor light
- Tackle for boom/derrick (MOB recovery)
- Stainless steel shrouds and twin forestays
- Bronze chain plates port and starboard
- Bronze sail track for steady/ head to wind sail

NAVIGATION
- Sestrel-Moore steering compass
- Vesper Marine XB-6000 AIS transponder with dedicated antenna
- Evermore SA-320 GPS smart antenna with USB connection for laptop
- Cetrek C-net speed log and depth sounder with Airmar bronze through-hull sensors
- Garmin 128 GPS

COMMUNICATIONS
- Icom IC-411 VHF
- modified w. Ofcom approved MMSI to meet European ATIS regulations
- ICS Nav6 Navtex receiver

- RFD SeaSava plus X 6-person liferaft (service expired)
- MOB recovery sling on deployment reel
- 2 x Life rings
- Danbuoy
- Johnson Pump electronic bilge alarm
- Johnson 2300 2,200 Gals per hour bilge pump
- with Rule float switch and parallel air pressure switch
- Rule 800 L per min electric bilge pump
- with SureBail float switch and strainer
- Whale Gusher 10 manual bilge pump with strum box
- Fiamm air horn
- 2 x Fire blankets
- 6 kg ABC Fire extinguisher
- Anchor ball
- Emergency tiller to fit head of stock
- Alde gas system leak detector
- Calor 3814 automatic gas cut-off valve

- YLC adjustable aluminium yacht legs
- securing lines and mount points on hull
- Stainless steel boarding ladder to mount on bow roller
- Teak boarding ladder
- 10 x Cylinder fenders for inland waterways
- 4 x Cylinder; 3 x large, 1 x small ball mooring fenders
- Passarelle/ fender plank
- Miscellaneous mooring and warping lines, snubbers etc.
- Mooring buoy pickup hook
- Boat hooks