www.smallsailboats.co.uk Bill's Boats Home www.smallsailboats.co.uk Scout Kayak Racing Kayak Phillida Hilyard Shyauk Hina Catamaran Small Zeta Pandora Buccaneer Big Zeta Aziz Shipmate Harriott Micro Caleb Kingfisher           While at the London Boat Show I met Neirop the designer of the Kingfisher range of yachts.  I was interested in the Kingfisher 22 which was extremely well engineered and finished, but I expressed the belief that I would never be able to afford such a fine yacht.  He encouraged me by saying that my financial circumstances may improve in later life.  Little did I know that I should be the owner of a Kingfisher 26 - albeit second-hand. I found 'Trio' in a state of neglect at a boatyard by the River Deben.  There was very little wrong with her except she had accumulated moss on her decks.  By using a power hose I was able to make her almost like new. Without a doubt 'Trio' was a very easy boat to sail.  If there was any effort required, it was in raising the mainsail with the use of a winch, but once that was accomplished, everything else was fairly effortless.  The mainsheet took a bit of getting used to, since it was very long, but it could simply be dropped into a pouch without coiling - that ensured it would come out freely. I did several cruises with her - including a trip to Falmouth and a delivery passage with the new owner to his home port of Peterhead. Standing headroom and a dinette made her a very comfortable family boat.  However, the thing that concerned me was the number of holes in her hull. There were sea water intakes for the sink, heads, engine, cockpit drains and the engine exhaust tube.  Each one of them needed stopcocks and pipes leading above the waterline.