Elgris
(ex Zoe, ex Ariel)

Tabloid 16 Design : Published 1928 

Yachting Monthly Prize Winner
Elgris is one of three Tabloid 16 sailing cruisers known to have been built to a design by Dr. T Harrison Butler that won first prize in a Yachting Monthly competition in 1928. She's seen more than her fair share of tough times, being rescued and re-fitted in the 1980s, then being rescued for a second time in the 2000s. This second rescue ran out of steam but Elgris has now been successfully sold on (at a nominal sum) as a project to a new custodian, David Heffer.
David is a semi retired shipwright and he has Elgris under cover in a barn on his land at Hazelbury Brian, Dorset. As the above photograph shows, Elgris needs considerable work and David is fully aware that he will not get a proper financial return on the hours he will have to put in to restore her. He told the Association that “she will have to be significantly taken apart”. However, he has every intention of restoring Elgris to a high standard and hopes to sail her for a short while before selling her on.
In researching this boat I discovered that she unexpectedly pops up in the Lloyd's register of 1955 with her name changed to Ariel. She may well be the only surviving boat built to the Tabloid N° 16 design.

Elgris Statistics
Built : 1933 by CH Fox & Son of Ipswich
LOA : 21' 0"
LWL : 18' 0"
Beam : 7' 0"
Draught : 3' 6"
Displacement : 3.7 tons TM

Elgris Custodians & Home Ports
David Heffer (2013-2016...) Dorset
Graham Morris (?-?)
"A well known marine artist" (1990s)
Frank Willetts (1992-1993-?)
Peter Mather (1987-1992) Woodbridge, England
AV Lobban (?-1955-?) Aldeburgh
Guy L Reynolds (1933-1947-?) Aldeburgh

Elgris Links
• Elgris in the past being sold by Classic Yacht Brokerage
• Six Page article in The Boatman, 1993 in HBA Member's Only Area 

Page last updated : April 2017

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