VICTORIA 26

When the Comptons went looking for a cruising yacht with pretty lines, they lucked out with this barn find

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When my wife and I moved from Brighton to Devon in 2015, we made a deal. She could have the dog she pined for and which I didn't want (too much hassle, too much mess) providing I could have the boat I pined for and which she didn't need (ditto, according to her). Thanks to the Brighton vs Devon property differential, we ended up with a £10,000 budget, and I soon spotted a pretty little Romilly (a 22ft 'modern lugger' designed by Nigel Irens) with a trailer that, although advertised at twice the price, the owner was willing to part with for exactly that sum. We had some fun times with that boat, pottering up and down the River Dart with our two children and assorted friends, but Anna missed the comfortable cabin and galley which we had had on our previous boat, a 24ft Cheverton Caravelle, while I always aspired to a proper family cruising yacht.

We both enjoy the process of looking at second-hand boats perhaps a little too much, so even before we'd sold our Romilly we had already looked at a Frances 26 for sale in Weymouth. I liked the seaworthy hull shape (I'm a sucker for a double-ender), while Anna liked the modern-feeling open-plan interior.

FINDERS KEEPERS

That boat sold before we managed to sell our Romilly, but it planted the seed of an idea, and, once our boat had sold, I started searching for something similar. I eventually spotted an ad in the owner's forum (www.frances26.org) for a Victoria 26 (a variation of the Frances 26) for sale in Hampshire. There were no pictures in the ad, but the boat was said to be 'stored under cover near Basingstoke'. My excitement knew no bounds: we had stumbled across our own 'barn find'.