The Then and Now of Richardson’s Yacht Services
A little bit of history…
Richardson’s Yacht Services was established in Yarmouth in 1988 (formerly known as Richardson’s Boatbuilders), founded by Peter and Barbara Richardson, along with their son Terry.
Specialising in building motor yachts as well as general yacht repairs, we started our first build of a 40ft Nelson motor boat in 1990 named Debonair. Only three years later we went on to build another 40ft Nelson motor boat named Devil.
In 1994 our business relocated to a bigger premises at Island Harbour Marina for our next build that took place the following year. During 1995-1996, Blue Legend was built, a 70ft Nelson with all the highest specifications. Some years later in 2006 our team joined the vessel in Majorca to add 10ft extension making it 80ft overall.
Our move to Island Harbour enabled the gradual expansion of facilities and services, starting with a larger boat shed, an 18 ton boat hoist and a mobile crane, we continued to grow our facilities. In 2005 we became the limited company known today as Richardsons Yacht Services Ltd. Following on from this the marina owners built a new lifting dock along with a 50 ton Travelift, and we invested in our current machinery to include a 20 ton boat mover and 10 ton mobile crane.
During the early years at Island Harbour; after numerous customers and boat owners asking if they could purchase “just a few fastenings” and other sundries from our yard stock the chandlery was born. It has grown gradually over the last 22 years and was formerly run by Martin Richardson, Peter and Barbara’s eldest son, until his departure from the business in September 2013.
Richardsons has secured Island Dealerships with Beta Marine, Mermaid Marine and Tohatsu Outboards, and carry a range of spares for these engines. The range of stock we carry is ever expanding. We are currently contractors to the RNLI and are carrying our refits and repairs to their fleet of hovercrafts, which can be heard ‘flying’ outside our sheds!
Our future…
As many of you know we began the long awaited move to our new premises mid June. Since then it has been a rocky but rewarding road toward getting our offices, chandlery and boatshed into usual working order. Our staff put in all hours and efforts during the disruption and we can finally say things are back on the road to ‘normality’.
We said goodbye to the old offices a little while ago, and work continues on the removal of our old boatshed. Although our space was far from perfect, it held sentimental value and we were sad to see it go. On the contrary, we are all settling into our new ‘home’ and have a good feeling about our future here. The offices are modern and spacious, the chandlery now has room to breath while you shop, and the boatshed allows our engineers, boatbuilders and boat yard operatives to complete their jobs with the utmost care.
We are very positive that this move will enable us to operate much more efficient and effective services for all of our customers, new and existing. If you haven’t already been to see us at our new location (still at Island Harbour), come on down. It’s great for us to be able to share this positive change with you all; as always we appreciate your support!
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