The Brabant class was designed by Alan Buchanan in the late 1950′s, and comprised of steel hulls from the Netherlands being shipped to Burnham-on-Crouch to be finished by Stebbings.
Measurements vary slightly from one example to another and those shown below are for Mako of Burnham, taken from the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts.
At the time of the Brabant’s launch Buchanan had already been building steel hulled yachts for owners in Holland and elsewhere on the Continent for a decade or so. Then, in 1959, there was an easing of import restrictions which began to make it economic to import the bare steel hulls to the UK for finishing.
Some of the first few hulls were made by Tak Bros. of Raamsdonksveer, with 3mm topside plating, 4mm bottom and keel plating, and 4mm floors. At least one later hull was built by J.J. Beijnes of Beverwijk (for Tegerin). Although steel had been in use for a long time, its use for smaller yachts, like the Brabant, still caused debate in the yachting journals of the day.
