MERITA
Canoe-sterned motor cruiser
“She was a beautiful design but a devil to build.” These were the words of 97-year-old Arthur Frazier when he stepped aboard a newly-restored Merita in 2019, a boat that he’d helped to build 83 years ago as an apprentice to the family boatyard, Frazier, in 1936.
The 39ft (11m) is built of pitch pine planks on oak frames as a private motor yacht, although much of the yard’s output was destined for the fishing industry. She’s notable for her pretty canoe stern, with a wheelhouse added in the 1960s. The new millennium saw the addition of an external helm position, added during her thorough rebuild at Dennetts on the upper Thames, which has made her into a modern, comfortable vessel below decks. The comes with a new 74hp Sole diesel.
