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SEA IMP at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in 2009
Sea Imp
SEA IMP at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in 2009
SEA IMP at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in 2009
Private Collection

Sea Imp

Vessel numberHV000346
Vessel Registration NumberAW31 N
Date1939
DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 10 m x 9.75 m x 3.35 m x 0.99 m, 3.94 tonnes (32.8 ft x 32 ft x 11 ft x 3.25 ft, 4 tons)
DescriptionSEA IMP is 10 metres long, carvel planked with a raised foredeck and finished to a high standard. It carries a typical Williams arrangement with a raised bridge deck cabin and lower aft saloon. There is, however, no raised cabin top over the short aft cockpit. SEA IMP has the relatively square window shape favoured by Williams. The current owner has noted that the profile closely resembles a North American design published in the late 1930s, and this may have been a guide or even used by Williams as the basis for SEA IMP's design.

The cabin top extension at the forward end appears to have been added in the 1970s when the boat underwent major restoration, and a new Perkins diesel, the current engine, was fitted.

SEA IMP is understood to have spent much of its early period on Pittwater NSW. Plaques on the cabin show it was number 256 at a motor yacht club in the area. In 2005 it was taken to Queensland by new owners, then sold again in 2007 to the current owner in Hobart, Tasmania. SEA IMP remains in excellent condition and continues to show the construction and styling of a late 1930s cruiser built by A G Williams.
SignificanceSEA IMP is a wooden bridge deck motor cruiser built in 1939 by A G Williams at Drummoyne in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales. Williams was well known for building motor launches and cruisers during the 1930s and 1940s and SEA IMP displays the hallmarks of his craft's construction and styling. Williams, along with Holmes and Halvorsen, were the major builders of motor launches in Sydney, and each with their own preferred styling and construction features.
WINNIE TOO at the Classic and Wooden Boat Festival 2012
A G Williams
c 1942
FRANCESCA in 2009 on the Derwent River, Tasmania
A G Williams
1927
SOUTHWIND in 2012
A G Williams
c 1951
SIESTA  on a slipway in South Australia, date unknown
A G Williams
1935
MAHITA on the slips for maintenance showing the typical Williams flare at the bow, and cabin de…
A G Williams
1939
CLARA in its original yacht configuration as a gaff cutter.
Thomas Williams
1892
Undine at the Wooden Boat Centre Franklin Tasmania 2023
Don Colborne
1948
Skirmish
Bluey Williams
1969
CHERANA in 2010
Trevor Gowland
1959
PARRY ENDEAVOUR on display in 2013
R Williams & J Chute Partnership
1979
KATHLEEN GILLETT racing in Gaffer's Day 2004 on Sydney Harbour.
Colin Archer
1939