Abels Shipbuilders


Abels Shipbuilders Ltd was a ship and boat builder in Bristol, England. In addition to boat building, the company branched out into architectural sculptures, tidal energy and marine restoration, but closed in 2016.

Business

Founded in 1980 by David Abels, the company took over part of the Albion Dockyard formerly occupied by Charles Hill & Sons who went out of business in 1977. The site includes the large covered dry dock originally built by Hilhouse in 1820, and has a capacity of 350 tonnes.
The company builds a wide variety of vessels up to 250 tonnes and in length in steel and aluminium, typically tugs, passenger and Roll-on/roll-off ferries, survey vessels, launches and work boats. Around 80% of orders are for UK customers although recently the company delivered aluminium patrol and ambulance boats to Nigeria. The company also built Pero's Bridge which opened in 1999. Recent and current work includes a 180 tonne, 250 passenger catamaran for Clyde Marine and the rebuild of the Medway Queen for the Medway Queen Preservation Society.

Ferries

The company has been building ferries since at least 1985, when the 60 passenger Island Princess was delivered to Scottish owners, and she still operates as a whale watching boat off the Isle of Mull. Several further ferry orders followed including the Roll-on/roll-off ferry Eynhallow for Orkney Ferries in 1987, and the Maid of the Forth for the Forth River in 1989.
In 1989 the Maid of the Islands LOA15m 130 person capacity was built for Harvey's pleasure boats of Poole still in Poole today operating between Sandbanks and Brownsea Island. For Brownsea Island Ferries Ltd
In 1991 a similar design to that of the Maid of the Islands LOA18m 130person capacity was commissioned also for Harvey's. Named Maid of the Lakeland's, slightly bigger with a completely covered saloon, bar and open deck. Operates Poole to Brownsea Island and Poole Quay to Wareham service for Brownsea island Ferries ltd.
In 1999 Maid of Poole LOA23.5m 195 person capacity, was commissioned for Brownsea Island Ferries ltd for the Poole Quay Brownsea island Service.
In 2001 an exact copy of Maid of Poole was commissioned by Brownsea Island Ferries Ltd to be built by Halmatic in Portsmouth. This vessel was called Maid of The Harbour.
In 2001 Abels secured a contract to build a twin deck ferry for the Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company. Shortly afterwards the company was awarded a follow-on contract for a second ferry. The first ship, Spirit of Gosport was delivered successfully, but the second, originally intended to be named Spirit of Portsmouth, was only partially constructed when the customer cancelled the order, and the unfinished hull remained at Abel's shipyard for many years. However, in 2016-17, the uncompleted hull was completed as a medical ferry for Vine Trust in South America, under the name Forth Hope.
The latest ferry built is the Clyde Clipper for Clyde Marine and delivered in July 2009. She is a 125grt catamaran or length and beam and able to carry up to 250 passengers. Powered is supplied by two Doosan diesel engines and the vessel has a speed of around.

Survey Vessels

In the lates 1980s, Abels began to construct a series of survey vessels for the UK Environment Agency. Vigilance was the first of four similar vessels and delivered by David Abels for work in the Bristol Channel in 1990. The follow on ships constructed were the Sea Vigil based on the South Coast, Coastal Guardian for the Mersey and Water Guardian, based on the North East Coast, but spent some time in the Bristol Channel while Plymouth University chartered the Vigilance. Ranging from 42 to 71 tonnes, and in length, they are ships operated by the Agency's National Marine Service. Their complement includes scientists and each are fitted for survey activities such as taking seabed samples, trawling and water sampling as methods to monitor the area's coastline, including use of Meteorological sea surface temperature equipment on a tow fish when required.

Vessels built by Abels Shipbuilders

Vessels built by Abels Shipbuilders in Bristol include:
and Hilhouse Albion Yard.