Sir Simon Day, who has died aged 88, was a highly influential figure in the West of England as, among many other things, Conservative leader of Devon County Council; he also headed the West Country Television consortium which in 1980 bid to replace Westward TV, which had been crippled by boardroom infighting.
It took three different craft and three subsequent refits for classic boat enthusiast David Johnson to realise his dream but was the end result worth it?
Our resident used boat expert Nick Burnham picks out four of the best wooden boats for sale right now, from the likes of Fairey Marine and Philip & Son