The Morgan Giles job book shows that there were at least 80 boats of about 35ft in length built during the war. Mainly recorded as Pinnaces and Fast Motor Boats they were a very big part of the work carried out in the yard during this period. In addition there were many refits and repairs carried out to these and other craft.
One of the first order of this type were for six 35’ pinnaces, these were hard chine boats fitted with twin Ford V8 engines on trials they achieved 21 or 22 knots, two of these were finished as sea-plane tenders. Others, known as slow pinnaces were fitted with a single Dorman engine and Kitchen rudders, a combination of a rudder and a directional propulsion system that turns the rudder into a thruster to give forward or after movement of the boat. A further contract included four fast motor pinnaces with twin Perkins P6 diesels. These made speeds of some 20 knots and no less than 50 of these were built at the yard. Twelve 36ft harbour launches were built on the upper floor of the new shed, known by the hands as the ‘Toy Shop’. When built the boats were lowered through the floor.
Additionally there were many refits carried out on Admiralty craft and also many RAF Air Sea Rescue Launches. The expansion of the yard at this time did well for the firm in later years and the experience gained at that time no doubt helped the company to develop into the motor cruiser side of the business.
