2012 Custom Mayflower 50

MARTHA PRIMROSE is a 2012 Mayflower 50 designed and built by Ashley Butler in Dartmouth. She is a gaff yawl conceived from traditional British working craft, built with carvel Iroko planking over sawn oak frames and a long external lead keel. The design proves itself through serious cruising, including extended passages to the Mediterranean and return. She combines traditional materials and methods—bronze fittings, ash and bronze blocks, Douglas fir spars—with practical seamanship and genuine comfort.

On deck, the boat is simple and purposeful. The self-draining cockpit is generous and secure, with a proper tiller, well-placed controls, and excellent forward visibility. A doghouse provides shelter underway while maintaining an open connection to deck. The rig is laid out for single-handed or short-handed sailing, with four Lewmar 45 self-tailing sheet winches and two Lewmar 30 halyard winches at the mast. A manual anchor windlass with oak capstan handles ground tackle. All deck hardware is bronze, and the deck features straight-laid Douglas fir planking with an Iroko deckhouse.

Below, accommodation is arranged for seven across three distinct cabin areas. The owner's cabin aft has a double berth with its own head compartment opposite. The saloon is centered around a Morso solid fuel cabin stove. The forward foc'sle cabin offers twin berths and ample stowage. The galley is fitted for serious use at sea, with a Belfast sink, Force 10 three-burner gas stove and oven, VitriFrigo refrigerator, and generous work surfaces. Interior joinery is solid cherry with painted paneling, varnished throughout for strength and longevity.

Power comes from a Beta Marine 50 HP diesel engine with approximately 801 hours recorded as of December 2022. The boat carries 250 litres of fuel and 400 litres of fresh water. She is fitted with a Raymarine ST2000 tiller pilot and Hella Marine LED navigation lights. A new mast was built in 2025. The sails, by Ratsey & Lapthorn from 2012, are lightly used and serviceable, including mainsail, roller furling jib, staysail, main topsail, mizzen, and a large asymmetric nylon sail.