HMS MGB325 History

Built in 1943 by Frank Curtis in Looe, Cornwall, EIDOLON is a motor gun boat built for the Royal Navy and designated MGB 325. She is one of 24 such vessels built and would originally have had three Hall Scott petrol engines linked to three propellers. She is a Fairmile C Class.

Now the last remaining C Class to survive

Key dates

• 1943

Built by Curtiss of Looe, Cornwall as MGB325 that saw active service in WWII

• 1981

Converted into a Houseboat

• 2013

She received a grant of £1000 from the National Historic Ship’s sustainability fund for restoration

• 2021

Bought by the present owner

Technical Information

Type - Motor Gun Boat

Displacement - 72 BRT

Length - 110 feet (oa)

Complement - 16 men

Armament -

2 2pdr (2x1)
4 .5" AA machine guns (2x2)
4 .303" AA machine guns (2x2)

Max speed - 26 knots

Engines - Petrol engines, 3 shafts Power2700 BHP 

HMS MGB325 - Eidolon - Today

Now Houseboat Eidolon.

Converted to a 6-bedroom houseboat and of course now our Southern Office.

Eidolon is fully decommissioned and is in her permanent mooring in Hayling Yacht Company, she has had some extensive work carried out on her, involving a chemical foam from BASF, throughout the entire hull and to the lower deck walls, this means she is now virtually unsinkable and with the chemical foam on the lower deck walls creating insulation, she really does create a very warm environment.

With 6 bedrooms (1 currently an office) 1 shower room, 1 bathroom and 2 toilets.

She benefits from a full kitchen, dining room and lounge upstairs, with the aft deck being a sun terrace.

The present owners have had all the outside lighting changed to LED and all internal lighting also changed to LED, this was all carried out with time gratefully donated by Gary Sharp, of Sharp Electrical Services, Southwick.

She has an LPG gas boiler with central heating radiators to the lower deck and a log burner to the upper deck.

The aft deck is about to undergo restoration, as the deck has become soft in places and potentially unsafe, the restoration pictures before and after will appear below when this has been completed.

Some Internal Photos

We get asked all the time for photos of the inside, so opposite you will see a selection of photos taken of the inside so you can see the amazing working space that we have, this makes a fantastic base while we are out seeing our customers along the South Coast and Hampshire.

AFT Deck Repair

The Summer has been a busy time for Eidolon so far in 2022.

The AFT Deck has been stripped off and completely replaced.

This has been a major project due to the deck not actually being usable and in places being very unsafe.

The work was carried out by a very skillful boat repairer, even using some techniques that would have been used during the original build. Of course, modern techniques also have to be used to help make Eidolon safe and secure.

Opposite you will see pictures of how it was, progress and then the finished product.

The entire deck of the boat was then painted using the special rubberized paint that seals and protects Eidolon.

Replacing the Wood on the Superstructure Port Side has begun 2023

With a large proportion of the wood in serious need of replacement on the superstructure on the port side, work began but unfortunately had to stop due to weather.

it was chosen that that the worse part of the structure would get replaced as some leaks had been happening where the wood had split quite severely in places and there is only so much filler that can be used!

The work began, you can see in the pictures the progress from stripping the section off to adding a water proof membrane, replacing the wood with new and then painting again, the finish is remarkable and a great job has been done on this section.

This will be updated as to show the structure being completed towards the front.

Painting the Roof has started as well in July 2023

The Roof has become in need of some attention as well!

As you can see from the first pictures it has become very faded but there are also some signs of cracks in the roof covering from the weather.

A product specifically designed for use on roofing has been used, the product is designed to combat all weather conditions as well as create a new layer on the roof, the product has been used very well as you can see in the finished pictures, the colour match is amazing and a nice new grey roof has taken shape.