Halvorsen Island Gypsy
Allan Whiting takes a close look at the evolution of Halvorsen Boats' Island GypsyThe Halvorsen family has been building boats since 1887, when Halvor Anderson launched his first wooden craft near Arendal in the south of Norway.
The brand is synonymous with style and quality and the Island Gypsy motor cruisers have had both characteristics in spades for the last 30 years.
The Island Gypsy brand was launched in 1975, with a 30ft prototype that owed at least some inspiration to the Grand Banks design.
At the time, Halvorsen Boats was a Grand Banks dealer, but when the then Grand Banks company ran into financial trouble, Halvorsen Boats decided to build its own design to address the market need.
The Halvorsen yard was established beside the failed Grand Banks operation in Hong Kong and Halvorsen Boats didn't make the same mistake of trying to keep everything in-house.
The early Island Gypsy hulls were timber, but FRP hulls were adopted in 1977.
For a year the FRP hulls were topped with timber deckhouses and FRP flybridges, but from 1978 onwards the Island Gypsy had an all-FRP hull and deckhouse construction.
The Island Gypsy was built in Hong Kong and mainland China, and more than 800 boats have been produced to date, in sizes from the original 30-footer up to 130ft.
The sub-40ft production Island Gypsies started at 32ft. The 32-footer continues today, but the original 36-footer was replaced by the 39-footer in 1999.
The Island Gypsy came in five variants, with the most popular being the Extended Flybridge and Sedan designs. In these boats the flybridge is extended aft over the cockpit, and abeam over the side decks.
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