We are not entirely sure if Vertue V 172 was ever built and the archive file does not reveal this fact. Margo Nemeth first contacted the firm in October 1975 when Laurent Giles were operating a yacht brokerage out of the Lymington Office on Quay Hill – and this was managed by Capt. James Crawford (owner of Tom Thumb).
What is known is that Ted and Margo Nemeth were interested in buying a Vertue but they ‘were finding it difficult to locate a good used one as most owners were hanging on to theirs’. They therefore discussed with Capt. Crawford and the Partners the likely cost of a good used Vertue. James had three on the books at the time including his own, all in the region of £5,000 – 6,000. After two trans-Atlantic phone calls they decided to build their own.
They purchased a duplicate plan set of those previously issued for the construction of V 101 Alaria which had been constructed by Elkins in 1960.
Ted considered having his boat built in the UK and shipped to Vermont – the cost at the time was reckoned to be in the order of £1,400 a little less than 10% of the new construction cost. Later he approached Concordia Yachts who provided a rough quote of about £18,000 at a time when in the U.S.A. a pre-owned Vertue was on the market at about £15,000.
In 1976 Ted became the fourth recorded owner of Alaria.