Blakes of Gosport by Sea Sure Ltd

by Daniel Henderson 23 Dec 2020 06:16 PST

Blakes of Gosport is a brand name synonymous with solid British built quality and reliability and well known the world over and throughout the Classic boat scene. The company can trace its history back to the time of Nelson and before the Battle of Trafalgar. Based in Gosport, Hampshire it has been making and supplying marine equipment since 1798. These classic toilets are still hand crafted in our Hampshire factory close to the River Hamble.

Blakes has been part of Sea Sure since 2005 when the famous Taylors heaters and cookers brands and Lavac vacuum flush toilets also became part of the family.

A Blakes toilet is instantly recognisable with its large solid bronze pump cylinders and chrome plated "M" shaped hinge assembly, which rumour and anecdote says comes from supplying Moody's Swanwick boat yard back in the 1920's.

Because of the build quality, Blakes toilets are regarded as the pinnacle of marine toilets, but like a classic car, they could sometimes need some work to bring them back to their former glory.

And so, a growing part of the Blakes business is renovations and restorations. This is not just because of the cost of a new toilets, which, because of their hand-built nature are relatively high. But, also because with many restorations' owners wish to keep as much originality in the boat as possible.

We still use solid bronze castings throughout the assembly, a handmade porcelain toilet bowl that is crafted in Staffordshire and hand-crafted lid and seat assemblies that are manufactured by the same company that manufacture for Her Majesty the Queen. Although we use original castings the very latest machinery is used to give the most accurate and perfect finish that everyone has grown to expect from a Blakes.

A typical renovation consists of disassembling the complete toilet, sand blasting all the castings, re chroming and re powder coating all components, and re assembling with a new perishable spares kit, seat and lid. We are generally able to use all the existing components as they are solid bronze, however in a few cases we have received toilets in that look to have been used as an anchor rather than a toilet and need a few new components to restore them back to new working order.

We are also able to offer a service that includes upgrading your Blakes to an electric pumped option. Around 4 years ago we were approached by a couple who had a stunning classic yacht that had 2 Blakes Victories installed on it. A Blakes toilet has 2 separate pumps, one for filling the bowl up with water, and the other for flushing the bowl contents. Although the couple were very familiar with how the toilet operated, guest that they had on board were not, so they wanted a simpler option but didn't want to remove their Blakes for an inferior product, so the Blakes electric conversion was born. We are able to take any Blakes toilet, no matter the age, and retro fit a push button electric flush so that you get the ease of use and maintain the classic Blakes aesthetics. The picture below shows a Blakes Victory that was renovated and had an electric conversion. You may be able to see the pipe exiting the toilet base on the lower right side and disappearing into a cupboard, this is the only difference you will see physically, the rest is hidden so that you maintain the classic look.

If you would like more information on the restoration possibilities on your Blakes toilet, or to discuss the electric conversion kit, please give us a call on +44 (0) 1489 885 401, visit www.blakesandtaylors.co.uk or email us at