F.B.Wilds Home Page

In 1966 a new holiday hire cruiser was launched. Surrounded by traditional wooden craft emerged Frank Wilds "Caribbean" class of cruiser. Over the next few years smaller and larger versions were launched to match demand.

Despite scepticism from many Frank Wilds’ design was an instant success! High numbers were built to meet demand in Frank's own hirefleet and also for other operators, both on the Norfolk Broads as well as for other UK and European waterways. By his retirement twelve years later over 500 craft had been produced.

Where it all began.....

Frank Wilds, a builder by trade had moved with his family from Coventry to Norfolk where he established a small boatyard on Woods Dyke in Horning. This was also the family home - with everyone originally living and sleeping in a caravan and the boatyard buildings.

The fleet originally consisted of traditional, wooden motor cruisers, some of which the company built themselves at Horning.

Frank Wilds had a vision of a low maintenance, single level motor cruiser with modern day comforts, ideal for holidays and designed with families and all age groups in mind.

With demand increasing, and Horning struggling to be able to match demand a factory at Beccles Road, Loddon was acquired to build the Wilds' craft under the name of Caribbean Cruisers. Such was the demand that a production line was set up and even the window frames were produced in-house!

In addition to their own fleet the company was now also building for many other operators in the UK and abroad plus for some private owners too.

Of course not everyone was to keen on such a radical, new design. There were many benefits to this new luxury cruiser - generous cabin space with high levels of comfort including modern free standing household type furniture, continuous headroom and floor level, straight sides and late tapering bow design making fitout and comfort incredible. As a disadvantage the handling was not as responsive or pleasureable as more traditional designs, and high cross winds could also make steering fun! This new design was not what many considered to be a boat! These trait's were to earn the design nicknames such as floating caravans, prefabs, bathtubs etc by those less keen on this remarkable new design of boat! The fleet also pioneered warm air central heating - a system that is now considered to be the best form of heating, but was a new luxury back in the '60s.

In 1973 out of Franks’ refusal to sell the mould tools for them to make their own from scratch a company called Bounty Boats launched their own similar design, with all key factors copied from the Caribbean. With the benefit of seven years since Caribbean’s launch this saw a few improved features and a slightly more modern style. This “Buccaneer 37” (often known as Bounty 37) went on to succeed and outsell the Caribbean. Bounty did sell the mould to any fleets wanting them, and this contributed to their success, especially in hirefleets. Bounty became the most successful in their market at that time with a wide range of different designs as well as their highly popular Buccaneer range .... all on a design stemmed from F B Wilds.