Quandary
Well-known member
Looking through some old books the other day, I came on the brochures and invoices for our first cruising yacht. It was a Butler Mouldings Achilles 24, No. 334, we bought it as a 'kit' in 1975, ordered and paid for in a rush to beat the imminent introduction of vat; the hull and deck with fin keel, mast, boom and rudder cost £1,300, standing rigging was £80, running rigging £30 and a set of windows £30. The hull was a trendy 'golden sand' colour. A Bramber 4 wheel braked trailer was an extra £345 and I spent £173 on a new Avon Redcrest, which we are still using today. 4 winches were from Barlow
The boat had been paid for from money saved by doing all our own labour on a house we were building so it sat on our building plot while we finished the house far enough to move in,(I was working as an architect in local gov. in those days so I had plenty of spare time and energy). I went to the timber yard and purchased some sheets of teak veneered marine ply for bulkheads and lockers and a 9"x6" baulk of teak which they ran down to planks of various thicknesses from 8 - 32 mm. for me, to make grabrails, lippings etc. I still have some of the teak that was not used. The cushion foam and covering material were bought from a local upholsterer but I bought the wife a lovely new sewing machine for her birthday. Sails were purchased from Atlantic sails in Miltown Malbay and included a solid red spinnaker, we soon learned what a broach was.
When it was finished we had 4''6" headroom, a galley unit which slid along the berth to stow under the cockpit when not in use, comprising a bit of worktop and 2 burner camping stove directly connected to a camping gaz bottle under it, the sink was a round stainless steel bowl in a hole in a worktop which you emptied over the side. The loo arrangement in the forepeak was similarly sophisticated, a matching yellow plastic bucket (with lid) which sat in a hole in the ply under the forecabin bunk. Chris Butler, the designer and builder did not approve of unnecessary holes in the hull. Water was carried in two 12 litre plastic containers stowed under the cockpit which were carried ashore to replenish, we used a Whale flipper pump with length of tube to extract it; amazing how long we could make it last. We had a Yamaha 8hp outboard stowed under the cockpit which could be dropped through a cockpit well with a 2.5 gallon petrol tank which stayed on the cockpit floor. We kept this and the trailer and used both for the 26' Trapper 300 that eventually replaced her. We had just about enough motoring range to just about get us across the North Channel but even on a light day we had to sail for a few hours to feel comfortable about it. For a chart table I had a bit of plywood that resided under a bunk cushion, this also doubled as a saloon table when moved to the top of the cushion. We had a compass, log and echosounder plus the dreaded RDF compass and earphones for navigation but no VHF, there was no one to call anyway. Our anchor was a genuine 15 lb.CQR on 1/4" chain plus rope.
When we went cruising, my daughter who was nearly two, sat in a Britax car seat facing aft strapped to the cabin bulkhead at the front of the cockpit and slept in a carry cot in the quarter berth, her four year old brother was in a bulky lifejacket and tether. Popular destinations were Girvan and Campbeltown which had public swimming pools, there was a public shower in the toilet block in Tarbert but otherwise some hotels would let you have a bath or a shower, the ones in the Crinan hotel were particularly claustrophobic, no light or ventilation and the single light would suddenly go out, leaving you wet and naked in pitch darkness. Getting a good wash was high on the priority list when choosing a destination and marinas did not exist in Ireland or Scotland. When you went in to Portpatrick, Campbeltown or Tarbert you tied up beside a fishing boat and used a spare sheet to hoist the kids up on to the quay at low tide. We tried to berth in a harbour at least every second night when we could and the Crinan Canal was really popular with the kids though in those days there were no showers. We encountered very few other boats and you got to know most of them, 5 visiting boats was a crowd in Tarbert then, and if you saw a great big 30 footer you stopped to admire it. We used the boat all year round as in the winter we trailed it to Lough Neagh and did the 20 race winter Antrim Sunday race series, returning to the sea in the spring.
Happy days, she was a safe boat ideal to start with and taught us all such a lot about sailing, my son is still racing regularly down in the Clyde though my daughter is now living in England and no longer has the chance. Our initial shortlist included the Ruffian 23, the Listang and the Robber but I still believe we could not have chosen a better boat at the time.
To put the cost of stuff in perspective when I sold the Achilles (at a profit) for a bit over£3k; that was about 2 years take home pay for me so you could buy a good deal bigger boat for that these days.
The boat had been paid for from money saved by doing all our own labour on a house we were building so it sat on our building plot while we finished the house far enough to move in,(I was working as an architect in local gov. in those days so I had plenty of spare time and energy). I went to the timber yard and purchased some sheets of teak veneered marine ply for bulkheads and lockers and a 9"x6" baulk of teak which they ran down to planks of various thicknesses from 8 - 32 mm. for me, to make grabrails, lippings etc. I still have some of the teak that was not used. The cushion foam and covering material were bought from a local upholsterer but I bought the wife a lovely new sewing machine for her birthday. Sails were purchased from Atlantic sails in Miltown Malbay and included a solid red spinnaker, we soon learned what a broach was.
When it was finished we had 4''6" headroom, a galley unit which slid along the berth to stow under the cockpit when not in use, comprising a bit of worktop and 2 burner camping stove directly connected to a camping gaz bottle under it, the sink was a round stainless steel bowl in a hole in a worktop which you emptied over the side. The loo arrangement in the forepeak was similarly sophisticated, a matching yellow plastic bucket (with lid) which sat in a hole in the ply under the forecabin bunk. Chris Butler, the designer and builder did not approve of unnecessary holes in the hull. Water was carried in two 12 litre plastic containers stowed under the cockpit which were carried ashore to replenish, we used a Whale flipper pump with length of tube to extract it; amazing how long we could make it last. We had a Yamaha 8hp outboard stowed under the cockpit which could be dropped through a cockpit well with a 2.5 gallon petrol tank which stayed on the cockpit floor. We kept this and the trailer and used both for the 26' Trapper 300 that eventually replaced her. We had just about enough motoring range to just about get us across the North Channel but even on a light day we had to sail for a few hours to feel comfortable about it. For a chart table I had a bit of plywood that resided under a bunk cushion, this also doubled as a saloon table when moved to the top of the cushion. We had a compass, log and echosounder plus the dreaded RDF compass and earphones for navigation but no VHF, there was no one to call anyway. Our anchor was a genuine 15 lb.CQR on 1/4" chain plus rope.
When we went cruising, my daughter who was nearly two, sat in a Britax car seat facing aft strapped to the cabin bulkhead at the front of the cockpit and slept in a carry cot in the quarter berth, her four year old brother was in a bulky lifejacket and tether. Popular destinations were Girvan and Campbeltown which had public swimming pools, there was a public shower in the toilet block in Tarbert but otherwise some hotels would let you have a bath or a shower, the ones in the Crinan hotel were particularly claustrophobic, no light or ventilation and the single light would suddenly go out, leaving you wet and naked in pitch darkness. Getting a good wash was high on the priority list when choosing a destination and marinas did not exist in Ireland or Scotland. When you went in to Portpatrick, Campbeltown or Tarbert you tied up beside a fishing boat and used a spare sheet to hoist the kids up on to the quay at low tide. We tried to berth in a harbour at least every second night when we could and the Crinan Canal was really popular with the kids though in those days there were no showers. We encountered very few other boats and you got to know most of them, 5 visiting boats was a crowd in Tarbert then, and if you saw a great big 30 footer you stopped to admire it. We used the boat all year round as in the winter we trailed it to Lough Neagh and did the 20 race winter Antrim Sunday race series, returning to the sea in the spring.
Happy days, she was a safe boat ideal to start with and taught us all such a lot about sailing, my son is still racing regularly down in the Clyde though my daughter is now living in England and no longer has the chance. Our initial shortlist included the Ruffian 23, the Listang and the Robber but I still believe we could not have chosen a better boat at the time.
To put the cost of stuff in perspective when I sold the Achilles (at a profit) for a bit over£3k; that was about 2 years take home pay for me so you could buy a good deal bigger boat for that these days.
still love ardentinny.
