Anyone for a fiberglass festival?

Concerto

Concerto

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Fiberglass has been the prime building material for boats for about 60 years, yet we have classic boat festivals for wooden boats, but nothing for fiberglass. There are tens of thousands of boats that are over 30 years old and still well looked after and going strong. If a festival were started for boats over 30 years old, it would bring interest to a sector of boating that has been hit hard over the past few years. There may possibly be regional shows as older boats are not so concentrated in the Solent, so participation would be easier for many owners. It would show that boating is affordable for all and could be a way to reverse the decline in boat ownership.

What does the forum think.
 
I was at a recent vintage and classic car show. After a few genuine vintage cars, it became depressing looking at 1970/80 cars. Nothing inspirational at all. Maybe this would be the same for GRP boats, blandness and a long line of identical Westerlies.
 
There are fibreglass boats I might consider classic, but "everything made before 1988" is certainly not sufficient qualification.

Pete
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I was at a recent vintage and classic car show. After a few genuine vintage cars, it became depressing looking at 1970/80 cars. Nothing inspirational at all. Maybe this would be the same for GRP boats, blandness and a long line of identical Westerlies.
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prv said:
There are fibreglass boats I might consider classic, but "everything made before 1988" is certainly not sufficient qualification.
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One of the enduring problems in the classic car world is defining "classic car". I like to think that my DS (1975) and Herald (1969) are both classics, but the owner of a 936 Bentley may well disagree, just as I find it very hard to think of a 1990s Ford Escort as a classic, although "Practical Classics" welcomes them.

A friend of mine defines "classic car" as "one in which the driver thinks of windscreen wipes as a finite resource". My own definition is "one in which the owner has a strong but non-specific dread of any attempt to use the cigarette lighter socket".

So, given that it's all subjective, how on earth do we define classic GRP boats? The most generally accepted one seems to be the Contessa 32, but to my mind they are ugly things. That Bloody Race, of course, but more yachts seem to have come through that unscathed than there were Irishmen in the GPO during the Easter Rising. A Centaur surely has to be classic, in much the same way that a Morris Minor is,but all those 80s things with reverse sloping transoms? The Nicholson 32 has to be in, but how do we keep the Nicholson 31 out?

Problems, problems.
 
A lot of 'vintage' car events are more about a gathering of like-minded owners of anything pre 1995.
I went to one local fairly modest 'vintage car' do, I found more interest in some of the cars in the car park than some of the exhibits.
If the owners of older grp boats want to get together and look at one-another's faded gelcoat, tufnol blocks and dodgy roller reefing mainsails, make it happen.
I might have an authentic Decca set in the loft....

Why not? It could be a fun social for the exhibitors and educational for others.
The dinghy show used to be a bit like this, you'd get a display by the Class Association of some class where all the boats were ancient, right next to the latest International Moth or 14.
 
GRP boats ARE allowed to enter classics events. Following taken from Hamble Classics notice of race:

"Yachts of pre-1971 design built only in GRP or Aluminium are invited to request an invitation to enter"
 
Maybe start a 'Would you go to a...' poll, and get an idea of people interested in attending, either in a classic GRP boat, or just to admire the spectacle.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I was at a recent vintage and classic car show. After a few genuine vintage cars, it became depressing looking at 1970/80 cars. Nothing inspirational at all. Maybe this would be the same for GRP boats, blandness and a long line of identical Westerlies.
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Whaaaaaat? Are you mad man?

Audi Quattro
Porsche 911/944/928
Fast Capris
Mk1 Golf GTi
205 GTi
Sierra Cosworth
M3
And the usual prancing horse/raging bull exotica.

Agreed, I'd not bother adding a Cavalier 1.6L to the list but there was some superb...and now very desirable stuff...in the 80s.

TBH it's not a bad idea, but you may get on better grouping similar individual class rallies that sometimes struggle for numbers together as a starting point. Sabres, Centaurs, Vegas for example.
 
:encouragement:
Iain C said:
Whaaaaaat? Are you mad man?

Audi Quattro
Porsche 911/944/928
Fast Capris
Mk1 Golf GTi
205 GTi
Sierra Cosworth
M3
And the usual prancing horse/raging bull exotica.

Agreed, I'd not bother adding a Cavalier 1.6L to the list but there was some superb...and now very desirable stuff...in the 80s.

TBH it's not a bad idea, but you may get on better grouping similar individual class rallies that sometimes struggle for numbers together as a starting point. Sabres, Centaurs, Vegas for example.
Click to expand...
 
To my mind a wooden Folkboat is a classic, whereas a Contessa 26 or Marieholm 26 of the same age wouldn't appeal to me in the same way, even allowing for bias.
 
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laika said:
What about a festival of Ferrocement?
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Which, in keeping with the usual fate of hulls made from that material, would be held in a couple of overgrown suburban back gardens.

Meanwhile the steel yacht rally will be held on a reef somewhere in the south seas. Where exactly? Nobody knows. Navigation is a tool of The Man.
 
laika said:
What about a festival of Ferrocement?
Click to expand...

I've been to one!

At least there used to be (1980's) a Ferro owners/enthusiasts club, which had an annual rally, alternating between UK and the Netherlands (I've attended both.)

Contrary to popular perception there were some really lovely boats (and the owners, at least, loved the others!), and a very jolly time was had by all.
 
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