Average forum boat.

How long is it (LOA)?

  • Under 5m

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • 5-7m

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • 7-9m

    Votes: 33 28.7%
  • 9-11m

    Votes: 37 32.2%
  • 11-13m

    Votes: 25 21.7%
  • 13-15m

    Votes: 11 9.6%
  • 15-17m

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Over 17m

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    115
Look here you blighters, I don't use your beastly foreign metric system so you'll have to jolly well guess!

00473-sy-vanessa-jpg.207969
 
I am fairly confident that mine will be in one of the lesser frequented brackets.

The Marblehead pond yachts were as big as the width of a American car when the class came about, so the length was set at 50 inches.
(“Of course 50 inches was quite a big boat back then😊”)


But there are plenty of photos of venerable, old proper yachties racing their ginormous 8 ft A class model yachts in the Kensington round pond out of season and these things required dollies or trailers to get em to the waters edge.

If I put all the Marbleheads head to toe I could possibly bump it up to ooh, at least the length of todays average cruising boat?
The one in build I am tempted to name ‘N+1’.
 
I am fairly confident that mine will be in one of the lesser frequented brackets.

The Marblehead pond yachts were as big as the width of a American car when the class came about, so the length was set at 50 inches.
(“Of course 50 inches was quite a big boat back then😊”)


But there are plenty of photos of venerable, old proper yachties racing their ginormous 8 ft A class model yachts in the Kensington round pond out of season and these things required dollies or trailers to get em to the waters edge.

If I put all the Marbleheads head to toe I could possibly bump it up to ooh, at least the length of todays average cruising boat?
The one in build I am tempted to name ‘N+1’.
I just googled them ... awesome .... do you have pictures?

I have this from my childhood (not in the same league) but have always hankered after something a bit nicer.

20260319_120629[1].jpg


Where can you find elegant RC or otherwise model sailing boats these days?
 
Look here you blighters, I don't use your beastly foreign metric system so you'll have to jolly well guess!

00473-sy-vanessa-jpg.207969
Unfortunately, the link to your picture doesn't seem to work for me ... 😕

Take the number of feet and multiply by 0.3048, then take the inches and multiply by 0.0254

Add the two results together.

e.g. Westerly Centaur Ketch @ 27'11"

1773920956216.png

27' x 0.3048 = 8.2296
11" x 0.0254 = 0.2794

Total is 8.2296+0.2794 = 8.509 m
 
I just googled them ... awesome .... do you have pictures?

I have this from my childhood (not in the same league) but have always hankered after something a bit nicer.

View attachment 207978


Where can you find elegant RC or otherwise model sailing boats these days?
I had a boat of that sort, too as a kid.

Was just wondering what happened to it...
 
Unfortunately, the link to your picture doesn't seem to work for me ... 😕

Take the number of feet and multiply by 0.3048, then take the inches and multiply by 0.0254

Add the two results together.

e.g. Westerly Centaur Ketch @ 27'11"

View attachment 207980

27' x 0.3048 = 8.2296
11" x 0.0254 = 0.2794

Total is 8.2296+0.2794 = 8.509 m
I find it easier just to Google it...
 
I had a boat of that sort, too as a kid.

Was just wondering what happened to it...

There's a fan club .... BSYAS ... and judging by the average age of the forumites here, I suspect many had one of these at some point in their lives. I sailed mine on the pond behind the Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine as a kid, and lost one in the Clyde when I let it go from my parents boat.

I find it easier just to Google it...
... me too, but seeing as @Poignard told everyone to "jolly well guess", I thought I'd try and coax his boat length out of him with simple arithmetic .... unfortunately it didn't work.
 
I just googled them ... awesome .... do you have pictures?

I have this from my childhood (not in the same league) but have always hankered after something a bit nicer.

View attachment 207978


Where can you find elegant RC or otherwise model sailing boats these days?
I like your cherished younger days yacht!
Here are a couple of pics of a couple of mine. Just as with full size boats I think the enthusiasts are ever aging so the older ones become available - googling model yacht clubs should turn up something local or anywhere that still has a model pond instead of a eco duck residence pond.. Also FB has RC model groups and general sales in marketplace and the dreaded eBay but there are some optimists there..
First pic is RC Marblehead
Second pic shows a couple of 1960s vane steered marbleheads which are usually match raced including downwind legs under quite lairy spinnaker!
And the last pic is a kit that someone started a bit roughly way way back and I am redecking it and fitting a quick detach deeper keel .. passes the odd wet evening hour or two.
The RC is amazingly affordable nowadays and literally plug n play and runs reliably on 2.4ghz. When I was a kid all this stuff ( and the boats) were simply unaffordable
If you Youtube marbleheads it is a development class and now with swing rigs and carbon hulls and fins, some of the footage is simply astonishing . These things literally plane to windward and take no prisoners at the turning mark.
A long way from my vintage gentleman’s approach to bimbling across the pond

Probably more than you could possibly have wanted to know!👍😂
A8BD8473-C8EB-4FCF-BAF0-38F198D3A298.jpeg7F90334A-BE10-4F5F-A580-C6EB38EEA740.jpegF6599823-2653-4188-A877-0E2666A21564.jpeg
 
We see lots of those models racing on the Gosport lake as we walk the dog etc -a far cheaper hobby than most on this forum and it’s actual more interesting than watching much yacht racing. I always admire those who have hand built such micro craft.
 
So the most typical forumite would be a grumpy 71 year old with a 32 foot boat built in 2002.

Wishing they had a 44 footer built in 2023 based on the med and were 35 years old.

I can see why there is friction on the forum. At least i have the 32 footer.
 
So the most typical forumite would be a grumpy 71 year old with a 32 foot boat built in 2002.

Wishing they had a 44 footer built in 2023 based on the med and were 35 years old.

I can see why there is friction on the forum. At least i have the 32 footer.
Not sure about the 44 footer but, otherwise, guilty as charged, except that I'm older, hence grumpier, and the boat's only 8m, but is a cat, so maybe she qualifies.
 
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