bargain project mobo :)

oldgit

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if someone gets that, I think it would help to search my rebuilt thread as lots of details are identical (it's a Versilcraft as well 😁 )
.......................based on hearsay rumour and scuttlebutt
Purchased during the loads-a-money 1980s but during the bust that followed it suffered a mysterious sinking in the Thames, however due to amazing good fortune close to some terra firma, the skipper was able to get ashore in order to claim the insurance. Probably with dry shoes.
Unfortunately the Insurance Co declined to cough up.
The interior of the boat has been stripped at some point and looks as though some optimists or more probably several optimists have had a go at getting it back on its feet.
Think the engines are still there somewhere.
It has been up for sale on and off for the last decade or two with the boatyard desperate to see the back of it.
Seem to recall it was last up at any offers on 2K but with no takers.
OG thinks its a cracking boat and with a lottery win would happly pay somebody else to sort it.
The stern gear is very conventional, shaft and "P" bracket and not one of Colin Chapmans experiments.
Fortunately the banking boom and bust can never happen again due some regulations imposed at the time regards banker bonuses. :)
 
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MystereMarcus

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if someone gets that, I think it would help to search my rebuilt thread as lots of details are identical (it's a Versilcraft as well 😁 )
Sorry @vas it's a JCL! Many years ago I emailed the boatyard to see if they know who owned it as I might have been interested, they never got back to me (possibly for the best). This was purchased (or was given to), someone in 2019. One of the designers of the boat, Oliver Winterbottom visited the craft and wrote about it in his blog linked below. I don't know what happened to it after this though. Sadly, Oliver died a year later.
Oliver Winterbottom Mamba Blog
 

MystereMarcus

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.......................based on hearsay rumour and scuttlebutt
Purchased during the loads-a-money 1980s but during the bust that followed it suffered a mysterious sinking in the Thames, however due to amazing good fortune close to some terra firma, the skipper was able to get ashore in order to claim the insurance. Probably with dry shoes.
Unfortunately the Insurance Co declined to cough up.
The interior of the boat has been stripped at some point and looks as though some optimists or more probably several optimists have had a go at getting it back on its feet.
Think the engines are still there somewhere.
It has been up for sale on and off for the last decade or two with the boatyard desperate to see the back of it.
Seem to recall it was last up at any offers on 2K but with no takers.
OG thinks its a cracking boat and with a lottery win would happly pay somebody else to sort it.
The stern gear is very conventional, shaft and "P" bracket and not one of Colin Chapmans experiments.
Fortunately the banking boom and bust can never happen again due some regulations imposed at the time regards banker bonuses. :)
I believe (but I may well be wrong), that it was a different Mamba that sank. It reappeared in the middle of Birmingham on a canal while it was refitted, I seem to recall the owner was on here when they were ready for relaunch. the story I heard was that the original owner purchased it on HP that he had no hope of ever paying off so scuttled it close to shore but got into trouble and had to be rescued, which alerted the insurers who then refused to pay out.
@oldgit do you know if it is still there? I know it was sold 4 years ago and wondered if the work was still ongoing or if it had got a bit much for the new owner!
 

vas

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Sorry @vas it's a JCL! Many years ago I emailed the boatyard to see if they know who owned it as I might have been interested, they never got back to me (possibly for the best). This was purchased (or was given to), someone in 2019. One of the designers of the boat, Oliver Winterbottom visited the craft and wrote about it in his blog linked below. I don't know what happened to it after this though. Sadly, Oliver died a year later.
Oliver Winterbottom Mamba Blog
doh, sorry Marcus you are right, but check the railings, the sliding door handle, the hawsehole surround solid ali piece, they are all identical to the Versilcraft's bits which I guess CC used.
 

oldgit

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I believe (but I may well be wrong), that it was a different Mamba that sank. It reappeared in the middle of Birmingham on a canal while it was refitted, I seem to recall the owner was on here when they were ready for relaunch. the story I heard was that the original owner purchased it on HP that he had no hope of ever paying off so scuttled it close to shore but got into trouble and had to be rescued, which alerted the insurers who then refused to pay out.
@oldgit do you know if it is still there? I know it was sold 4 years ago and wondered if the work was still ongoing or if it had got a bit much for the new owner!
Actually went to see that one on the canal , did not realise it was that one that "sank".
The owner at the time was asking a small fortune for a real jigsaw puzzle of a boat.
Even the teak deck had been stripped off, a pile of wood strips was next to the boat along with most of the boat interior.
Even OG wearing his best set of optimistic boat buying goggles could not believe the condition of the boat and the asking price.
Visited the boatyard at Cuxton several times last year and the Mamba is still there.
The condition of the glassfibre hull is amazing after 50 odd years and the interior is still dry.

Have the book about the history of JCL boats somewhere and went to a Lotus Club meeting where Graham Arnold was the guest speaker.
He gave a very interesting account of the trials and tribulations of Lotus boats, bits falling off and going bang, most of them actionable .
Bags of cash were also mentioned.
:)
 
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Freebee

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another vote for the chainsaw option for both boats, both would be money pits and once you have lavished all your hard earned money you end up with something of no real value. Better to bite the bullet and skip it now.
 

MystereMarcus

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Actually went to see that one on the canal , did not realise it was that one that "sank".
The owner at the time was asking a small fortune for a real jigsaw puzzle of a boat.
Even the teak deck had been stripped off, a pile of wood strips was next to the boat along with most of the boat interior.
Even OG wearing his best set of optimistic boat buying goggles could not believe the condition of the boat and the asking price.
Visited the boatyard at Cuxton several times last year and the Mamba is still there.
The condition of the glassfibre hull is amazing after 50 odd years and the interior is still dry.

Have the book about the history of JCL boats somewhere and went to a Lotus Club meeting where Graham Arnold was the guest speaker.
He gave a very interesting account of the trials and tribulations of Lotus boats, bits falling off and going bang, most of them actionable .
Bags of cash were also mentioned.
:)
wow, thanks for that OG. I'd have loved to hear the Graham Arnold talk, I once went to a Lotus Club event where he just said 'Thanks for coming and enjoy the dinner@', I obviously went to the wrong one!
 

MystereMarcus

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"Visited the boatyard at Cuxton several times last year and the Mamba is still there."
August last year

OK, that's a Mystere! However the round hull ports have been replaced with rectangular one's. I've never seen that before. It's guard rails are very high which makes me think it's the one that was coded for about 12 people many years ago. It was also owned by Pete1987 of this parish.
 
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