bobcat 26

wrinklybotom

wrinklybotom

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6 Oct 2007
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evening everyody,
anyone got any views or experiance of a bobcat 26...was thinking of one as a project but not any expeiance of grp sheathed ply...is it a paain in the rear to work on and maintain?
 
Re: bobcat 26 - Approach with caution!!

This could be a good one or a nightmare. You need to gat a good assessment of the state of the ply particularly around any hull appatures and also of the origional quality. If everything seams sound its reletively easy to work on, if not it can be impossible to reserect. Done right it is a good build method, light, stiff and very strong.
Things to watch for;
Ply quality - Wash she built from WPD or proper marine ply? (I have even seen some doe with shuttering ply!!! The main difference is that a good marine ply will have far better quality wood in the internal laminates and no voids so is much stronger and more waterproof.
Sheathing - It should be epoxy, sometimes older boats used polyester resins which have poor adhesion to the wood so are prone to delaminate, any areas that look opake are suspect. Also look at general quality, is it smooth and nicely finished with well radiused corners etc
Water ingress - Is there any damage that has breached the sheathing? One of the problems with wood sheathing is that if it isn't absolutly continuous water can get in but not out again so you finish up with saturated laminates which rot out from the inside. This can be caused by grounding etc but also carelessly fitted deck gear, if you drill a hole into it you must epoxy seal the edges or water gets in.
You can often tell quite quickly what state she is in but if there are problems the only way to be sure is to take moisture reading from the wood which of course means cutting through the sheathing so is probably best left to a survayer.
Good luck and hope it works out.
 
Re: bobcat 26 - Approach with caution!!

If you are in the market for that sort of boat there is a nice looking Diamond Catamaran on ebay at the moment (11 and a bit hours to go at the time of writing).
 
I was on one in Portpatrick in 70ish, thought it was the bees at the time!, but I think something like the Diamond would be more worth while, I salvaged sold one of them, a Bobcat was a bit of a "dog"? really, heavier and very slow. Probs could be hard to deal with re the sheathing.
 
Hi Wrinkly, lived and cruised on a Bill o Brian 26 for 8 months in the 70´s, spirit of virginia.. great boat, stacks of room, or seemed like it at the time !.. didnt go well to windward though. It was of the design era when mucho problems with cats and capsize were in the news.. BoB was up for the idea of masthead bags and SoV had a short, very strong mast rigging in readiness to fit one.. but then people learned more about multis etc and found it was not a product that worked, and mostly it was innapropriate use or control that led to problems.. seemed to sail very well overall but it was a long time ago. there were 3 adults and 2 kids, seriously, we didnt seem short of room though. cant comment on its construction as I never got that involved, and it was new at the time so needed little if anything. I believe the boat went on to a full circumnav in 74 with the owner and wife, (The rosie swale era !) the kids were wards of court... but thats another story.. saw her again on the scillies about 25 years later, looked a tad sad and neglected.

I thought it was great at the time, I am sure there are many others that would fit the bill, if its in great condition, it sounds to be a project though.. hopefully you will be lucky.

Joe
 
cheers for all the replies....the bob in question needs a fair bit o work to bing it up to scratch...(gettit?? a cat...scratch....god im good!!) its up for 1500 squids...
 
I wish you luck, bid ém in the goolies for it if it looks good.
I have fond memories of a boat I felt very safe in, great accomodation etc. the use of an outboard was a pain, but never seemed an issue in the long run. Went well on an Ailsa Craig 4 petrol parrafin jobbie.
Send some piccies if you do go for it. would love to see one of them resurrected.
Joe.
 
yeah no worries....this 1 got a bmc diesel...gonna try rope me old man into going to have a look at it with me. just gotta find someone to buy my yacht! the secondhand market is poo at the moment...
ian
 
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