Bought a Never splashed Colvic Countess 33 on eBay, Looking for infos

“There is no need to reinvent pedestals” ,

Nope there is NOT, but it’s a Hell of a lot of fun making my own the way I want. And I end up saving a few hundred £ for a Harken Mars Bar.
Stainless pedestal Pipe and base, Stainless double sprocket for stainless double motorcycle chain. And a nice console, made of an odd shaped bit of carbon fibre I have lying around, topped with Engine control lever and blue / red stainless LED surface mounted buttons, on black acrylic base. Price? £78 all included. I did think about fiberglass. I like the look and solidity of the stainless steel and I can do it. (not included are the chains and power controls)
Not decided about Hydraulics or cable. I’m guessing cable down to costs.
I did exactly like you said, scoured pics of the ones I liked and decided on the one I want to build.

My inspiration comes from a 65” luxury yacht made in Italy. I don’t think I would be able to afford the Olives from the Martinis they serve onboard, but I can use something as inspiration for my own “luxury” Yacht.

Creating stuff is something that actually gives me pleasure. It’s beautiful and cathartic to reduce to reality what you see in your mind. Some people drink, others collect stamps, I like to create stuff. Instead of a beer down at the local drink hole with the native fauna discussing the pros and cons of Brexit, I instead buy a few screws or some odd tool and drink my “tea” at home in peace and quiet.

My Job as an Engineer is not to accept “it has been done so for years”. Instead we talk in Generations, 1.0, 1.1. 2.0 etc because everything is constantly evolving and changing. If it was not so, you would still be sending Telegrams like they did for years without problems.

This Boat is EXACTLY what I was LONGING for, something I can change and improve as I would like to see improved. It does not mean I am right and you are wrong. It means I want to have fun trying to achieve my ultimate goal of making MY sailboat into something I actually want to sail.

And Yes. I DO have a BIG problem trying to adapt and convert a boat that was designed in the 1980’s to conform with modern expectations. And that is also part of the fun, the endless discussions should we kill the pilot berths and do a closet and larger passage way or do we fit a washing machine.

This is what is magical, Imagining the Dream Castle on a cloud with banners fluttering in the breeze, and reducing it to the reality of my garden shed. (which, to be fair is not bad, it has a pond instead of a moat) (the wife also said no to piranha’s, instead we have gold fish and a frog)

It’s a BLANK canvas, ANYTHING is possible. In some things I will be dead wrong. My wife will be the first to tell me. And the second and third etc.

You point out some issues I have, which are plain to see. But we come from different worlds, I WANT to change EVERYTHING to work better, faster, more precise and beautiful. I will do what I can and continue dreaming of what I can’t yet do. On MY own boat.

The beautiful part is, I will accept any help to get it done to MY specs the way I want it according to my views. And it IS an interesting proposition and project.

Off course I’m crazy. I’m a Sailboat owner... and an Engineer. WE solve stuff...
 
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Three and a half weeks since the first post and you don't seem to have made anything but videos, pointless animations and hot air.

£100 says it won't be finished by the end of the year, let alone summer. Phil should run away now.
 
anoccasionalyachtsman said:
Three and a half weeks since the first post and you don't seem to have made anything but videos, pointless animations and hot air.

£100 says it won't be finished by the end of the year, let alone summer. Phil should run away now.
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I think that I read he's offering odds of 10/1. Wonder if he'll take up your bet ;)
 
jordanbasset said:
Sometimes we need dreamers, I also doubt he will do it in the time frame or for the cost he suggests, but still find his posts enjoyable to read
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I also like his sense of humour and he has a thick skin. Many would have been off in huff by now, dummy spat out and vowing never to return. The pic of him and his mate with the hats says a lot.
 
Re: HULL NUMBER FOUND !

GregOddity said:
What to do in a very HOT day? Well go into a fiberglass boat without any form of insulation on a day without a breeze.
And it is so that we scoured the hull with high powered torch lights inside and out, going over every little nook and cranny of the hull inside. On the outside I had looked at the transom quite a few times and found nothing. Having said that and knowing that Colvic produced hulls have a number we decided to wash to transom with lemon juice and leave it till today before we washed it again. This morning we jet washed and scrubbed it again and left it to dry and went looking on the inside. When we were about to leave I remembered the washed and rewashed transom and decided to take a new look as I was descending the ladder… and there just in front of my eyes was this TINY little number on the hull. 30 years of rain and dust really did a number on the number.
We went out for a well-deserved dinner with our mission accomplished.
Thanks again for all the tips, that was a hard one.

View attachment 70446
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But exactly where I told you it would be.:o
 
Re: HULL NUMBER FOUND !

Graham_Wright said:
But exactly where I told you it would be.:o
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Yes, and I, must have looked at least six times not only with my eyes but also feeling the hull with my fingertips to see if I could detect anything. I even looked with a high-powered torch at sunset so that I could illuminate the transom in a parallel beam to show any shadow areas. NOTHING! but you guys did say transom so I kept looking. It cost us a week just looking for the number, but a very rewarding exercise, I now know every nook and cranny and even met a couple of little scratches I’m going to introduce to a repair kit.
Now the next bit, “Vessels built for own use (DIY vessels) should apply to the Royal Yachting Association for a five digit number which is then used with the GB country code and MIC ‘RYA’”
After 3 years of membership my first phone call To RYA as were going to try and meet CE regs.
If need be, we’re prepared to alter the boat to meet parameters by the “book”.
We’re having a dig at regs this week to see where we are on that. Brexit looms large and we will be sailing in EU waters most of the time. (Greece anyone?) ( haaa the Spanish siesta after a good meal )
We’re having the number added to the bill of sale and getting the paperwork in order week as our boatbuilding exercise of the week. Thursday, we have the main dealer of Mariner outboards in the UK peruse our new and rather muddy outboard and hear what he says. Still looking to get moved in the Marina so we can work around her with no masts in the way, as we were stuck in a “pile” on a corner. Skip needs ordering, so we can remove the vast ocean accumulating under the boat and fast spreading to epic proportions and in the middle of all that we need the surveyor to come and support the deck so we can remove the final bulkheads, then clean wash, scrub, sand etc.

a lot of driving, a lot of paper looking, a lot of reading, not a lot of tooling. Thats the Planing work for boat building...
 
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Caer Urfa said:
That hull number of 8377 is a Colvic Mould from 1982 and where I told you a month ago you would find it :)

Mike
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Mike, You are THE MAN ! It is indeed where you said, I just could not see it hidden under grime and whatnot. We owe you a BIG pint of your favourite beer. We also would like to thank you and all the Colvic Owners that so kindly sent us pics and encouraged us to look further. It is greatly appreciated and humbling to be on the receiving end of so much attention and care from you guys. Colvic For ever !

On a personal note I would also like to thank you personally for all the time you took and all the mails and photos you sent.
Having no hull number on paperwork this days is a bit of a nightmare.

A big THANK YOU every one for all the help from the Crew of SV Oddity.

Special Thanks as well for all the mails and wonderfull pics they made available.

@Graham_Wright

@LadyInBed

:encouragement:
 
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Caer Urfa said:
That hull number of 8377 is a Colvic Mould from 1982 and where I told you a month ago you would find it :)

Mike
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Mike, do you happen to know how many of this model did Colvic make? And what shade of blue is originally on the aluminium Countess logos? Ours need redone only a few flakes of a bluish colour remain and we would like to restore them. It would not do to splash a new boat without the shiny “ new” Logo .
 
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Greg. I wish you the best with this project. But seriously at your stage the exact colour of the logo would be last on my list of jobs to be done
 
Scotsailor said:
Greg. I wish you the best with this project. But seriously at your stage the exact colour of the logo would be last on my list of jobs to be done
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Thank you.

We do have a nice list of plans well organised with the same planning software I use for my commercial projects. The sooner we have a solution the sooner we can add suppliers and part numbers to it and at some stage we are going to have to order some material and this will come attached. As opposed to start and finish ONE project then start panning the next, look for parts and suppliers and finish it and restart. That is a never-ending nightmare of time and wasted effort consumption to no avail.
As it goes we already have a fast expanding list of suppliers we can consult for pricing and spec that will allow for faster and more economic view of the build.
That list need to encompass as much of what we need as possible as there is no other way to stay on a budget otherwise, i.e. £1500 for galley: stove £700 and no other prices. “were gonna be fine” Right way: Stove £700, Sink £275 Fridge £800 translates to Stove max £500 fridge £500 sink £200 plus various fittings and bits and bobs for a total expenditure of £1500 as target. Making us ask and spend the time gathering all the information’s on supplier’s models and options before we can decide.
That being the reason the Logo paint needs to be found on the fly and added to the list. One problem solved. And £7.50 plus £3.50 for transport of a small can of paint is still coming out of total budgeting.
 
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