Britannia K1 replica.

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burgundyben

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The Russian built Britannia replica that was briefely ashore in Cowes, then at Hythe, is now moored on the Itchen. Looks pretty rough to me.

I wonder if work will start, no news on their web page.

Project started 22 years ago.
 
From what I understand that hull has been written off and any further work on the project would entail starting from scratch and probably building from aluminium.

It's a pretty sad turn of events really but I feel at the end of the day the project should never even have been started.
 
Woodlouse said:
From what I understand that hull has been written off and any further work on the project would entail starting from scratch and probably building from aluminium.

It's a pretty sad turn of events really but I feel at the end of the day the project should never even have been started.
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I didn't know that, not surprising, it looks to be built of GRP and have been 'filled and faired' by hand, not terribly well, there's a few bits of filler knocked off and its pretty thick clods of stuff, all in all looks like a big pile of rubbish.
 
burgundyben said:
I didn't know that, not surprising, it looks to be built of GRP and have been 'filled and faired' by hand, not terribly well, there's a few bits of filler knocked off and its pretty thick clods of stuff, all in all looks like a big pile of rubbish.
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She's cold moulded. It was built in Russia on the cheap which was only the start of its problems. She was left on the hard for years after they finished the hull, then sat in Norway for a bit then came to Cowes, by which point rot had set in pretty badly. I don't know how far they got in fixing things before the wheels fell off the project but I did hear that their leaving Cowes wasn't entirely their decision.
 
Woodlouse said:
She's cold moulded. It was built in Russia on the cheap which was only the start of its problems. She was left on the hard for years after they finished the hull, then sat in Norway for a bit then came to Cowes, by which point rot had set in pretty badly. I don't know how far they got in fixing things before the wheels fell off the project but I did hear that their leaving Cowes wasn't entirely their decision.
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Yes, I have been following the project for decades, I looked in through a tiny hole in the topsides yesterday and noted she's cold moulded. As you say, looks poorly built.

Someone's lost a lot of money.
 
Ocean Quay, right across the back of the dry dock, at half seven this morning she was solidly on the bottom and heeling over about 10 degrees.

Sorry sight.
 
She's moved.

It was less than ideal, at spring low water she was leaning right over onto the pontoon.

Apparently gone to a deep water mooring over at Hythe.
 
It seems reasonable to assume that was the elegant (from the top of the Itchen bridge anyway) hull I saw being towed off the dockhead in Southampton yesterday afternoon then, ta.
 
Waking up an old thread, does anybody know the possible prospects for this poor old new classic yacht?

I've seen her every time I've crossed to the island for 18 months. If she's no better than scrap, why hasn't she been scrapped?

image2.jpg
 
Hmm. That website looks to me to be remarkable only for its emptiness. All ready to report activity, at such time as there is any.

I don't know about cold-moulding as a construction technique, nor do I remember what kind of wood this hull was made from...but is it likely to be worth pursuing, or will the neglected structure be unable to bear the loads of the intended rig?
 
dancrane said:
Hmm. That website looks to me to be remarkable only for its emptiness. All ready to report activity, at such time as there is any.

I don't know about cold-moulding as a construction technique, nor do I remember what kind of wood this hull was made from...but is it likely to be worth pursuing, or will the neglected structure be unable to bear the loads of the intended rig?
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Well, nothing much seems to have happened for a long time now, but someone is paying mooring and towing fees.
 
Amid some weird bookends, this video includes some nice sequences of the original yacht.

I hadn't realised she had a bermudian rig by the end of her days. 176ft spruce mast weighing three tonnes! :eek:

 
StormNorm said:
According to the K1Britannia web site, k1britannia.org the restoration plan is still current.
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All I see there is a vague statement that they want to build a replica ...nothing about using the Russian hull as part of it.

The "K1 Britannia Trust" seems to be more or less moribund (does this look like an organisation poised to spend tens of millions on a replica yacht or even, as they claim to, currently putting 10 disadvantaged people annually through a college course in yacht restoration?)

xll1f60.png


and the sister "K1 Britannia Foundation" seems to be base in St Kitts, which claims to do all sorts of things but provides little evidence for any of them. I can't find anything which confirms that it is a charity.

Edit: http://www.thevintagemagazine.com/s...ion-of-a-maritime-legacy-by-stuart-mcclellan/ has some more history of the replica.
 
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Indeed. Been on that Moore g 18 months or so.

I worked in Ocean Quay while she was there and studied her from the pontoon on many a lunchtime stroll.

Sadly I feel she's only fit or scrap. I suspect the only reason she's not been scrapped so far is the cost of doing so.

Briefly chatted to the American owners one day who were remarkably upbeat about the project.

It must be nearly 20 years since work started in Russia.
 
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