Freeman 32

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Flynnbarr

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Hi all.
Does anyone know the story behind a freeman 32 called Jennie bee?
Walking the mutt at cookham 2day and came across the above.wow!!stunning condition.is she original gelcoat,if so blimey,or has she been re-gelled,if so double blimey!!also appears to just have 1engine?would have asked owner but I think they were having a nap,didn't want to disturb them.she is the best example I have ever seen.
Also a very pretty woodie called 'tolbillie'? Moored at the bounty.
Hope you all enjoyed the fine weather today,may there be lots more!
 
Tobillie (sp?) moors next to me at Freebody's. It was bought at the Henley Auction some years ago by Antony Worrell Thompson and rebuilt by Freebodys to a high spec, and named by AWT after his two children, but I believe was never used by AWT and a few years later sold to the current owners. I think it had something unusual about the clinker planking underwater, the laps being the "wrong" way round. Kept in superb condition with a Freebody's top notch paint and varnish job last winter and always covered when in the yard.
 
Slightly but not wholly aside. The 1972 Boat Show exhibit of a of a Freeman 32 was Ivory Gem then owned by Margaret Weeks (formerly Margaret Free). The boat has never changed hands and is still with the same family today. For the purposes of the Show Freemans fitted her with Davits and built a Pram Dinghy to hang on them. As far as I'm aware the only Dinghy Freemans ever built.
That Dinghy is sitting in my Barn covered in dust and wisps of straw. No doubt a good wash and the Fibreglass would come up like new, well not new but certainly respectable. Over the years I've had various offers for it but not enough to tempt me to sell.
 
Tobillie is v.unusual,have never seen anything like it.v.curved coach roof,'pacer' like front cabin screen and flat floor in the cockpit.beautiful.
Have seen ivory gem,lovely boat,but Jennie bee,wow, looks like it has just come out of the mould.
Sorry no pics,am not v.good at this malarkey,dinosaur when it comes to t'interweb.hence why it took so long to find this great site.
 
Flynnbarr said:
why it took so long to find this great site.
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Well you found it and contributed which is great. There are far far too many who are Lurkers. They never say a word yet must have valuable points of view, information and knowledge they are keeping to themselves. Incidentally, a warm welcome to you.
 
Jennie Bee is a stunning boat in very original condition due mainly to a fastidious owner .
I believe its one of two built out of leftovers ie 32 mould with engine bearers for twins with a single ford petrol installed in the middle. It has since been re engined with a nanni diesel. Very nice boat and very nice owners .
 
I used to own the first Ivory Gem. She is a 30 foot aft cabin Freeman. She was renamed Silver Gem when the Weekes sold her and bought the 32.

Most if not all 30's and 32's were fitted with davits. I've never seen one without them.
Freeman made two distincly different styles of dinghys for the davits. Probably at different times. The more prevelent version is almost a cathedral hull with a very rounded bow, very stable in the water. I personally know of four examples, but I am still trying to obtain an original for my boat.

Byron, what would be a good offer???

Note the chrome plated pad on the gunnels, designed to be clamped into a cutout in the davits, thus preventing the dinghy swinging in the davits.

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Alpha22 said:
Byron, what would be a good offer???
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Realistically the Dinghy is probably worth about eighty squids. I wasn't the slightest tempted when offered £120 for it. So I suppose I'd be looking at £250 to make me seriously think about selling.
Incidentally it isn't as depicted in your photo, it has a squared off bow somewhat similar to a Dory but not the full width of the boat. The hull has a hint of 'cathedral' about it.
I haven't a clue why I am so attached to it. Margaret was a dear friend of mine, John Weeks still is but that shouldn't make a never mind. The fact that it is the 1972 Boat Show model might have a little bearing on it, I'm not a natural Hoarder.
 
Crikey,

I've just sent a PM to Alpha, on the astonishing grounds that he not only bought my first boat, a Freeman 22 MkII called Alpha, but also now seems to own Liberty, another (and by far the most missed) of my former boats.

The resolution isn't quite good enough to be 100% certain, but I am very much of the opinion that the dinghy in the first and second pictures in his post is the 'inland waters' tender I had for Liberty (I called her, and she was labelled, 'Fraternity'); I had the davits fitted at Sheridan, there may have been davits fitted previously which were removed prior to my ownership. I even had an original 1972 Crescent Marin outboard for her (with original handbook). I also had a Bombardier inflatable for the sea ('Equality' to complete the triumvirate), where the mass of the rigid tender would have made short work of the davits and the aft deck where they were fixed. Photos of the Amsterdam cruise show the Bombardier tender in place. The fenders were put in the tender while at sea; the 32 lacks a lazarette up to the job.

I paid £400 for the tender, many years ago, to complete my classic Freeman. The tender had been restored by a chap who lived in Egham in a house by the river with moorings and a wonderful woodworking shop. A truly lovely man, a cabinet-maker by profession, who had rebuilt a twin diesel displacement boat whose provenance I can't recall, to an amazing standard. I remember him telling me he knew nothing about electrics, just before he showed me the fuseboxes etc on his boat; needless to say, they were splendid. The tender was perfect too. His wife passed away and he moved to a big house with workshops in Crawley or somewhere near there; we lost touch. I remember looking at jewelery cabinets he had made for his wife, in awe.

Deano, do get in touch...

PS I remember Jennie Bee, we 32 owners were a tight bunch. Owned by a lovely couple, and yes, with a single diesel (such a shame as the 32 with twins is so fabulously manoeuvrable)... But she had oodles of stowage <where the engines should have been>.
 
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I remember a Freeman 32 for sale at Sheperton Marina, many years ago. She had the wheel shelter and a single small petrol engine and came from Switzerland. I think that at that time all the sink and toilet outlets were fed into a holding tank to meet Swiss regulations.
 
byron said:
Well you found it and contributed which is great. There are far far too many who are Lurkers. They never say a word yet must have valuable points of view, information and knowledge they are keeping to themselves. Incidentally, a warm welcome to you.
Click to expand...

I have really enjoyed the forum since I found it and often enjoy commenting and the humorous banter... surprised though to see one of my comments in the October edition of the printed Magazine... secretly delighted and happy to sign copies if required ;-)
 
That poor ickle dinghy,all lonely and unloved,sat dusty in a barn.boats need to be used,water burbling under her keel.
Free the ickle one I say!!
 
Growing up on the River Shannon in Ireland I always loved a 32 called Mary Frances. She is still on Lough Derg and I heard she is still totally original. I seem to remember her having one of those dinghies pictured earlier. She had davits too.
Not sure what engines she had but she had twins and she was quick.
 
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