Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Not much, apparently. Bluenose 2 is expected to require that much money, just to sort her hydraulic steering: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1234928-bluenose-ii-steering-fix-to-cost-up-to-350000
How much classic schooner does $350,000 buy?
- Thread starter Greenheart
- Start date
westernman
Well-Known Member
Its Canadian dollars. But still a lot. They should have got a couple of hydraulic jacks off a building site. Its not rocket science. Should not cost anything like that much. Still, if you have some government funding, might as well spend it with your mates.....
Seajet
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Bluenose will always be one of my favourites, as a boy I read a book by a chap who crewed on the first replica, Bluenose II, which managed 20 knots before the mainsail boltropes gave up and it blew out !
I have read since - after the demise of the 3rd replica - that these schooners were built cheaply for speed but not longevity...
I have read since - after the demise of the 3rd replica - that these schooners were built cheaply for speed but not longevity...
Forget spending $350,000.£8,750 buys you a whole boat with no shortage of character 
http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=362697
http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=362697
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Pretty little boat, top value as you say.
Seajet
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Hillyards are spiffing if one wants ' character ' and is willing to spend HEAPS of money just keeping the thing floating, forget going anywhere...
I once moved a friends' Hillyard 2.5 tonner from Portsmouth to Chichester, and found even with a good breeze on a broad reach I was lucky if I got 3 knots ! Huge wetted area drag and inefficient rig...
Luckily the boat had a good modern inboard, so that alone allowed me to make the tide at the new destination.
Also the Hillyard 2 1/2 despite being a well cared for example leaked like a sieve from above & below, the owner had a counter on the auto bilge pump fitted, to try to keep tabs on how often it was working !
A nice boat for someone else to own...
I once moved a friends' Hillyard 2.5 tonner from Portsmouth to Chichester, and found even with a good breeze on a broad reach I was lucky if I got 3 knots ! Huge wetted area drag and inefficient rig...
Luckily the boat had a good modern inboard, so that alone allowed me to make the tide at the new destination.
Also the Hillyard 2 1/2 despite being a well cared for example leaked like a sieve from above & below, the owner had a counter on the auto bilge pump fitted, to try to keep tabs on how often it was working !
A nice boat for someone else to own...
Gordonmc
Well-Known Member
It seems the replica is less tenable than the first Bluenose which was a fast fishing boat working the Grand Banks off Nova Scotia, without a steering system which needs its own generator and hydraulics.
The quote that the alterations to the replica will make it safer than the original are a bit odd as well. Will the "largely watertight" compartments prevent her grounding on a reef, which is what sunk the original in 1946.
What does "largely watertight" mean?
Seajet. I agree with your sentiment but I still miss my previous boat, a Hillyard 8-tonner.
Fond memories of chipping rust off its pig-iron ballast and patching the canvas covered decks.
The quote that the alterations to the replica will make it safer than the original are a bit odd as well. Will the "largely watertight" compartments prevent her grounding on a reef, which is what sunk the original in 1946.
What does "largely watertight" mean?
Seajet. I agree with your sentiment but I still miss my previous boat, a Hillyard 8-tonner.
Fond memories of chipping rust off its pig-iron ballast and patching the canvas covered decks.
Seajet
...
' Fond memories of chipping rust off its pig-iron ballast and patching the canvas covered decks '
Well that's what this forum is all about isn't it ?!
Well that's what this forum is all about isn't it ?!
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Either I've forgotten or I never knew...why were decks covered with canvas? Was it just non-slip?
Woodlouse
Well-Known Member
To protect the timber and to maintain water tight integrity. In the days of pitch seams, pine decks and old fashioned paint, canvas was a way of minimising the maintenance.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
A bit of me thinks I'd be content with a heavy, hopelessly inefficient old ketch or schooner, for her characterful reluctance to respond waywardly to gusts and waves.
I've owned terribly unimpressive dinghies, so I know how it feels not to make rapid progress, and at least a Hillyard will have an auxiliary too.
Hillyard designs maintain appeal I think - not just because they're almost always cheap. Credit to the owners of this one for choosing a low-height, well-balanced rig like the staysail schooner. To me, schooner rig is like the big separate headlights on very old cars - regardless of whether the vehicle or vessel is fabulous or lousy, I like it.
Damned shame there aren't more schooners, or more voluble enthusiasts/admirers of the form. Surely creaky old hulls as heavy and hard to drive as this, are better off powered by four or five low-height sails, easily controlled by a small crew, than by a tall 'efficient' rig?
I've owned terribly unimpressive dinghies, so I know how it feels not to make rapid progress, and at least a Hillyard will have an auxiliary too.
Hillyard designs maintain appeal I think - not just because they're almost always cheap. Credit to the owners of this one for choosing a low-height, well-balanced rig like the staysail schooner. To me, schooner rig is like the big separate headlights on very old cars - regardless of whether the vehicle or vessel is fabulous or lousy, I like it.
Damned shame there aren't more schooners, or more voluble enthusiasts/admirers of the form. Surely creaky old hulls as heavy and hard to drive as this, are better off powered by four or five low-height sails, easily controlled by a small crew, than by a tall 'efficient' rig?
westernman
Well-Known Member
More sails means more work and more time to raise/stow them all. Not sure that that is a great idea for a short handed crew.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Doesn't the efficiency of a tall rig necessitate upgraded standing and running rigging, and dirty great winches to cope with the loads, where a schooner's divided sail-plan is less stress?
Woodlouse
Well-Known Member
There's an old saying that states there are only two points of sail that a Schooner can't handle. Upwind, and downwind.
Sure they can look impressive but personally I find actually sailing them quite frustrating, so many issues that are so simply solved by removing one mast and making the remaining one bigger.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
How sad.
I still love 'em.
I still love 'em.
I thought the Hillyards that they produced once they got it down to a production line formula were fairly characterless & lacking a certain quality but I have seen a few Hillyards that were little gems.That schooner falls into that catagory for me.
I have owned enough wooden boats to know that they are not for me because of all the work involved but still you get designs that I would far rather have than modern boats.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Forget spending $350,000.£8,750 buys you a whole boat with no shortage of character
http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=362697
Am I the only Swallows and Amazon fan who thinks that someone went to Hillyard and said "I want something like Wildcat from Peter Duck and Missee Lee"?
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Surely the Wild Cat was a gaffer? But did she sport topsails? I forget. I always fancied Black Jake's Viper, if one can say such a thing without raising a laugh, these days. 
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Surely the Wild Cat was a gaffer? But did she sport topsails? I forget. I always fancied Black Jake's Viper, if one can say such a thing without raising a laugh, these days.
You're right - she was a gaffer. She did have topsails, though. However, the hull lines and general configuration are very like!
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Looking at the work put into that one on Appolo Duck, they are giving it away. But that is the way of things. It will be an amazing boat to own, just a bit of commitment needed. And, probably, an offer would do it. Big enough to live on, tough enough to go far. What else is needed?
