I'm trying to ID some boats

[DebtMan]

I\'m trying to ID some boats

Hi

As the post title says, I am trying to identify specifically the type/model or class of boat. I have recently seen these two on eBay. Although with differing descriptions, looking at the pictures, to my eye they appear to be identical models.

I am having difficulty tracking down some ID for them. I find it difficult to believe that two boats of the same design should come up on eBay within days of each other and there not be any further boats out there somewhere.

Anyway, these are the links:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....2&category=1297&sspagename=STRK:MEBWA:IT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....1&category=1297&sspagename=STRK:MEBWA:IT&rd=1

I'd be grateful for any pointers to identifying these boats.

Many Thanks

DM

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[oldharry]

Re: I\'m trying to ID some boats

They are both the same class, as you realised, and are the 'Classic 19', designed in the late 50s by Arthur Cooksey. The first ones were built on the Medway, no 17 (which I own and am selling) was built around 1960, and No 37 launched in 1961/2. I do not know when production stopped, but I doubt if any have been built since the mid 60s

They are excellent little seaboats, enormously heavy for their size with nearly a ton of ballast and an all up weight of just over 2 tons, which means they are too heavy to tow behind the average car. They are rather undercanvassed with only around 145sq ft, which makes them a bit slow in light weather. On the other hand mine sailed very well under full canvas in a F5! With an uprated rig to about 190Sq ft, mine was a much nicer boat to sail, but could still stand up to her canvas in a blow.

The great boon of these little boats is the fact they have 5'10 headroom below. The Medway built ones were very strongly built - in the era when GRP was thought to need timber thickness and support for strength. The mouldings on mine are as good now as they were 40 years ago. The main weakness is the hull/deck join which was sealed with a rubber gasket, which perishes, then leaks! To sort it the rubbing strake needs to come off, the perished rubber scraped out, and the void injected with Sikaflex. The new Rubbing strake is then fastened through the hull and deck mouldings to reinforce the join (this is the most difficult part!)

They are not the fastest boat afloat - you will rarely exceed 5 knots, by which time the hull is digging holes in the water, but they are in my experience an exceptionally seaworthy, solid and comfortable little boat, with accomodation that belies her small size!

2 years intermittent searching for them on the internet has come up with - nothing!

You probably gather that I liked mine a great deal!

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