Introduction

Merlyn

Merlyn

Active Member
Joined
23 Jun 2007
Messages
64
Location
Hamble
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Hello Chaps,

Just a quick "Hello" to legitimise my future postings.

As you can see I've been a lurker for some while. I initially joined the forum when a return to boat ownership seemed imminent, but, as we all know "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley", so, with all sorts of things crossed, I'm hoping that this is the right time to start posting. I will add a fuller intro later in this thread and all my inevitable questions will be posed under separate headings to assist in forum searches.

A word of warning though, I do have a tendency to..... uuummm.... be side tracked (waffle) at the sound of my own typing so those who do not wish to read my drivel may want to put me on their ignore list.

Why post now? Offer on new, to me, boat accepted today so starting to get excited.

N.B. Chaps=Chapesses, no ignoring of those of a female persuasion implied or intended.
 
realslimshady said:
wot boat ya getting?
Click to expand...

Not intentionally ignoring you, but...............I did warn about the waffle!

Having been born within 100 yards of the sea it is perhaps surprising that my boating adventures didn't really start until my late twenties, my initial love of speed and all things mechanical being satiated on dry land with four wheels rather than water and one or two propellers. The introduction eventually came via a chap, who later became a very good friend, who came to work at my place of employment. He was a very keen and accomplished skier, both snow and water, and invited me to join him and his chums for a days water skiing, which I accepted. At the time he had a Simms Super V with a 75 Merc on the back, this being the third or fourth ski boat that he had owned. He is obviously made of stern stuff as his exploits with his first boat might have put off many people for life. The craft in question was an aluminium hulled ski boat of unknown origin powered by an inboard Ford Anglia engine. On the occasion in question he had on board not only the fresh but also the fresh's mother, fresh complete with heavily lacquered beehive, chiffon scarf, white sling-backs.........you get the picture. Obviously trying to impress not just the new bird but also the tag along outlaw he'd taken them to the Jolly Sailor opposite Moody's on the Hamble for lunch. Having consumed probably more port than pickle with the ploughman's he was in a sufficiently care free mood to forgo the usual venting of fumes from a less than leak free petrol engine compartment with the inevitable consequences. All three were blown 15 feet into the air with various items of clothing smouldering, the only personal appendage to actually suffer burns was, of course, the heavily lacquered beehive belonging to the fresh but, mercifully, it was so tall that it was doused by the River Hamble before the brains actually started to melt. Fortunately father was sufficiently well healed to fend off threatened law suits with brown envelopes but it did rather put pay to any pre-nuptial thoughts the old boy might have had.

We normally towed from Esher down to the hovercraft slip at Lee-on-the-Solent and enjoyed a couple of years of tooling around the Solent skiing on this side or the Isle of White side depending on weather. Having had too many retrievals when the boat ended up sideways on the trailer when we returned from the Folly to find that a nasty on-shore had whipped up we decided to use the hard next to Moody's Yard which, although being a long flat push to get the boat off the trailer, was always reasonably calm and if the Solent was too rough we could turn right up Southampton Water to the ski zone past the QE2's wharf.

By this time of course I wanted my own boat.
 
Merlyn said:
Not intentionally ignoring you, but...............I did warn about the waffle!

Having been born within 100 yards of the sea it is perhaps surprising that my boating adventures didn't really start until my late twenties, my initial love of speed and all things mechanical being satiated on dry land with four wheels rather than water and one or two propellers. The introduction eventually came via a chap, who later became a very good friend, who came to work at my place of employment. He was a very keen and accomplished skier, both snow and water, and invited me to join him and his chums for a days water skiing, which I accepted. At the time he had a Simms Super V with a 75 Merc on the back, this being the third or fourth ski boat that he had owned. He is obviously made of stern stuff as his exploits with his first boat might have put off many people for life. The craft in question was an aluminium hulled ski boat of unknown origin powered by an inboard Ford Anglia engine. On the occasion in question he had on board not only the fresh but also the fresh's mother, fresh complete with heavily lacquered beehive, chiffon scarf, white sling-backs.........you get the picture. Obviously trying to impress not just the new bird but also the tag along outlaw he'd taken them to the Jolly Sailor opposite Moody's on the Hamble for lunch. Having consumed probably more port than pickle with the ploughman's he was in a sufficiently care free mood to forgo the usual venting of fumes from a less than leak free petrol engine compartment with the inevitable consequences. All three were blown 15 feet into the air with various items of clothing smouldering, the only personal appendage to actually suffer burns was, of course, the heavily lacquered beehive belonging to the fresh but, mercifully, it was so tall that it was doused by the River Hamble before the brains actually started to melt. Fortunately father was sufficiently well healed to fend off threatened law suits with brown envelopes but it did rather put pay to any pre-nuptial thoughts the old boy might have had.

We normally towed from Esher down to the hovercraft slip at Lee-on-the-Solent and enjoyed a couple of years of tooling around the Solent skiing on this side or the Isle of White side depending on weather. Having had too many retrievals when the boat ended up sideways on the trailer when we returned from the Folly to find that a nasty on-shore had whipped up we decided to use the hard next to Moody's Yard which, although being a long flat push to get the boat off the trailer, was always reasonably calm and if the Solent was too rough we could turn right up Southampton Water to the ski zone past the QE2's wharf.

By this time of course I wanted my own boat.
Click to expand...


Yea.

AND WHAT BOAT YOU GETTING ????????????? (the original question)
 
introduction

I think we should rename this forum...

Motor Boat I am Buying is a Mystery Forum
 
yankee1 said:
I think we should rename this forum...

Motor Boat I am Buying is a Mystery Forum
Click to expand...

Well, people seem to want introductions, stories, reasons for decisions etc before questions, so we newbies are just being good boys and complying. Wish I could find smilies though.
 
I was living in Twickenham at the time and I found a Tremlett 21 Sportsman in Hampton which looked ideal. On a trailer it came with a marinised Rover 3.5 V8 and was originally built for ski racing in the Firth of Fourth so was a no frills light build which suited me and my proposed use.

First job was to get on to Chris Tremlett and ask for any known problems that I might need to address. He assured me that the 21 Sportsman was ideal for my proposed use in and around the Solent and the only point worth checking was to see if any water had become trapped between the outer hull and inner skin which apparently did happen occasionally but Tremlett were not sure how the water got in. The advice was to drill a hole through the transom 1&1/2" above the keel with the boat tipping backwards on the trailer to see what, if any thing, came out, then prepare the hole and insert a suitable bung for future use. I did as instructed and low and behold just under a gallon of very smelly water drained out. Allowed to dry for a couple of days in the baking summer sun (remember those '70s summers?) the hole was prepared and a stainless nut bonded in which then had a stainless bolt and nylon washer inserted for future reference. A possible winter job for oGaryo to add to his list, easier and cheaper than messing about with inner skins and bilge pumps.

On a side note I was very sad to hear of the death of Chris last year, I always found Chris, and his staff, to be knowledgeable, courteous and helpful, a true gentleman. A fitting tribute may be found here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3252758.ece

Together with a snap of a 21 Sportsman.

The first season was superb with the one exception of blowing up the engine on my company Ford Capri 1600 auto (don't ask!) after which I bought a SWB Land Rover to eventually be followed by a 2 door Range Rover, which eventually became a convertible Range Rover, but that's another story ;).

The second season was not so good as a few niggling little problems started to show. Third was even worse with non-starts, unwanted shut downs, heat exchanger leaks etc spoiling most weekends. To be fair most of this could be attributed to a home build/marinisation with too many car parts (read mild steel and non damp proofed) used. I eventually lost patience and took out the V8, later to be re-built as a 4.1 and put into the Range Rover, off came the 270 leg, which made a few bob, and on went a rather large outboard.....perfic, as it should always have been.

Only one incident of note after that when we, daughters 1&2 and mother up from Wales, were out one glorious summer Sunday. Launched at Moody's hard, pottered down the Hamble and then 40ish knts across to Alum Bay for lunch. Peering over the transom while the girls sorted out he hamper I noticed something shiny under the engine control cables, funny, why would there be a stainless steel bolt sitting there? As realisation hit I was over the back, bolt in hand without even stripping off. "Just cooling off - felt a bit hot" I replied to the questioning looks from my crew as I scrambled back on board. Back on the trailer barely a cupful came out, I suppose the high speed cruise up the Solent had vacated the void and I had fortunately clocked the bolt within minutes of dropping anchor at Alum Bay. Was a bit sixpence/half-crown for a while though.

I did enjoy my Tremlett, both in the Solent and launching it from the beach in my home town in south Wales but all good things must come to an end as whoever they are say and a new wife, new house and new kids meant new life and new lifestyle.
 
Last edited:
Merlyn said:
Hello Chaps,

Just a quick "Hello" to legitimise my future postings.

'Hello' back!

A word of warning though, I do have a tendency to..... uuummm.... be side tracked (waffle) at the sound of my own typing so those who do not wish to read my drivel may want to put me on their ignore list.

Dont You Worry About That
Waffling and side trackin and all that there.
I can do 'drivel' at the drop of a hat.
Welcome to the 'Waffling and side tracker's shunting Club':D
Click to expand...
Merlyn
It's generally good in ere.
Word of warning however
Dunna go on about collision regulations
That is serious waffle:D
 
Several years of boatlessness followed so I had to get my fix on my chums' boats. The skier had moved into classics, we're both into classic cars, and had a succession of Faireys ending up with a Fantome. Many good times and stories but I will resist as I suspect that the natives are becoming restless.

So, I now find myself semi-retired with lots of free time and far too many Walter Mitty ideas for my own good, one of which is to spend a lot of time afloat. A major problem is that I am a very bad sailor:confused:, I will start to feel ill going below decks on the Thames. So sail is out, as too is a slow mobo as I would need to get where I was going as quickly as possible, so a planing hull. It would need to be an excellent sea boat as I would be boating all year round with frequent trips to France, Channel Islands, Scilly etc. At least 2 double cabins plus 2-4 occasional berths for children but not too big as most of my boating will be single handed. Oh, and British built, old fashioned I know but there it is.

My eventual decision was going to be quite expensive of course as it would be a new custom build boat with lots of special features so was I really sure that I could make maximum use of such a vessel and would I actually enjoy spending so much more time on the water? The only sensible, not a word I use very often, thing to do is to try it for a season or two in a smaller less expensive boat first and see how I get on. Initially looking at the standard 2 in the front and 2 under the cockpit set up I've actually ended up with a 2 in the front and 2 occasionally on the sun bed under canvas. Three reasons for going down to that size, if I want to re-sell in a couple of years depreciation will be negligible, it is an ideal size to actually keep as a family fun boat should I decide to live the dream and order number one choice and finally the condition of the boat in question, just too good to pass up.

The boat is a 1988 Fairline SportFury running twin AQ 171Cs which were rebuilt at the beginning of the 2008 season with many new parts, legs serviced at the same time. Also at the same time the cockpit was recovered in original factory colours, bottom cleaned and re-anti fouled and topsides machine polished. Owned by a professional engineer all servicing has been carried out by the book and service records are available. Having lain ashore unused this year the owner has asked to be allowed to re-commission her himself before survey and sea trial which I see as a good thing. My surveyor is currently arranging a mutually convenient date for the survey/sea trial so................no, I'm not going to tempt fate.

It's too late to talk me out of this one but anyone interested in publicly questioning my sanity can try to persuade my against my fist choice of a Hunton Gazelle RS43:D.

Pics to follow.
 
Merlyn said:
I did enjoy my Tremlett,
Click to expand...



still enjoying mine........ since 1973

15bc73c2.jpg



ps, have most of the original brochures from the late 60s / early 70s.
 
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