May a sailing person ask a question?

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Mirelle

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In the world of motor yachting, how are wooden motor yachts viewed?

(a) Dreadful old things, should not be allowed to go to sea?

(b) Bunch of snobs?

(c) Rather pathetic, really?

(d) Very stylish, wish I had one but no way I can afford the maintenance?

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Rather like a vintage motor cycle or a vintage car.

Makes one look and admire (and be thankful that they haven't the running costs but a little bit envious really.)

<hr width=100% size=1>Kev.

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Agreed, with the exception of the envious bit. Plus also glad that I didn't have to look after all that woodwork myself as the boat in that case would never get used.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by whisper on 19/09/2003 22:44 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Hermees costs me less, to run, then my fairline phantome,i can paint it in less time then it took me to polish the plastic job,and the perky's need less maintinance than the bl##dy volvos n outdrives. and i don't need freshwater to wash the salt off.

<hr width=100% size=1>rich :-)) <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.jersey-harbours.com>http://www.jersey-harbours.com</A><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by rich on 19/09/2003 22:53 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Ok, so the maintenance aspect is a bitch, but I'd guess an awful lot of owners of Tupperware boats secretly fall into the (d) category.

Bill.

<hr width=100% size=1>One of these days I'll have a boat that WORKS
 
for stinkies, old gaffery boats are other-worldly, viewed only externally, never as though you or your crew might ever sail or even set foot aboard. Like an ageing Bugatti, or a real romany caravan, these craft leer at us from another age. Still as capable and powerfu, as a septuganarian boxer, they dare us to mock, and we don't. We tiptoe past, as if a raging ogre will step out from beneath the deck. Sometimes, a wild-looking bearded person does indeed appear. It's the bloody ogre. We meet his eyes, and rush away. It's not personal. We're just scared.



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Riva Aquarama - the definitive answer

The answer, inspite of all the hard work involved, is d)

And if you want proof, here it is, the best motor boat in the world. This boat makes me cry to look at it...

rivaf01.jpg


<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>
 
This is a wonderful piece of English, tcm.

"Like an ageing Bugatti, or a real romany caravan, these craft leer at us from another age. Still as capable and powerful, as a septuganarian boxer, they dare us to mock, and we don't."

Whatever you do for a living, why don't you give it up and write a book, or be a yachting journalist, or something.

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>
 
Thank you very much

I asked because of a typical Scuttlebutt furore, in which wooden sailing boat owners in general and old gaffery types in particular are accused of the foulest crime known to modern Britain...."snobbery".

I had a friend, now dead, who had a 40ft Silver, which I thought was about the nicest boat I have ever seen - he offered to swap for my old gaffer, which has a fraction of the accomodation, and maybe I should have said yes!

TCM I would like to thank you for the most poetic posting ever....

"For stinkies, old gaffery boats are other-worldly, viewed only externally, never as though you or your crew might ever sail or even set foot aboard. Like an ageing Bugatti, or a real romany caravan, these craft leer at us from another age. Still as capable and powerfu, as a septuganarian boxer, they dare us to mock, and we don't. We tiptoe past, as if a raging ogre will step out from beneath the deck. Sometimes, a wild-looking bearded person does indeed appear. It's the bloody ogre. We meet his eyes, and rush away. It's not personal. We're just scared."

You are all very welcome aboard my old gaffery boat!



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Re: snobbery post....

not convinced that the post was doing that - but agree it sort of went down and around that route somewhat.

Owners and their craft, of whatever sort, are best matched when the owner want's the craft for what it was designed for and not what it's become simply by being old or unusual. In general someone who buys a boat, car or whatever simply to become someone they are not tends to be the one that causes posts like that on SB simply because they think they need to act 'differently' to go with the illusion.
Some wooden craft are beautiful, some function better because they have few compromises and some would benefit from an epoxy sheath!

btw I do find it hard to understand why some woodern boat owners are so against the addition of items such as an electric bilge pump; does this fall into the 'acting as believed to be appropriate' category ?
Enjoy your boating - I do.

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Why I don\'t have an electric bilge pump!

There is a very practical reason why many wooden boat owners do not have electric bilge pumps!

To run, the thing needs electricity, in the form, probably, of a 12v DC current from a lead acid accumulator in the boat's battery bank. This means that either it is wired outside the main battery isolation switch, with a separate breaker, or that switch is left closed when you leave the boat.

Neither alternative is very appealing.

The causes of death and decay in wooden boats, barring accidents, boil down to just two - rot, which is always caused by fresh water, and electrolysis of fastenings. Assuming that we are ventilating the boat properly, keeping the rain out, and not splashing washing water everywhere, we have got the first one licked. That leaves stray current electrolysis, which not only eats the anodic metal bits, but builds up alkalis at the cathode - alkali turns wood into paper.

The idea of deliberately introducing wiring into the wettest part of the bilges seems madness - the risk of even a milliamp current leak, over a couple of years, is unacceptable!

I hope that explains that - the boat should not, and does not, leak, other than a stern tube drip, controlled by tightening the greaser, so there is no need for electrics in the bilge!

My boat, which is indeed a particularly lovely looking one, was built, sixty-six years ago, to do just what she does now. Family cruising round the North Sea and the Channel. I've never taken her to a "classic boat rally". I do race her occasionally in the Old Gaffers (which is primarily a racing organisation, incidentally, not an antique collector's club!) but that is to keep my sailing skills up to scratch - racing is the best way to do that.

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Re: Why I don\'t have an electric bilge pump!

Thank you for the response.

I understood why you would not want to leave the battery switches on but woud have thought that properly wiring a bigle pump could have been achieved without any 'leak'; and certainly less than would be created in any marina you frequented from time to time.
Thank you for the full response.
btw I fully agree that the odd race is an excellent refresher. I was fortunate to get teh oportunity to helm 'ecover' (steel not plastic at least!) for a couple of races in a 3 race solent series last year and it bought back memories very quickly.

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It\'s not just the wood

I like the brass that often comes too, the Gardner engine(s), the GGG bilge pump kicked in by foot or arm, the wood or diesel burning stoves, but most of all I like the space aboard the big old girls I can afford to buy 'cause nobody else wants them.

My last boat had a novelty I hadn't seen before, a shaft driven pump lifted water from the sea and pumped it straight overboard, why? Because the flow passed over a venturi that created suction so the bilges were constantly sucked without the risk of running a dry pump. Switching the pumping action from one bilge to another, walking round the engine room with an old rag and a little spouty oil can topping up. (note "walking", not crawling or hanging upside down).All activity to be enjoyed and appreciated on a passage that may last long enough to cook a decent casserole before dropping the hook.

Fuel tanks, the contents of which will last a season and bulk buy at a good rate.
The look of abject terror as you aim 65 tons at the same trot occupied by the GRP fraternity. It's even guaranteed to be social since everyone else regards you as a suitable berth.

.....but still they are motor boats.


<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
Re: It\'s not just the wood

That sounds interesting; how did that work? I understand the venturi bit, but what kind of pump was it? Flexible/Sliding vane or centrifugal, and how did it avoid draining into the bilge when you stopped? Sounds like a useful piece of kit to have on a wooden boat, or any boat for that matter. was it an auxiliary drive like an alternator, or actually on the prop shaft?

cheers,
David

<hr width=100% size=1>What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?
 
Re: It\'s not just the wood

"...but still they are motor boats." only just John

so lets see some pictures then /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>More Pics of Kelisha</A> /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Re: It\'s not just the wood

Bilge eductors, which is what this is, are not unusual aboard ships. They are particularly handy on bulk carriers, where odd lumps of cargo might block a conventional pump. If the venturi pipe, connecting to the bilge line, joins the main pipe when the latter is on its way down, so to speak, and is angled appropriately, i.e. also down, nothing will drain into the bilge!

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She's more than competant at sea, in fact was designed for it with the origins of the hull design coming from Ray Hunt.

I'm certainly no snob, in the summer months of a Wednesday I go out for a pint in Cowes or Fishbourne or Pompey and deliberately leave in time to tow back any XOD's or dinghies that may have run out of breeze.

Not sure how she could be called pathetic at over 300 horses and 30 knots...

I'd like to think people view my boat and think D.

Mainentance cost? Well every hour (700 in the last year) of maintenance costs me nothing as I do it myself, the hourly rates I hear qouted make me wince. The biggest bill to date was to have the fuel pumps rebuilt.

Interesting comments about bilge pumps and float switches, I have a float switch hot wired into the batteries as do many of the Fairey boats.


<hr width=100% size=1>Sod the Healey - I think I'll buy an E-Type.
 
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