My new project... MFV Elizmor

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jellyellie

jellyellie

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Edit - 10/01/14 - Having trouble launching:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?378191-My-new-project-MFV-Elizmor&p=4551987#post4551987.
Supposed to have launched on the 10th Dec, then the 7th Jan, but it keeps getting cancelled because of insurance/liability issues. Any help or suggestions received. Lots of good publicity available in return.

http://www.Elizmor.co.uk << website & blog

So after five years of living on my Colvic Victor 34 sailing ketch 'Milestone' (Miley) along the south coast, I have decided it's time for a new project.

Ever since I bought Miley, I have had a recurring dream where I discover an extra cabin on the boat. Living on a 34ft boat is pretty cosy and I've always wanted a bit more space.

Well, I think I've got it!

Say hello to Elizmor, a 53ft wooden ex-Scottish MFV. She was built in 1948 and has been skilfully converted into a liveaboard over the past 25 years. Elizmor is a ship in comparison to Miley - complete with bath, Rayburn, wood burning stove, microwave, fridge/freezer and washing machine! Not to mention the S P A C E! Most importantly, she still retains her sea-going features, including a fully-founded engine room complete with Gardner 6LX in full working order.

I found Elizmor lying on the hard in Preston Marina, where she has been out of the water for around 10 years. She has been well-maintained and lived aboard during this time, and is in remarkable shape - especially her hull. I enlisted a great surveyor who gave her a clean bill of health, after a week-long moisture test to check on the splining.

My plan is to re-launch Elizmor as soon as possible and then sail her down to the south coast - a long passage, and the Irish Sea in winter, nice! She needs a bit of work before she can go in the water, then I will launch her and sit her on a mud berth just next to the yard here where she can take up for a few weeks. She then needs some final recommissioning before she is ready to go to sea, so I will work through that whilst she is taking up, and then hope for a weather window for the journey.

It's very exciting... I still can't believe I am her new guardian... she is AMAZING!

I will use this thread to keep you all updated on our progress... now, I must go and throw another log on the fire.

SoH5sJ1l.jpg
 
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Small world. A mate of mine was all set up to buy that boat - indeed we were on the road to Preston when the previous owner phoned to say he'd sold her. Mate was rather pissed off in fact, as he thought the owner hadn't been straight with him about the other prospects (ie you :) ) but I'm not sure about the details. Hardly matters now, anyway.

Would be very interested to hear how you get on with her.

Pete
 
Fantastic, best of luck with her. Looking forward to loads more photos. Glad to see the previous owners didn't knock a door into the hull having been landlocked for the last 10 years ;)
 
Wow, wish I had been as brave as you when I was as young as you are(assumptions), good luck with it though but you seem to have mad a suitable level headed start to what you have done (words fail me). But brilliant, good luck and good for you. Please included a bit of video with the engine running: some of us love old diesel engines!
 
Great looking boat, I am sure she will make a great home and take the weather you cannot, even in the Irish Sea winter.

Some thoughts for you if you have not played with MFV's:
MFV's are famous for rolling on wet grass. Its not uncomfortable (once you get used to it) or dangerous but they do roll, make sure things are secured before any significant weather.
Boat handling:
Big slow turning single screw relatively small rudder, you will learn allot about prop walk (dont fight it, it can be your friend).
The other thing is she will be heavy and carry momentum well go gently again learn to use the moment for you.

I hope you put many happy miles under her keel.
 
Thanks for the kind comments everybody...

@prv Nathan came round the other day to say hello as he's up in Preston at the moment, and told me about that story - however it was the owners before me that pipped your friend to the post!

@onesea thanks very much for the tips. I have absolutely zero MFV experience and am not looking forward to the boat handling bit, so thanks for the advice! :)

A site surveyor from a contract crane hire company should be arriving any minute to have a look at the launching situation, pretty exciting, will keep you all updated.

Photos and video tour coming soon... :)
 
jellyellie said:
@prv Nathan came round the other day to say hello as he's up in Preston at the moment, and told me about that story - however it was the owners before me that pipped your friend to the post!
Click to expand...

Interesting - so did they actually buy her and then sell her on again a year or so later? Or did that sale fall through in the end and she remained with the original seller until you came along? I guess the former, otherwise I guess my mate would have got another call.

Any idea why they sold her on so soon?

Pete
 
I am fairly sure Elizmore was working out of Girvan when I lived there mid-70s. She has the hull lines of a boat built by Alexander Noble of Girvan, sure enough. Their trademark was the canoe stern.

Words from Robert Ingram of Girvan:
On a clear day you will find me on the high slopes of the Byne Hill looking out over Girvan and the wide sea beyond, for my father was a fisherman from a long line of fishermen and they hunted the herring all over the wide blue sea.And they sailed upon the Elizmore,the Alipeds and countless more boats that were bonnie, men that were free.And high above old Girvan town as I watch the golden sun go down behind the Sleeping Warrior who guards oe’r Arran still, I could swear I could see again those boats way out at sea again….smiling Chopper on the deck,Hollywood’s handsome grin and in the wheelhouse The Walrus stands,he was my grampa… oh what a man.Oh for 1 night in the Harbour Bar, all our friends and loved ones too we’d raise a glass and we’d sink a few.Amen let it be..Amen let it be!

Have a look at trawlerpictures.net where you will find a photograph of Elizmore at sea. Registered number 163.
Good luck with the project.
 
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lovely boat (little ship) and looks a great home . Now for the downside ..... From previous experience unlike your previous boat you will be treated like a leper when visiting harbour's pontoons and mooring due to its size and it's lack of close quarter manoevering.
 
Gordonmc said:
….. Their trademark was the canoe stern. …..
Click to expand...

I am not doubting what you say but the archetype West Coast, Scottish fishing boat had a canoe stern (and small single man wheelhouse). The vast fleets in Campbeltown, Tarbert and Oban that I remember, had Canoe sterns to the point that a flat stern was noticeable as the odd one out.

jellyyellie - it would be prudent to have a standalone petrol driven water/bilge pump with appropriate hose lengths on board from day one. Laid up stuff can have a higher probability of failure, at least in the short term, post re-commissioning. An example - I delivered a 45' motor boat from Felixstow to Peterhead and despite being surveyed and rebuilt at the stern both rudder stern tubes developed severe leaks 24 hours into the trip.
 
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