Quick hello and what is this boat??!!

[Neilldickens]

Hi everyone, and thank you for accepting my membership.
I live in Norfolk, and have just acquired a little boat as a restoration project. I don’t have a clue about it’s origin or make, in fact “I know nothing”!!
So can anyone out there tell me what it is, possible make, original configuration etc etc please.
Any help is a big positive!!

 

[pvb]

Welcome to the forums!

I'm fairly certain your boat is a Dejon 14, which has had the original rubber-framed front window replaced by some sort of homemade frame.

Here's a link to one which was for sale; if you look at the photo gallery you'll see some interior pics. (Note the incorrect spelling of Dejon).

Dijon 14 - (1989) £1,200 - Broadland Yacht Brokers

 

[Neilldickens]

Hi pvb, thanks very much for your input, yes it looks to me you’ve got it dead right, I will do some digging now I have a name ?

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I wondered whether it might be a ‘widow maker’. Suggest when you finish the project you put it on a canal or pond, nowhere near the sea

 

[pvb]

I wondered whether it might be a ‘widow maker’. Suggest when you finish the project you put it on a canal or pond, nowhere near the sea

Hmm... I'm sure that'll fire his enthusiasm!

 

[Jamie Dundee]

Hmm... I'm sure that'll fire his enthusiasm!

Might keep him alive though.

 

[lynallbel]

Maybe that is why his good lady has her back to it!

 

[pvb]

Maybe that is why his good lady has her back to it!

Come on guys! This is a new forum member, just got his first boat, wanted to know a bit about it. He lives in Norfolk, so it'll probably end up wandering the Broads, which won't put his life in danger. Whatever happened to encouraging new entrants to boating?

 

[Jamie Dundee]

Maybe that is why his good lady has her back to it!

She’s checking his life insurance

 

[Jamie Dundee]

Come on guys! This is a new forum member, just got his first boat, wanted to know a bit about it. He lives in Norfolk, so it'll probably end up wandering the Broads, which won't put his life in danger. Whatever happened to encouraging new entrants to boating?

So you don’t think it’s worth warning someone of a potentially dangerous boat? Do a few searches Dejon 14

 

[pvb]

So you don’t think it’s worth warning someone of a potentially dangerous boat? Do a few searches Dejon 14

All boats are potentially dangerous. Your link talks about using it at sea. As I said, the guy lives in Norfolk so he'll probably stick it on the Broads. No danger.

 

[Jamie Dundee]

All boats are potentially dangerous. Your link talks about using it at sea. As I said, the guy lives in Norfolk so he'll probably stick it on the Broads. No danger.

Ahh right. I hadn’t realised that you knew of the OP’s plans. That’s ok then.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

So you don’t think it’s worth warning someone of a potentially dangerous boat? Do a few searches Dejon 14

Let me guess - you work undercover for the MCA?

 

[lynallbel]

So you don’t think it’s worth warning someone of a potentially dangerous boat? Do a few searches Dejon 14

Bloody helll, that is some scary reading!

 

[Neilldickens]

Let me reassure you all, for one, with everything I have to do, the boat is right if the bottom of the list. Second, no it won’t be in the sea, I’ll be honest, I restore cars for a living, am pretty handy, this is more about the joy of ownership/collecting bits etc, rather than tripping around the perimeter of the Uk mainland!!! As for the boat itself, we’ll I got it for nothing, yeah some may say I should pay them, but it is what it is, and maybe one day I will set sail on the wilds of the Norfolk broads, if it sinks or falls apart during this maiden voyage, well, at least I can say I owned a boat!!!! If it comes out of the water with its dignity....and I still have mine, then great, I’ll keep cruising until it tells me it wants to retire.
To be honest, all advice is good, Beit good or bad, but as someone quite rightly said, you don’t want to put me off, I mean we’re all aware of health and safety, I ride a motorbike, it scares me......But man the ride is good, until it goes wrong, it’s a risk you take I’m afraid.
Again thank you all for the advice, in particularly PVB, who pointed me in the right direction of what it is ?

 

[Neilldickens]

Maybe that is why his good lady has her back to it!

My wife is American, I think her enthusiasm c

Ahh right. I hadn’t realised that you knew of the OP’s plans. That’s ok then.

i think the clue is in my original post, it was a given I’d say ?

 

[Jamie Dundee]

As long as you know what you’re playing with all is good. Just don’t put it into tidal waters

 

[coopec]

As long as you know what you’re playing with all is good. Just don’t put it into tidal waters

I see what you mean?

I think anyone who didn't alert Neill Dickens to the danger of that brand of boat would be utterly irresponsible.

"One of the posters on this thread lost two close family members in a Dejon 14 accident. I think you should take heed of their advice, it is based on first-hand experience. As for the rest of your rant, it can be argued against point by point but I'm not convinced that would change your mind."

"It was actually four. I know many will rightly say that if you put 4 people on a boat that size then what do you expect, and they would be right, but even with just one or two of us aboard the boat always scared me. That is the reason I am still here today and not with my father, brother and uncle, and why my cousin (who never had any fear of anything) never saw his two young kids grow up.
Even after the accident the next owner lost his life on the same boat before his family destroyed it:giveup:

We only ever used the boat for inshore trips, never went more than a mile or so out of the harbour at Rye or Folkestone and only on a calm day. These are the kind of conditions that the Dejon supporters all seem to say are ok for the boat. I disagree!"

 

[pvb]

I think anyone who didn't alert Neill Dickens to the danger of that brand of boat would be utterly irresponsible.

Back in the 1970s, there were hundreds of similar brands of little GRP dayboats, all similarly potentially dangerous in the wrong conditions.

People have died whilst out in Contessa yachts, but that doesn't result in the brand being condemned as dangerous!

 

[Neilldickens]

Generally speaking, danger is there with everything. Let’s be honest, boats, cars, trucks, motorbikes etc etc are ALL dangerous in the wrong hands. Thankfully I have a brain, and no boating experience, so I take onboard ALL advice, and would certainly not put myself or anyone else in danger.
You may even find this project is way too expensive to actually get on a river, so may become a giant flowerpot in the garden