Robertsons Golly for sale

Reading the ad, it sounds in much worse condition than the few pics suggest, which is sad. Would need someone skilled, pragmatic, dedicated and with a fair amount of time and cash - and there are unfortunately a lot more old boats than such people. At least one of the ones on sale at 20kish looks just as much of a project, though. I would be more wary of starting someone else's abandoned project than a never-restored project boat - I'd fear that they might have caused more work than they removed, if I'm doing a project I want to do the ripping-out and all the planning, not start by probably having to unwind bits of someone else's work and deal with any damage from half-done work being left.

If I bought this I'd have to rename it something daft that referenced the jam history somehow. Not sure I could bear to announce myself on channel 16 with a jam joke though.

Not sure I fully follow the "assume the parking cost is Solent marina parking cost" argument. That's what mooring buoys in less fancy places are for, if you can get one. The space on the hard for the refit may be more of a bother.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
It certainly did at the start until he found a large number of people to fund his dream and future lifestyle.
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None of whom were forced and all had/have the chance not to participate. If you are/were a Fr. per your moniker then you could be accused by some for having the same lifestyle.
 
justanothersailboat said:
Reading the ad, it sounds in much worse condition than the few pics suggest, which is sad. Would need someone skilled, pragmatic, dedicated and with a fair amount of time and cash - and there are unfortunately a lot more old boats than such people. At least one of the ones on sale at 20kish looks just as much of a project, though. I would be more wary of starting someone else's abandoned project than a never-restored project boat - I'd fear that they might have caused more work than they removed, if I'm doing a project I want to do the ripping-out and all the planning, not start by probably having to unwind bits of someone else's work and deal with any damage from half-done work being left.

If I bought this I'd have to rename it something daft that referenced the jam history somehow. Not sure I could bear to announce myself on channel 16 with a jam joke though.

Not sure I fully follow the "assume the parking cost is Solent marina parking cost" argument. That's what mooring buoys in less fancy places are for, if you can get one. The space on the hard for the refit may be more of a bother.
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Forbidden Fruit?
 
Marsali_1 said:
None of whom were forced and all had/have the chance not to participate. If you are/were a Fr. per your moniker then you could be accused by some for having the same lifestyle.
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He’s not and never has been. Leo took a punt and has rebuilt a bit of history.

There’s some line about some people knowing the cost of everything but not its value. Someone I knew and sailed with for years was also a property developer and surveyor (and a bit of a wide boy if I’m honest). He advised us NOT to buy a listed cottage in the Blackdown Hills, Devon. We bought it and had several years renovating it into a beautiful thatched cottage where we were very very happy. We eventually sold it and made money. My ‘friend’ has cut off all ties with us and doesn’t return calls. At one stage he suggested that if we wanted a period look we could fix boards on the outside of the render of a modern building and paint them black…

There’s value in preserving things and that sometimes includes boat’s.
 
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john_morris_uk said:
He’s not and never has been. Leo took a punt and has rebuilt a bit of history.

There’s some line about some people knowing the cost of everything but not its value. Someone I knew and sailed with for years was also a property developer and surveyor (and a bit of a wide boy if I’m honest). He advised us NOT to buy a listed cottage in the Blackdown Hills, Devon. We bought it and had several years renovating it into a beautiful thatched cottage where were very very happy. We eventually sold it and made money. My ‘friend’ has cut off all ties with us and doesn’t return calls. At one stage he suggested that if we wanted a period look we could fix boards on the outside of the render of a modern building and paint them black…

There’s value in preserving things and that sometimes includes boat’s.
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This is a historic boat, but it must have the worst historic name. Not many names age so badly. And yet, without the name, who would know? I’d prefer to own Morning Cloud, still classy after all these years.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Also boats like this that you can't put in the water are going to require transport, storage and time so unless you have somewhere close to home to put it it becomes really problematic and expensive.
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Don't I know it from recent personal experience. £3k would only cover lifts and the truck to move a few miles up the road. I expect storage where it is costs more than that a year. Even if you did not move it, fanciful to think you could get that functioning for less than £20k and more than a year's part time work. People who have not done it have no idea about how little you can accomplish in actually putting bits into the boat. Planning, sourcing materials and travel time (even when living 20 minutes from the boat) took up more time than doing in the big first year of my refit. Stopped thinking about it after that and just work at a pace that does not stress.
 
john_morris_uk said:
He’s not and never has been. Leo took a punt and has rebuilt a bit of history.

There’s some line about some people knowing the cost of everything but not its value. Someone I knew and sailed with for years was also a property developer and surveyor (and a bit of a wide boy if I’m honest). He advised us NOT to buy a listed cottage in the Blackdown Hills, Devon. We bought it and had several years renovating it into a beautiful thatched cottage where were very very happy. We eventually sold it and made money. My ‘friend’ has cut off all ties with us and doesn’t return calls. At one stage he suggested that if we wanted a period look we could fix boards on the outside of the render of a modern building and paint them black…

There’s value in preserving things and that sometimes includes boat’s.
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Leaving my scepticism about You Tube sailing videos Tally Ho is not a rebuild, anything but it's a replica with a few planks of the old un and half a windlass plus most of the old keel remelted into a new keel..
I admit to watching and enjoying some of the craftsmanship in particular the later cabinet making and fitting also the windlass work. However it quickly became a business venture as are virtually all the other You Tube videos.
 
Not that theres anything wrong with it being a business venture. Just that, by youtubing the progress, it sidesteps the entire financial viability side of things. A good thing, if it enables the restoration of otherwise unviable historic boats. I’m personally undecided whether this one is worth it. A great back story, but it’s a knackered old production boat.
 
Taking on an old but functioning boat is a very different prospect from one which is firmly out of commission. On the former you can steadily replace and improve whilst sailing but the latter will involve a lot of two steps back one forward stuff. This one is a good example of the former and I can see why someone would want one.
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I find the old versus new debate very polarised. Most well used yachts are going to need repairs and replacements from 15 years on. It's neglect more than anything that makes an old yacht uneconomical to restore.
 
I’d prefer Claire Francis’ boat from the 77 Whitbread, ADC Accutrac (AKA Force 9), which when I raced against her at the 2018 Swan Cup in Sardinia looked very fine indeed. Nothing controversial about her name either.

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Having said that, she did have to retire from the Ocean Globe race with hull damage, so maybe a bit too much of a project too…
 
Frogmogman said:
I’d prefer Claire Francis’ boat from the 77 Whitbread, ADC Accutrac (AKA Force 9), which when I raced against her at the 2018 Swan Cup in Sardinia looked very fine indeed. Nothing controversial about her name either.

View attachment 192520

Having said that, she did have to retire from the Ocean Globe race with hull damage, so maybe a bit too much of a project too…
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Yes, I would swap!
 
Frogmogman said:
I’d prefer Claire Francis’ boat from the 77 Whitbread, ADC Accutrac (AKA Force 9), which when I raced against her at the 2018 Swan Cup in Sardinia looked very fine indeed. Nothing controversial about her name either.

View attachment 192520

Having said that, she did have to retire from the Ocean Globe race with hull damage, so maybe a bit too much of a project too…
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I have a vague recollection of seeing that boat and others in the race in Auckland. Even more vague recollections of meeting some of them in a bar up the road------
 
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