The 50s bilge keel revolution?

I'm afraid the Caprice was used as a changing room and swan feeder for a year or more and has now been "removed" from the harbour as the owner went AWOL. I believe it was to be auctioned off but suspect it ended up on the scrap heap. My L17 was sold in august of last year and I hope has provided it's owner with some fun.


Jim
 
[ QUOTE ]
]I hopethat Caprice gets a lot of TLC soon, it,s made it this far and it still gets some use too /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats not a Caprice - looks more like a Felicity, Anderson designed.

Interesting that the most frequently remembered boats are Robert Tucker designs, which also included the very pretty 20ft Princess, and the flush decked Mystic (a brilliant little boat incredibly roomy).

Other plywood boats of that era, and of which there are still a few around include: Audacity (21.5 ft Laurent Giles like a small Fairey Atalanta), Dragonfly (18ft Buchanan), Eventides ranging from 18 - 30+ ft depending on the whim of the builder (M.Griffiths), Kestrel (22ft Clinker by Francis Jones), Midshipman (14ft Tucker), Mistress (19.5ft, Sprite Boats), Pimento (20ft Hot moulded, D.May), Pimpernell (19ft, P&J Froggatt), Seagull and Seamew (18.5 and 22ft Ian Procter marketed by Bell Woodworking. The 22fter was a brilliant boat! I had one), Dell Quay Shearwater (22ft Bradley and Powell), Spitfire (20ft Lekford), Westcoaster (20ft, Cmdr Rayner - the prototype for the long lived GRP 22ft version still much in evidence), Felicity (20.5ft Anderson, plywood predecessor of the GRP Hurley 20)

A few of these were revived in later GRP versions, Notably the Caprice, Westcoaster, Felicity and Kestrel. And no my memory of the 60's is not that brilliant- all these sourced from Denny Desoutters book 'Small Boat Cruising' (Faber nad Faber, 1964). /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Jimbuoys piccy ...

I know the ply boat well - via Jim really and I know his ex L17 and his present Centaur ...

The ply job has been scrapped but as far as I was aware it was not a caprice ... nor a Silhouette ... it was a bit of a mixed bag and really left to rot alongside ..... stayed without moving for donkeys years ..... even the bucket on lanyard hung dejected over the side for a long time ....

Sad ...
 
Re: Jimbuoys piccy ...

Sailed a Felicity with a freind a few times in 19 hundred and frozen to death. Undoubtedly the biggest pig I have ever sailed, weather helm was humungous (tiller to cockpit coaming) whatever you did
 
Thankyou oldharry, I found Desoutters book and it's a real help.

I can restart my long search for a boat armed with a lot more relevant info as there are so many good layout plans in one book, I won't need to embark on too many wild goose chases /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Still, if I travel a few thousand miles and waste a few weekends, and end up with something that takes severel weeks of maintainance a year, I still won't have to do a fraction of the work I would have done if I self built.
 
I am a present looking at buying a Tankard yacht.

It is sailable but will need some work doing to the deck and uper woodwork.

Does anyone have any information on Tankards and their history.

Thanks
 
Wow! Light Craft, you've got a long memory - it died in the early seventies.

The plywood Lysander was designed by Percy Blandford - a great little 17 footer - who sold hundreds if not thousands of plans for it. A 19ft version was also offeredHe did a lot of work for me when I was editor of a thing called Boat which also died in the seventies.

PS: I have just looked in an old Anglo-American reference book (1979), which lists 100 boats with accommodation of 20ft and under, and another 100 of 23ft and under - all then available new. Are there that many boats in total available new today in Britain?
 
Looking at your spec ...

The boats you mention as suitable ...

The Alacrity 19 packs a bit more in than the Lysanders / Silhouettes etc.
It also sails like a dnghy with a lid on ...

I had one for 4 - 5 years and thoroughly enjoyed it ... cheap, strong and well worth it in GRP.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I am a present looking at buying a Tankard yacht....
Does anyone have any information on Tankards and their history.

[/ QUOTE ]
Designed by Brian Tankard and built by him i Tavistock, S Devon late 60s early 70s.
Basic specs: Displacemnt: 1,200kg, ballast 540kg,
Loa 23ft, LWL 18ft 3",
Beam 7ft,
Draught twin keel .76m, fin keel 1.17m,
Sail area 220 sq ft (20.44 sq.m), 290 sq ft with genoa ( 26.94 sq.m).

Denny Desoutter rated them as a ..'fast boat for her size, and one that gives zestful sailing'. (Small Boat Cruising, Desoutter, 1972).
 
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