Firefly625
Well-Known Member
http://www.ancasta.com/boats-for-sa...CseTai1sGV/fzgMs5rtMQ/Vul2EjWublAlmUbWm4xeRvT
would be a shame to use it though..
would be a shame to use it though..
This is rather a nice old thing... (Fairey Swordsman 33)
- Thread starter Firefly625
- Start date
MystereMarcus
Well-Known Member
I know I'd be afraid to take it out for fear of getting salt on the windscreen! It's actually quite a bargain now as when it originally came onto the market it was priced at £295,000. I seem to remember MBM did a report on it and the extremes it's fastidious owner went to (as I remember it the battery terminals are gold).
Wavey
Well-Known Member
Absolutely stunning. That engine space just has to be seen to be believed.
Any one want to buy my Broom? With the money I'd have left over I could afford to employ someone to keep it looking like that.
Any one want to buy my Broom? With the money I'd have left over I could afford to employ someone to keep it looking like that.
sharpness
Well-Known Member
Wow, looks amazing. My first thought was how could the rebuild cost £0.5million, but I guess it soon adds up, especially the labour charges / man hours involved in such a restoration. Whoever buys her will be getting a wonderful boat.
burgundyben
Well-Known Member
Hmmmumph.
Sure, its in fine condition, although I've no idea how its been kept since finished. All of the 4 variants of Swordsman, that's the one that has the best mix of pretty and cabin space.
But, its not authentic, the interior is dull as dish water and its got smelly old Fords.
The Swordsman 33 has some weaknesses, I'd be interested to see if its been addressed.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Wow! I'm not into mobo's, but that's lovely. (I'd even be willing to put up with the bland interior.)
Characterful particularities, surely?
Characterful particularities, surely?
vas
Well-Known Member
looks interesting, if not OTT and a slightly pointless exercise...
one Q though, the teak caulking looks like it's 1mm or so recessed from the teak. Is that acceptable? Or am I missing something?
cheers
V.
one Q though, the teak caulking looks like it's 1mm or so recessed from the teak. Is that acceptable? Or am I missing something?
cheers
V.
Latestarter1
Well-Known Member
Ben, not sure how you address the propensity to chine ride over 30 knots..A Dutch guy asked me to look at this boat four years ago with a view to putting a pair of 380's and IRM 220A transmissions into it. I refused to become involved for the forgoing reason.
Just a couple of other observations, spending that much money to end up with that pig ugly slab sided screen amazes me and whilst I would not refer to the joinery as dull but the amount of glassware is an impractical nonsense, all done by somebody with no practical experience of Fairey boats.
Bet she is a real heavy boat.........
Firefly625
Well-Known Member
Didn't know of the 33's chine ride issue, sounds wise to keep the speed down. Glass wear indeed an impractical nonsense. Screen, it's from its time for sure, slab sided... Well as someone who looked at a rr camargue recently, and loved it, I still think she looks a nice old thing, of its time.
Latestarter1
Well-Known Member
Nobody buys a Fairey boat intending to keep the speed down, S33 beam length ratio is less than ideal, however AVB had to have a hull which could accommodate 'V'form motors from Cummins and Detroit.
Take a look at any Fairey, the symmetry of the curved screen is what identifies it as a Fairey
Firefly625
Well-Known Member
There speaks an officanado, can't argue with that. So basically the chap restored the wrong boat.
Dick Atcherley
Well-Known Member
It looks really wonderful, although my taste in boats of that period is a bit more spartan. However, had it been me and I'd gone to the extent that this owner has, I would have swapped out the sabres for something newer, less smokey and easier to get spares for. But to each their own, I guess.
prv
Well-Known Member
Know nothing of Fairey motorboats, but that metallic radar arch can't be original, can it? The stainless tubing for a canopy between it and the windscreen looks ugly, and actually fitting the canopy probably looks worse.
Main thing I noticed in the interior was the mugs and plates - jaunty anchor-pattern melamine on a money-no-object classic boat?!?
Overall first impression does look nice though.
Pete
Main thing I noticed in the interior was the mugs and plates - jaunty anchor-pattern melamine on a money-no-object classic boat?!?
Overall first impression does look nice though.
Pete
burgundyben
Well-Known Member
Christ alive! I thought that stainless radar arch was another boat behind, that's shocking.
It wasn't the chine riding that I was referring too, not that it would be an issue on that boat as she'll nudge 30 knots. In the Swordsman the keel is weak, boatyards rest them on the blocks, its the wrong way to support a Swordsman and the keel breaks, its not a massively difficult, I think many of them have been done.
I'm ok with the screen, several of the Swordsman 33's have it, notably Knight Express.
dave p
Well-Known Member
its only a bit of smoke and you get more grunt with a ford
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Latestarter1
Well-Known Member
Aren't smoky engines part of the period charm?
The period charm quickly wears off when you go home at the end of the day with clothes stinking of diesel fumes.
burgundyben
Well-Known Member
The Fairey boat market is very clear that it want's newer cleaner machinery.
Dick Atcherley
Well-Known Member
Other than the clouds of smoke (that makes my family quesey, and therefore would relegate the boat to the family list of unpopular things to do), one of the problems with running antique machinery is getting spares. It's a boring business changing engines and the perfect time to do it is when the boat is in bits, so hence my earlier comments. Against an overall rebuild cost of £500,000, two newer engines would have constituted the halfpennyworth of tar.
As Burgundyben says, the market has moved on from this.
As Burgundyben says, the market has moved on from this.
Wavey
Well-Known Member
Interesting how my views on this boat have changed as the thread has progressed. Just shows it pays to take note of comments from those who know better.