UFO 31 design specs

nathanlee said:
And oh how that one was neglected.

See here before before, and not quite after pics of the interior. I bought her as a complete wreck. She'd been filled with water for presumably years, and all the woodwork below decks was completely rotten. Had to rip it all out and start again.

http://onkudu.com/life-on-water/a-late-arrival/

Hoping to get another large portion done over Easter. This one will come back from the grave, for sure.
Click to expand...

The very best of luck Sir!
 
Oyster UFO31 myths and rebuild advice

There's been more bunkum contributed to these pages and to Practical Boat Owner about the UFO31 than just about anything since the Mary Celeste.
Firstly, as a restoration project, if you can find one at the right price, the 31 is an excellent choice when contemplating the end result - a thoroughbred that sired the world-famous Oyster line and will provide highly competitive club or greater racing under the RYA Portsmouth Number scheme, or with a full rating certificate which gives her the benefit of the 'grandpa' allowance.
I race in France under the French Sailing Association handicap system, and we are consistently in the top four of our local 20 to 30-strong cruiser racer fleet, sailing our live-aboard boat two-handed and without spinnaker.
Richard Matthews commissioned the original UFO which fell in size between the 31 and 34, and has been restored to ravage the East Coast fleets once more.
The 31 was a direct development of that for production, some 130 being moulded by Ardleigh/Colvic and marketed as the OYSTER UFO31. She was drawn by Don Pye, who chose her as his own boat.
Topside weight was kept down with a sandwich construction for the deck and 'blister' cabin superstructure, with end-grain balsa forming the filling - NOT 'cork granules' or foam. The main hull layup is a single skin FRP laminate with Colvic's penchant for a pretty thick gelcoat leading to star crazing and cracks in later life. These are simple but time consuming to dress out and fill, preferable cutting back a fairly extensive area to the laminate, laying on a fine woven roving with epoxy resin, skimming with epoxy fill, fairing off and then regelling.
Below, the mast step IS a weak spot on many boats. It is vital for a keel stepped yacht like the UFO31 to have good strength here both laterally and vertically. My first rebuild in 1995 incorporated three ring frames extending from the bilge and tapering up the hull sides to improve overall rigidity of the hull, and to form a box section which then locates an iroko plinth supporting a 1-inch mahogany base for the mast step T-bar.
The original refit - carried out at Totnes by a supposedly 'expert' and 'professional' boatyard - proved to be the biggest bodge possible. Three years ago, we found the mast step had been positioned 4-inches too far aft, and 3-inches off centre to starboard. Since rectifying that, the boat's performance has been transformed.
Pay particular attention to the main transverse bulkheads forward of the mast providing the loo/hanging locker/companionway and ensure they have a substantial doubler bonded and bolted to unify them. There is a lot of stress in this area from mast/chainplate attachments. There should also be full-width transverse beams across the front of the engine compartment and the half-bulkheads at the top of the saloon.
Get shot of any acrylic screw-in windows and buy good alloy/glass ones, and to improve comfort alongside and below, replace the little deck lights for'd of the mast with opening hatches - Goiot do nice ones. Other improvements we have made are to bond in a full-height crash bulkhead in the 'eyes' and a half-height one to a foot above the waterline aft of that to create a flat for warp or fender stowage with a hawse pipe (PVC drain) leading to the chain locker below. Make sure it's a vertical drop.
We have also bonded in a further full bulkhead at the aft end of the cockpit, removing the rather pointless moulding recess, adding a watertight hatch and gaining a good accessible locker for warps and through-hulls/cocks etc.
The standard Lewmar 40 sheet winches are, frankly, insufficiently powerful unless you have a grinder and a tailer, so for a couple of go-fast 65-ers (well, I'm 70 acksherly . . .) we stepped up to ST45s for sheets and 40s for the spinnaker/Code 0.
For the new season, we have a new 140 per cent 'flying luff' genoa which will be set on a new Facnor continuous line furler - an all-in or all-out type. This is attached to a ring bolted through the aft end of the bow roller plate and through the reinforced stem.
One of the most crucial points to follow if doing a make-over is to make sure that any new or replacement bulkheads are not a tight fit to the hull - ideally leave a gap of at least 5mm and do NOT stuff it with filler! It's the FRP laminate that takes the strain, so make sure that all surfaces you are bonding too have been ground back to good glass, and cleaned with, er, brush cleaner as we now have to refer to the stuff.
Finally, to that bunch of p******s up Kent and thereabouts who wittered on about the UFO31 being 'hairy', a 'bad sailer' and very other TOTALLY INCORRECT assertions, stick to your bilge keel Westerly barges. If you want to keep the kite up in a F7 and revel as she screams along downwind at 12 or 15 knots, then expect to be busy on the helm. Otherwise - as we did returning up the French coast to the UK last November -settle back with just the genny out, Admiral Percy Prong Tillerpiloting her along with an occasional light whir, and watch the log needling at 8 to 10 knots with four knots of tide under us and a sparkling, blue sky to boot.
Tha's UFO31 sailing - or you could always stick to reading fiction and PBO . . .
 
Last edited:
jezza said:
There's been more bunkum contributed to these pages and to Practical Boat Owner about the UFO31 than just about anything since the Mary Celeste.
Firstly, as a restoration project, if you can find one at the right price, the 31 is an excellent choice when contemplating the end result - a thoroughbred that sired the world-famous Oyster line and will provide highly competitive club or greater racing under the RYA Portsmouth Number scheme, or with a full rating certificate which gives her the benefit of the 'grandpa' allowance.
I race in France under the French Sailing Association handicap system, and we are consistently in the top four of our local 20 to 30-strong cruiser racer fleet, sailing our live-aboard boat two-handed and without spinnaker.
Richard Matthews commissioned the original UFO which fell in size between the 31 and 34, and has been restored to ravage the East Coast fleets once more.
The 31 was a direct development of that for production, some 130 being moulded by Ardleigh/Colvic and marketed as the OYSTER UFO31. She was drawn by Don Pye, who chose her as his own boat.
Topside weight was kept down with a sandwich construction for the deck and 'blister' cabin superstructure, with end-grain balsa forming the filling - NOT 'cork granules' or foam. The main hull layup is a single skin FRP laminate with Colvic's penchant for a pretty thick gelcoat leading to star crazing and cracks in later life. These are simple but time consuming to dress out and fill, preferable cutting back a fairly extensive area to the laminate, laying on a fine woven roving with epoxy resin, skimming with epoxy fill, fairing off and then regelling.
Below, the mast step IS a weak spot on many boats. It is vital for a keel stepped yacht like the UFO31 to have good strength here both laterally and vertically. My first rebuild in 1995 incorporated three ring frames extending from the bilge and tapering up the hull sides to improve overall rigidity of the hull, and to form a box section which then locates an iroko plinth supporting a 1-inch mahogany base for the mast step T-bar.
The original refit - carried out at Totnes by a supposedly 'expert' and 'professional' boatyard - proved to be the biggest bodge possible. Three years ago, we found the mast step had been positioned 4-inches too far aft, and 3-inches off centre to starboard. Since rectifying that, the boat's performance has been transformed.
Pay particular attention to the main transverse bulkheads forward of the mast providing the loo/hanging locker/companionway and ensure they have a substantial doubler bonded and bolted to unify them. There is a lot of stress in this area from mast/chainplate attachments. There should also be full-width transverse beams across the front of the engine compartment and the half-bulkheads at the top of the saloon.
Get shot of any acrylic screw-in windows and buy good alloy/glass ones, and to improve comfort alongside and below, replace the little deck lights for'd of the mast with opening hatches - Goiot do nice ones. Other improvements we have made are to bond in a full-height crash bulkhead in the 'eyes' and a half-height one to a foot above the waterline aft of that to create a flat for warp or fender stowage with a hawse pipe (PVC drain) leading to the chain locker below. Make sure it's a vertical drop.
We have also bonded in a further full bulkhead at the aft end of the cockpit, removing the rather pointless moulding recess, adding a watertight hatch and gaining a good accessible locker for warps and through-hulls/cocks etc.
The standard Lewmar 40 sheet winches are, frankly, insufficiently powerful unless you have a grinder and a tailer, so for a couple of go-fast 65-ers (well, I'm 70 acksherly . . .) we stepped up to ST45s for sheets and 40s for the spinnaker/Code 0.
For the new season, we have a new 140 per cent 'flying luff' genoa which will be set on a new Facnor continuous line furler - an all-in or all-out type. This is attached to a ring bolted through the aft end of the bow roller plate and through the reinforced stem.
One of the most crucial points to follow if doing a make-over is to make sure that any new or replacement bulkheads are not a tight fit to the hull - ideally leave a gap of at least 5mm and do NOT stuff it with filler! It's the FRP laminate that takes the strain, so make sure that all surfaces you are bonding too have been ground back to good glass, and cleaned with, er, brush cleaner as we now have to refer to the stuff.
Finally, to that bunch of p******s up Kent and thereabouts who wittered on about the UFO31 being 'hairy', a 'bad sailer' and very other TOTALLY INCORRECT assertions, stick to your bilge keel Westerly barges. If you want to keep the kite up in a F7 and revel as she screams along downwind at 12 or 15 knots, then expect to be busy on the helm. Otherwise - as we did returning up the French coast to the UK last November -settle back with just the genny out, Admiral Percy Prong Tillerpiloting her along with an occasional light whir, and watch the log needling at 8 to 10 knots with four knots of tide under us and a sparkling, blue sky to boot.
Tha's UFO31 sailing - or you could always stick to reading fiction and PBO . . .
Click to expand...

Oyster did not build the UFO 31 or the 34 for that matter. They did build & market their bigger sister the Oyster 37 IOR One Tonner ( see avatar ;)).
The UFO`s were marketed by the fore runner to Oyster a group of chaps based in West Mersea Essex.
all IOR boats of that era were hairy down wind in a blow with a spinnaker up :cool:, its the nature of the beast ;).
our boat is very predictable, & i often sail s/handed even the odd North Sea crossing.
we normally sail 2 up & have fast passage times, we dont do short river tacking :o as were are not quite a nimble as a few yrs ago :rolleyes:.
She is the bestest boat i have owned ;)
 
jezza said:
There's been more bunkum contributed to these pages and to Practical Boat Owner about the UFO31 than just about anything since the Mary Celeste.
Finally, to that bunch of p******s up Kent and thereabouts who wittered on about the UFO31 being 'hairy', a 'bad sailer' and very other TOTALLY INCORRECT assertions, stick to your bilge keel Westerly barges. If you want to keep the kite up in a F7 and revel as she screams along downwind at 12 or 15 knots, then expect to be busy on the helm. Otherwise - as we did returning up the French coast to the UK last November -settle back with just the genny out, Admiral Percy Prong Tillerpiloting her along with an occasional light whir, and watch the log needling at 8 to 10 knots with four knots of tide under us and a sparkling, blue sky to boot.
Tha's UFO31 sailing - or you could always stick to reading fiction and PBO . . .
Click to expand...

Well said that man. I couldn't have put it better.
 
sailorman said:
Oyster did not build the UFO 31 or the 34 for that matter. They did build & market their bigger sister the Oyster 37 IOR One Tonner ( see avatar ;)).
The UFO`s were marketed by the fore runner to Oyster a group of chaps based in West Mersea Essex.
all IOR boats of that era were hairy down wind in a blow with a spinnaker up :cool:, its the nature of the beast ;).
our boat is very predictable, & i often sail s/handed even the odd North Sea crossing.
we normally sail 2 up & have fast passage times, we dont do short river tacking :o as were are not quite a nimble as a few yrs ago :rolleyes:.
She is the bestest boat i have owned ;)
Click to expand...

Actually, that's not quite right. Oyster did market the UFOs. They were Richard Matthews, Alan Brooks and Mark Fellows, as you say, all West Mersea residents. Early boats were moulded by Colvic, but that ended very badly.

It was during the UFO era that they got involved with Leslie Landamore, which certainly was the seed-sowing for what then became the Oyster-named 37, 39, 26, 35, 41, 46 and onwards.
 
boguing said:
Actually, that's not quite right. Oyster did market the UFOs. They were Richard Matthews, Alan Brooks and Mark Fellows, as you say, all West Mersea residents. Early boats were moulded by Colvic, but that ended very badly.

It was during the UFO era that they got involved with Leslie Landamore, which certainly was the seed-sowing for what then became the Oyster-named 37, 39, 26, 35, 41, 46 and onwards.
Click to expand...

you forgot the 26 a super little boat
there was also another chap, Harrison & dont forget, Holman & Pye
 
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I did not, and could not, forget the 26. How could I? My second proper job was as a junior manager of the factory which built them! Should add that there was a fourth director - Richard's father, whose name I've forgotten.

John Harrison was not a part of Oyster - just a friend. Don Pye and Derek Cooper were very good to work with.

I used to sail on a Hustler 25.5, lovely boat, didn't know that RM sailed one!
 
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