What is a Classic Boat

[EuanMcKenzie]

Lets start the debate... because CB Magazine seems very driven by wooden boats, epoxy is a sin etc...

I have a HR Rasmus - A new HR 36 came alongside me a few weeks back and wanted to come aboard to view my "classic HR".

I just thought I had a nice old boat in fairly good nick with some nice teak and mahogany in the right places. Is it a Classic now?

So what is a classic boat? Does it have to be made of wood in the classic style? or can GRP boats now be considered as classics. CR Holman designed some lovely boats in GRP as did others.

Judgeing by the usual agenda of BC magazine, there is a view that they should be Gaffers or Fife's or GL Watson's or have some pedigree / history. Should there be acknowledgement of "practical classics", the boats that most of us own and work on to keep going and should we be proud of our old GRP boats not ashamed to discuss them in wooden boat company.

I do like a well kept wooden boat boat couldn't live with one. Should CB be a bit more open minded about older boats and open their brief to include a wider range of classic boats.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this one?

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

So what is a classic boat? Does it have to be made of wood in the classic style? or can GRP boats now be considered as classics.

What about Steel ?

 

[TamarMike]

What about Steel ?

Fine, as long as it's rivetted.

 

[Bajansailor]

Have a look at http://www.antiguaclassics.com/09html/overview_classic.html for what they say on how a Classic is defined.

I think they are being a bit harsh - there are many accepted 'classics' which have been so re-built that they are effectively new, while other vessels are told that they are not classics for the reasons given in the link above.

At the end of the day, what does it matter?
There are many very fine classic fibreglass, steel, timber, ferrocement and aluminium boats out there, proving to be a visual and physical delight to their owners.
I think a boat - any boat - is a classic if you can feel happy and inspired by being in that boat's presence.

 

[TamarMike]

Looking at the boats at westcountry classic rallies I do wonder whether, say, a Westerly Nomad shouldn't be considered more of a classic than for instance the Cornish Shrimpers and Crabbers which enter?

 

[David_Jersey]

Should CB be a bit more open minded about older boats and open their brief to include a wider range of classic boats.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this one?

I guess it is a commercial decision, don't want to upset the existing readership - but I would have thought the term "modern classic" would not upset the traditional classic owners...........might widen the readership a tad, plenty of crossover anyway for the folks who like a boat they can work on (or simply have one that needs work )...............whether a GRP Modern Classic or Wooden Traditional Classic both now share a need for an owner to invest hands on TLC - and someone has decided she is worth "saviing".

 

[Romeo]

Lets start the debate...

You are hardly starting the debate! Someone comes on here and asks the same question every couple of months.

FWIW if someone comes up to you and tells you the would love to have a boat like yours, and then goes on to list a huge number of insurmountable reasons why they cannot, you have a classic boat.

R

 

[Kilter]

What about Steel ?

For that matter what about concrete?

 

[ValleyForge]

There was a good crack at this on the old CMBA forum a few years ago. Entirely inconclusive but highly amusing. I think it came down to anything you wanted, but don't expect agreement. Qualifiers such as >90% downtime due to fettling / varnishing / polishing, cost vs value greater than a factor of 10 etc. etc. all counted though.

 

[TiggerToo]

Is it a Classic now?

Tigger is a Durfour 35 "CLASSIC" when she was built and lanched in 1998.

Does that count? This definition is formally recorded in her Part I registration documents....

 

[laurance]

The American politician, Jesse Helms, is quoted as saying: I can’t define pornography, but I reconginze it when I see it. So it is for most of us I think with Classic Boats.

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

Do I care?

I not much fussed whether my boat is a classic or not, i'm quite happy with it and it does consume man hours etc..

I guess the point I was driving at is this. The PBO forum is full of people debating how to fix and keep all types of boats and the CB column is full of people debating the best varnish etc. but the magazines seem to leave a hole between them - PBO is driving towards new boats and motor boats and how to work your electronic Gizmo that stops you bumping into the West Kyle that you can see with your A1 eyeball anyway.

The CB forum is very wooden boaty with a concession to some bits of steel etc. They both seem to drifting away from the middle ground which i guess is sailing equivalent of Practical Classics, the car mag.

I am a PBO and CB subscriber but am thinking of giving CB up as there are only so many rib replacements and pictures of shiny varnish I can look at on old Pilot cutters

I'd like to see modern classics reconised because I'd like to see more articles on them and less about speed boats and Bavarias in either of the above magazines and that's what most of us have I think?

The real reason for defining a modern classic I guess has the hidden agenda that someone might consider them newsworthy and write more about them. Maybe I'm out of step with what the readership of these magazines really want.

I guess i'm more Practical Classics than what Car in a boaty sense

Thats why I started this to see if others have similar or different views and to try to influence the magazines to maybe put a bit more of what I want to see in them and a bit less of what i don't want.

 

[doug748]

Thats why I started this to see if others have similar or different views and to try to influence the magazines to maybe put a bit more of what I want to see in them and a bit less of what i don't want.

Spot on. Good show!
We need our own magazine, could call it: "Old Boys Boat - Dedicated to those boats produced in the infancy of modern boat construction"
I would much rather read how to make my own safety harness out of old car seat belts (on of my favourites from the old, lovable, PBO), than read some bloated fluff about the new Nonsuch 34 - with exciting new speakers in the toilet, double bed and aft mounted power shower.
The Americans seem to have the right idea:
http://www.goodoldboat.com/index_1.php
If you ask they will send a sample copy.

 

[tcm]

It's a lovely compliment to have one's good-looking boat referred to as a "classic". I bet you let him on staright away!

Generally, the term "classic" is used in the marine industry - predominantly by boat brokers and others who benefit by the generally higher perceievd or actual commercial value (which includes CB) to indicate that the boat is a) old and b) probably if not definitely for sale. There are shades of classicism (?) from "famous" all the way down to "understated" ie not very classic at all. One constant is that a classic boat has just *got* to have some varnished wood, the more the merrier.

Of course, when speaking with insurance companies, the term "classic" is never used - it's just an old boat and hence surely much cheaper to insure, please?

 

[peter radclyffe]

one reason we like old boats, is because they look like they were made by hand, even if they weren't, heres an mfv yacht i designed & built

 

[peter radclyffe]

here is patience i was in charge of restoring,

 

[cliffordpope]

It's the rather snobby name that causes the problems of definition.

Basically there are "Ordinary Boats", "Nice Old Boats" and "Mega cost Classics".

Look at any boat you see and it will always fit into one of the three categories, without the need for precise definition.

 

[srm]

What about Steel ?

I took a steel boat to the YM Classic Boat Rally in Brixham - 1989 I think. She was 'Hermes' the Mcgruer designed 8 metre CR built in Belgium. Did feel that we were the odd one out though - the judges walked right past us having looked at the lovely wooden boats either side. Did get a prize for making the most effort to get there though.

 

[apindrans]

A Boat that looks good and is used.

Dare I say it but I apparently own a classic boat she's a Laurent Giles Vertue, but here in Oz very few people recognize the class but on the water people comment that she looks a real classic. I sail Corio Vertue whenever I can, and every time I go out of the marina I pass a beautiful looking Nic 32 - in my eyes a real classic, but she never goes out and is used as a live a board. Nobody comments about her.

A boat on the water says all - a nice sheer, good proportions and the look of a proper little ship rather than a go fast plastic fantastic, but I do like Wally Yachts though, and would love to own an HR. I can't afford either so I stick to may faithful classic and am happy.

 

[Neil_Y]

Classic boat should have more plastic/steel/aluminium or they should call the magazine classic wooden boat.

Nich 32's, Rival 38's, Sigma 33's, Twisters, and dare I say it Bavaria 350's are all classics in my book, as well as the HR's from the late 80's of course.