What's this enormous little motor-sailer?

Greenheart

Greenheart

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I saw this boat ashore in a South Coast yard, beside a Fisher 25. She seems to be about the same length, or even a little smaller than the Fisher.

I was very impressed by the not-too-small wheel-shelter and the aft cabin, all within an overall length that often prohibits these features.

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Apologies to the owner for the public scrutiny, if he's a forumite!

Anybody know what builder/class the boat is? Thanks.
 
It could be a Colvic Watson 24 ft. I made a mistake when I bought one a few years ago. The one I bought had a 50 hp BMC Diesel Engine (Thornycroft) The mistake I made was in thinking that engine parts would be readily available for BMC Thornycroft Engines. Yes perhaps for the smaller BMC engine which they fitted in the Austin J4 Vans. OK I was able to buy Alternator. Starter etc, but stuff like Water Pumps are unavailable.
I also found (although this is just my opinion) that like the one in the photo if you come to sell one, everybody wants the one with bilge keels on either side of the deep keel. I really had to drop the price of mine to sell it.
I reckon that people who want a £5000 boat cant really afford to keep them in a marina at £2000 a year but if they can get one with Bilge Keels they can get a drying out mooring and its cheap boating.
Where my boat was stood there was a Fisher 25 next to it, and I thought the Colvic Watson 24 was bigger, And they are, I put a tape measure along the waterline. The Fisher 25 has a transom hung rudder which is around 2ft wide. The 25ft length includes the length of the rudder, whereas the Colvic has the rudder underneath the transom.
I did think of buying a new engine for my boat but it would not have put the value up.
If I was buying again a bilge keeler with a more recent engine would be a good purchase.
 
Jim@sea said:
It could be a Colvic Watson 24 ft. I made a mistake when I bought one a few years ago. The one I bought had a 50 hp BMC Diesel Engine (Thornycroft) The mistake I made was in thinking that engine parts would be readily available for BMC Thornycroft Engines. Yes perhaps for the smaller BMC engine which they fitted in the Austin J4 Vans. OK I was able to buy Alternator. Starter etc, but stuff like Water Pumps are unavailable.
I also found (although this is just my opinion) that like the one in the photo if you come to sell one, everybody wants the one with bilge keels on either side of the deep keel. I really had to drop the price of mine to sell it.
I reckon that people who want a £5000 boat cant really afford to keep them in a marina at £2000 a year but if they can get one with Bilge Keels they can get a drying out mooring and its cheap boating.
Where my boat was stood there was a Fisher 25 next to it, and I thought the Colvic Watson 24 was bigger, And they are, I put a tape measure along the waterline. The Fisher 25 has a transom hung rudder which is around 2ft wide. The 25ft length includes the length of the rudder, whereas the Colvic has the rudder underneath the transom.
I did think of buying a new engine for my boat but it would not have put the value up.
If I was buying again a bilge keeler with a more recent engine would be a good purchase.
Click to expand...
Regarding the engine: this was our experience with the old BMC 154, 50hp that was in our boat when the waterpump failed on the way to Boulogne. The UK company wanted 250 pounds for a rebuild plus shipping, both ways, and a six to eight week turnaround. They refused to simply send me the parts. I rebuilt it myself with the help of a French machine shop for 40 Euro (and a bottle of wine) in a 48 hour turnaround! I have to say the French were exceedingly helpful and reasonable which the Brits were not. At the next opportunity we put in a new engine.

50 Hp for a 25.5 footer is excessive. 6Hp per ton is plenty, even for a motorsailer, 8Hp/t is already too much.

Re bilge keels on a CW: no CW was ever designed to have bilge keels. Generally, CW's were home completed ( there are a few notable and excellent exceptions). Nearly all bilge plates were amateur designed and fitted and many do not have the necessary internal reinforcements to take the loads. Fairly recently, a German 28.5 ran aground in the Waddenzee and the bilge keel opened up a 2 foot gash in the hull; the boat sunk and was a total write-off. The correct placement of such keels, even if properly reinforced, requires considerable experience and hydrodynamic knowledge which I doubt is within the scope of the average amateur builder. Some of the keels fitted are hydrodynamic atrocities and none, even the better ones, help with the already seriously underpowered sailing performance.

With their long keels they work very well with a set of legs. We have let ours dry out, unsupervised and without any problems, on many occasions (sheltered and pre-surveyed of course). Drying out on a muddy bottom in the Waddenzee she remained bolt-upright; no legs.
 
After lots of googling I would say the 50hp is the 1.8 where it came in 3 flavours.
Also seen that some of the other larger bmc engines can be hard to find parts.
So I find it strange that the 60,s originating 1.5 is the one that has a large and very cheap spares catalogue.
What a great looking little boat that colvic Watson is.
 
Wansworth said:
Would the turning ability be improved with a less squRe forefoot with no loss of directional stability?
Click to expand...
I am not sure about that. I do know that the steering ability on our 32 was significantly affected by the coarse deadwood and the flat plate rudder. Steamlining the deadwood and profiling and enlarging the rudder significantly improved the steering among other things.
Reducing the deep forefoot would no doubt decrease wetted area and improve performance in light airs. In this type of hull form, however, it is the forefoot that generates the most lift to weather - a reason I have resisted perforating it for a bowthruster. The directional stability is, IMHO, more influenced by the drag to the keel (deeper aft).

It should be noted that even motorized Dutch barges carry an enhanced flat forefoot to improve steering by giving the hull a bit more bite up forward. I do believe they even call this feature a "windbyter" (I may have gotten that spelling wrong and likely will spark an international incident).
 
Rappey said:
After lots of googling I would say the 50hp is the 1.8 where it came in 3 flavours.
Also seen that some of the other larger bmc engines can be hard to find parts.
So I find it strange that the 60,s originating 1.5 is the one that has a large and very cheap spares catalogue.
What a great looking little boat that colvic Watson is.
Click to expand...
My Colvic Northerner has a BMC 2.2 litre, 50 HP engine. I found a website in Holland for a company that will supply almost all parts for them, the engine was used in the Gipsy Welcome at Gipsy Spares I seem to remember that another vehicle also used this engine (other than some London taxis) but the name escapes me. Lots of them in canal boats apparently.
 
I read some more and the thornycroft branded engines appeared to have used a fair few different brands as their base units.
There are certainly many wildly varying claims as to what vehicles used which engines.
Many say the 1.5 was a taxi engine but have never found evidence of this.
Your 2.2 gets mentioned in this discussion and suggests many were built in turkey from the 70,s
BMC 1800 "B series" Diesels
 
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