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David_Old_Jersey · 30-12-2007, 12:55

It is not me selling

, but I stumbled accross this (and for an English boat the advert is comprehensive).

Comments- for sale advert

http://www.easternyachts.com/helene/pbo.pdf - Yacht Mag Review (PDF)

I have always loved the look and concept of these boats. Probably one of the last "modern" boats to be designed in wood.....been described as an "engineers boat" (for the thought that went into her design).

The only reason that I have never bought one is that my Father had a Fairey (Fisherman) for many years, and I know how much work is involved in looking after a wooden boat, even a 26 foot one.....and that I am simply not up to it.

But if I was after to sail around the world in a boat I had complete confidence in, costing under £7k (USD14k) this would be near the top of my list..........

dcstrng · 31-12-2007, 05:36

Certainly is a pleasure to look at a purpose built boat – assuming the purpose is nautical and not simple marketing… Intriguing to say the least…

David_Old_Jersey · 31-12-2007, 07:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcstrng

Certainly is a pleasure to look at a purpose built boat – assuming the purpose is nautical and not simple marketing… Intriguing to say the least…

Not Marketing, Honest

........if I ever come to sell mine I will start a longggggg thread starting with "should I sell?" and turning into a soap opera

I have done a bit of Googling over the Hols and thought I would share this - given that folk outside the UK may never have heard of / seen one and IMO they are Classic boats (an overused term usually, but not in this case).

My Googling also developed me an interest in buying a sailing Kayak........but I am confident that too shall pass

.

dcstrng · 31-12-2007, 11:01

<Not Marketing, Honest...>

I was refering to the orginal construction... sorry... I never doubted your post... I am always intrigued by serious looking little ships...

David_Old_Jersey · 31-12-2007, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcstrng

<Not Marketing, Honest...>

I was refering to the orginal construction... sorry... I never doubted your post... I am always intrigued by serious looking little ships...

No worries - I wasn't sure - Internet, bit hard to read sometimes

Definately wasn't a marketing thing by Fairey Marine, they made around 100 of them back in the late 50's and early 60's (amongst other models - Sail - Fulmar, Fisherman, Power - Swordfish, Huntsman and Huntress etc).

Designed I beleive by ex WWII aircraft engineers and using technology & design applied from building wooden WWII aeroplanes.

The wood was "Hot moulded" from veneers under pressure (I forget how many atmospheres), albeit on the Atalanta not including the transom which was good old fashioned Plywood - so in the hull itself their were no "joins" to leak - as is "traditional" on a wooden boat - and given that the glue is forced into the venners at pressure very resistant to rot (but not impervious)......and of course the use of Veneers allowed solid shapes that other wooden boats could only dream about, and could also be lighter from the use of shape for strength, as well as an appreciation by the designers that strength does always have to involve weight - although decks usually involved "only" plywood on many models.

The new wonder material GRP replaced this method of construction for cost reasons and nowadays way too expensive to try and make a boat this way (who has a pressure cooker big enough to fit a boat in!).

and no, I am not "on commission"

bvimatelot · 31-12-2007, 15:48

Ah yes, the Fairey Huntress: lovely boat which the Admiralty bought a lot of for use as Admiral's Barges and the like. We had a few at Dartmouth and had such fun in them. If you stopped suddenly, the wake would catch you up and swamp the boat.....good learning curve for small boat handling! Tony

edlithgow · 17-12-2009, 04:54

I've always thought they looked extremely "rational" designs, the antithesis of "marketting-led."

I've never understood the point of two parallel drop keels, however. With bilge keels, you need two to take the ground, and they are canted outward so the leeward one goes deeper when heeled.

Drop keels have to operate vertically, and they'll be retracted when you take the ground. Maybe in the retracted position they act as "stub" bilge keels, but I'd still have thought a single centre-line drop keel (and separate grounding stubs) would have been more efficient. Maybe it would be more intrusive in the cabin.

The relatively complex and possibly relatively fragile keels would be one worry in a "round the world" context.

More generally I'd be a bit concerned about the repairability of such a monocoque hull if damaged. Its going to take quite a lot of skill to patch it and I doubt you can buy the same (resourcinol?) glue (which would need to be a cold-cured version anyway) so it'd probably have to be epoxied.