Whilst being slightly nosy in a Stone boatyard, we spotted a hull being heavily worked on; in fact it had a new bottom and lower sides, new swim, had been stretched by 10', and the previous cabin had been cut off. So mostly a new boat, really. ;-) The curved pieces in the picture below are actually the old chine sections with quite a curve, the friendly guy we talked to reckoned Spitfire must have been built as an icebreaker, I think.
It proved to be Spitfire, a 'BCN Tug' from 1940. Jim Shead's site lists it as 46', so that would make sense from the stretched length we saw. This is where the internet bit comes in - there's loads of info out there about it, say here (ironically on Roger Fuller's site, Roger having the next boatyard along), here, and here, who ask for up to date information. I mention this as I'd love to have more history for Tortoise, although of course more modern leisure boats tend to be less well recorded. There's twenty years of history lost; 1980 is only a guess of manufacture; Jim & Mary found her for sale as 'Lyndon' (owned by Lyn, and Don) in around 2000 and renamed her Salad Days. In some ways it doesn't matter, but it would be nice...
4 comments:
ha! I'm using the library computer and found that your second link for Spitfire was blocked due to the word 'sex' being somewhere on that site!! Now I'm intrigued about that boat's history!
carrie x
I believe that what has been done to Spitfire has been very frowned upon by lovers of old boats. IIRC it was the last remaining one with those very rounded chines, and the owner has had them replaced because they didn't like the way it 'rolled'. I agree, if you're going to modify (mutilate might not be too strong a word) a historic boat that much, why not just get a new one in the first place.
Sarah - to be fair, the boatyard guy we spoke to did say that the owner had wanted to keep the curved chines, but it wasn't possible - presumable it would have bumped up the cost? He also said the boat didn't actually float before they started work. So I guess practical choices had to be made, but I do see your point. There's a 47' Joey boat on Apollo Duck at the moment I've been dreaming about converting, hopefully respectfully, but that would be in another lifetime...
Actually - after I'd had the sides replaced on Tortoise the previous owners were sad I'd changed it so much, but it needed doing, and that on a boat 30 years old... ;-)
Carrie -not sure if a boat has ever been used as a brothel, but stranger things have happened... ;-)
Well there's a boat in Bristol called 'Bordello' - lap-dancing paradise.
-carrie
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