Stapely info, anyone?

[Alacrity]

I have a 16' Stapely that I believe was known as a Hawk, when I bought her last year I was told she was a 1968 boat? I always thought is was a Stapely/Tremlett as I know that Ray used Tremlett hulls early on. Now someone who is not to be ignored reckons it is a Stapely hull not a Tremlett. He also thinks the term 'Hawk' was only used when Ray started making his own hulls, anyone know for sure? I have a pal with a later 'Hawk' & his hull is very different down aft.

I have no history on the boat I would love to know more about her. She is currently powered by a 1984 Merc 115 & was a ski race boat, clearly with a different motor. She has the classic Stapely ali rails each side of her foredeck, a 105 litre coffin tank & Gibson manual trim tabs.

She runs a treat & handles like a dream, maxing out at 57mph, I can't get her to the 60 mark - yet. I am pulling the powerhead down this coming winter to wake it up a bit. She is used purely for pleasure, mainly at CMBA rallies.

Any help much appreciated.

Geoff

[parug]

All of Ray's hull's he made where under the name Taloncraft .

The mono's where all named after birds of pray.
Who did you buy it from ?
are you sure it's a 16 not a 17?
The ali rail's would have been made by John Steel

[FLYING FISH]

Attached pic looks very much like the boat in question.Don`t where the 1968 built date came from,for as far I know the stapley mono didn`t appear until 1971.Splinters raced in 1974.Other boats like Sundance and South Godstone had slightly different hand rails,although the hull colour was similar.Splinters was referred to as 17ft,but the builder could confirm this.
What you need is the builders register of all their boats and corresponding pics.I wish?

[Mike Ward]

Ray Stapley was racing a Tremlett / Mercury combination called "Pa Rug" in 1967, can't find any earlier reference to him.

[Tremlett 15]

Ray Stapley was racing a Tremlett / Mercury combination called "Pa Rug" in 1967,

this one ( round Isle of Man race).....this picture inspired us to buy Tremlett hulls.......

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk248/jamesagunning/59092a5a.jpg

[Jon Fuller]

http://boatmad.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=25754&d=1281562468

[Tremlett 15]

http://boatmad.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=25754&d=1281562468

thanks Jon, great quality; mine is a scan copy from the original cutting from a mag way back then which I have on file.

[Jon Fuller]

From this thread...

http://boatmad.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16689

[Tremlett 15]

From this thread...

http://boatmad.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16689

thanks again Jon, I somehow missed that thread..:headbang: was getting ready for my trip to Cardiff that day & yes pic 5 is IoM.

[parug]

Ray Stapley was racing a Tremlett / Mercury combination called "Pa Rug" in 1967, can't find any earlier reference to him.

two 1965 reference to ray

[Big Dutch]

Wow there is some pedigree in that little list:up: 400 points for a win ?

[Alacrity]

All of Ray's hull's he made where under the name Taloncraft .

The mono's where all named after birds of pray.
Who did you buy it from ?
are you sure it's a 16 not a 17?
The ali rail's would have been made by John Steel

No I am not sure, I will measure her this week, I have been away boating with big Riva's in France for 10 days!

I bought her from a guy in Christchurch in Jan 2009, I believe he had others at some point in time. All the info I have, which is very little, came from him.

Thanks for all the reply's gentlemen.

Geoff

[Alacrity]

All of Ray's hull's he made where under the name Taloncraft .

The mono's where all named after birds of pray.
Who did you buy it from ?
are you sure it's a 16 not a 17?
The ali rail's would have been made by John Steel

Just measured her - 17'

[beefur MM]

another tremlett there are a few about
this one 17' race boat

[Alacrity]

Attached pic looks very much like the boat in question.Don`t where the 1968 built date came from,for as far I know the stapley mono didn`t appear until 1971.Splinters raced in 1974.Other boats like Sundance and South Godstone had slightly different hand rails,although the hull colour was similar.Splinters was referred to as 17ft,but the builder could confirm this.
What you need is the builders register of all their boats and corresponding pics.I wish?

You could well be correct FF, I am basing my info based on what I was told by Jim Cox, the guy I bought her from & she is 17' not 16' 6" as I said earlier. In that picture Splinters is running a 1974 Merc so I guess she wouldn't have been that old then. It is interesting to note the handrails appear identical as does the shape/colour of the deck paintwork & the ali rub rail with the red plastic insert I have just removed looks to be there. She is having deck & motor surgery this winter so we shall see if anything is revealed when the paint is removed from the deck. There appears to be a few bits & bobs fixed to the deck which are not there now so if there are witness marks in the same areas then it will look like you might have found her, in which case I will call her by the same name again.

Do you know anything more about her or who raced/owned her?

Many thanks FF

[FLYING FISH]

Raced 1974 by Barry Drinkwater. Merc 150hp

Solent 70 -2nd III C , 5th OA (Co driver Alan Baldwin) 31.2 mph av

East Coast Classic - ret

Severn Seas Trophy - ret

London - Calais - London - 2nd III C , 5th OA, 45.1 mph av

Camden Trophy - ret

Southend Race - ?

Round the Island - 1st III C

Torbay 100 - ret

There may be a couple more races it was in that I have no record of,but I think there is a shot of it in the 1974 C III Powerboat film in the Gallery.

[Alacrity]

Thank you FF, more useful info. Unfortunately I can't get the film to play beyond 2 min 50 showing Spectre, it just stops at that point which is a bugger. :headbang:

I will see if its any different at home tonight.

Thanks again.

[parug]

From the picture your boat has a metal band on the keel,and has short spray rail's at the rear as i told you before,this is more than likely Denis Holmes boat. F**ALL'S dad he had a 17ft with 115 merc for ski racing ,the metal was fitted because Denis liked to step out onto dry land

[Alacrity]

From the picture your boat has a metal band on the keel,and has short spray rail's at the rear as i told you before,this is more than likely Denis Holmes boat. F**ALL'S dad he had a 17ft with 115 merc for ski racing ,the metal was fitted because Denis liked to step out onto dry land

That makes sense, she has evidence of a ski pole being fitted as there is a approx 6" shallow socket in the hog & approx 2 1/2"ish hole in the very heavily engineered beam across the rear of the cockpit directly above the socket in the hog. I am sure Denis Holmes name was mentioned when I bought the boat.

This is the first time I have heard this from you parug other than your earlier post on this thread so am a little confused, I did PM you on 3/9/10 but didn't hear back?

Would love to know more & I thank you for taking the time to reply today.

[gar163y]

Dennis Holmes 17' had a very bent hand rail just beside the observers seat where Lance used to hang on. As I remember Lance was a big lad.

[parug]

That makes sense, she has evidence of a ski pole being fitted as there is a approx 6" shallow socket in the hog & approx 2 1/2"ish hole in the very heavily engineered beam across the rear of the cockpit directly above the socket in the hog. I am sure Denis Holmes name was mentioned when I bought the boat.

This is the first time I have heard this from you parug other than your earlier post on this thread so am a little confused, I did PM you on 3/9/10 but didn't hear back?

Would love to know more & I thank you for taking the time to reply today.

I did get back to you than,must have got lost between Canada and England

[Alacrity]

Dennis Holmes 17' had a very bent hand rail just beside the observers seat where Lance used to hang on. As I remember Lance was a big lad.

Would these holes match up? Seem about right to me.

[Alacrity]

Pictures in the gallery seem to confirm the boat as being from the Holmes stable. See no 83 which is the larger 20' Condor showing exactly the same livery. Sundance also appears to have the same colour scheme & also has the shortened spray rails the same as mine.