cat on ebay

[michaelcaine]

bidders have cancelled their bids again!! its still going cheap

[Ciao]

Winning bid: £250.00

Sold to the man in the corner with the white stick and Labrador Dog.

Now if I get to see that thing on Ebay in another 19 years......

[Ciao]

Originally posted by BluFin
Ron was a great bloke, I enjoyed his humor and company. His great love was Hydros & circuit boats which he always enjoyed making most.
He was the guy that brought the Range of Marina boats to production & they carry his trade mark the sordfish / marlin logo. They split and he contined in his love for devlepoment rather than production.
His Offshore boats of his own design did show success but not all as I found out
Noteable success were Blue Blood an Mono very much a rough water boat. Marina Express & Armacryl which the Old boy ran in IIB the latter the most succesful
C class There was barry Drinkwater With Blue Blood II but that really was a calm water boat. Barry lost a lot of heart with it after the flip at windermere (see gallery, history -oops). This then passed to Adam after a spell with, Forgot ....father & son from the cotswolds, & myself with Terrahawk, Which had it's inherent problems of being way too light after slowly getting to grips with it and finally gettting the first calm one of the season to hole in the front was really dishearting (Margate). It was about the time Ron was hospitalised for a while and couldn't play a part for a long time, we had it beefed up all round but the frames & stringers would the fail. The one big problem with it was the boat ran very flat & you would run out of trim before really getting the tunnel to work offshore. If there was such a thing as a 2.5 in those days it would have been perfect but then there was a still the strength issue. or somthing like a force 6 but with two foot waves with no swell, yeh once in a million.......As I mentioned previously I really lost heart after punching I think it was the 6th hole in the rear of the tunnel. I'm sure Adam found the same. But shit did those boats turn corners. What else, he had great success with Howards IIID Cat to a Lorne Cambell Design. Which you still see around today. I think thats when it finally clicked the weight worked for you offshore rather than against (up to a certain point).
I have the greatest respect for Ron and I have some great memories, Like turning up and finding the front deck on "Hawk" to 1/16 ply "What the Fek" and in a way only Ron could say "Tiz only there to keep the water out" Yeh Ron but it bloody 6 ft high. "OK I'll beef it up" You collect it and find it it an 1/8, groovy. You know I forgot what it was like to have a boat where you could walk on the deck
He built Record attempt boats and the owners succesful in setting new records. He just loved doing light & would use steel screws with comments like "it will be out of date in two years anyway", "ya gonna break it first then I'll see where I need to strengthen it" . A lovley charater but boy you had to be keeping an eye during the build he just couldn't help himself shaving a bit off there & bit more here ahh that 2lb I've saved.
What else He made all the Nat West Fibreglass signs the logo thingys that hung outside the banks in those days. paid more than the boats but he hated doing it. Drove a Sauberu long before they were trendy and it had two speeds stop & flat out. Had about the most fekked set of knees I've ever seen sort of wobbled from side to side take him ages to get from under the boat.
Sorry waffling, turning into war & peace type post

Ron has passed away along with the old boy a few years now but the Legacey is still there along with so many other designers, builders & racers

So Gentleman charge your glasses to the racers & builders of old charging round the big race course in the sky.

Cheers

Wonder where this is?

[BluFin]

With Disprin the fast one

It really needed a bow tank in that boat, nice one john you got some stuff stashed away there