Here are a few shots of the H19 36' Cigarette (III? - converted to a cruiser) entered for the C-T-C this year, but far from ready and looking a bit rusty in the nether regions... Gordon C was saying they'd have to work flat-out to have her ready after engine failures have left a big question-mark over her being able to take-part... all hands to the pumps?
If any of us can help, I'm sure we would.. Now, where's that lottery ticket again?
I imagine that the boat still has that horrible windscreen.
More the crowd shouted.................................Blimey that was a LOT more work than I anticipated looking at the first pics! Makes it all the more impressive now we have seen the end results..........
There's a big difference between a cosmetic restoration and a boat ready to really race. I now understand what a pounding these boats take. Sitting for 30 years with various delaminations that allow water in is hard on things that rot or corrode. From what I read this boat was raced hard for two seasons. It now has a new life, thanks to Mike.
I'm back, finally a use for all those pillows my wife piles on the bed, If I prop myself up with about 6 it feels pretty good. More pics.
Even though everything looked good on the outside all the main bulkheads were bad so what got replaced was the bulk. forward of the front tanks, All 6 tanks, Bulk. in front and behind front tanks, Main engine bulkhead and 1/4 bulkheads between rear tanks. 8 pieces in total.
Now it starts to get scarey
On the early 35 cig, this being #3 they used the 36 widebody deck and cut it to fit, no flange, just lay er on, cut and tab glass on the inside, problem is after many years the tabs begin to peel from the joint and then parts company. Fix was remove tabbing one section at a time, grind, replace and install 10-32 100 deg cs screws/nylocks every 4 inches around the perimeter to stop future peel. I don't mind glass work and have had plenty of experience but enough already! I went through 2 helpers that did not care for it at all.
Hi Graham, Great picture, Thanks.
Their restoration was shit! Never buy a boat from pictures even when they are as good as yours. When we spoke at Drivers you mentioned when I got the boat I started to post some photos and then it all went quiet. Now you know why. My dream turned into a nightmare.
But now she is better than new.
Interesting photos. I did not think the state of the boat were the ones that we see before your restoration.
From the images of 2-3 years ago(also of the engine bay) seemed in perfect order.
Very impressive the pic with the Uno and Dry together.
Hi Marco
Most of the problems started with the gas tanks which had never been replaced. As you can see in the states the tanks are foamed in place. In the restoration they had repaired the starboard rear tank by wrapping the lower half with an additional layer of aluminum. The front two tanks had been disconnected but the damage had already been done. Fuel was seeping into the foam and then wicking into the bulkheads on all tanks. The boat looked good on the surface but the bulkheads were soaked through with fuel and water. The separation between the deck and the hull did not become apparent until we got further into the restoration and got her completely stripped, In my opinion during their restoration they realize they had opened up a real can of worms and decided to dress her up, either that or they were complete hacks and should never have been working on such a boat in the first place. I will say that I do not think I have ever worked on a boat that had so many problems from engines to plumbing to bulkheads to steering, the whole thing was shagged. But I suppose some one else could of got her and thought she was in great shape. The saving grace in all this is she was a totally complete old school famous class one boat which had not been bastardized from its original form and as you know that is very hard to find these days. Oh and the price was right. It was a labor of love, more labor than I bargained for, but I know its right, a knowledge you can only really know when you have been completely through something and I feel very lucky to own such a important piece of racing history. Hope to meet you someday Marco, maybe CTC 2011. Cheers
NICE, if u ever need parts for those #3's let me know, a friend of mine is building the gears and shafts again here in the US...also those class 1 motors are cool with the kinsler fuel injection....on racefuel with 12:1 compression they make around 900 HP and 950 FPT !
U SHOULD BE FINE WITH THAT BOAT ANYWHERE IN ANY WATER !!!!!!
__________________ Not as bad as you think i am, just different !
Thanks Daredevil, I did not get chance to dyno them and I built them at 9 to1 for pump gas so they are going to be quite a bit back on that figure. I was talking to Mel Riggs about gears and he mentioned the gears were being made again. Any information on if they are as good/ better than the originals. I am running 3As on both boats.
I thought Lohring was rather kind in his accessment,but your comments are straight to the point.
Out of curiosity,did you ever feel the need to contact Charlie over his Benihana restoration,just to see how that went.
The wonderful world of boat restoration and the ripping yarns that go with it.
When I saw the smashed screen on Uno,my first thought was a lack of top edge stiffening,but I see it`s as per the original.We never got involved in the screen mounting,but normally on boat screen, we would call for some sort of edge stiffening.Even Unowot didn`t have much either.Most odd.Then again I don`t think it went through the sort of punishment you had at the weekend.
I can`t recall a 40ft Shead hull submarining,although I have seen Canadian Moppie slide down a big sea in the 1971 race and stuff at slow motion into the next wave.This sort of feedback never surfaced (excuse the pun).
I got the impression Rob was driving the boat to finish,so at a slower speed perhaps it was more vunerable to clipping the next wave.Same as Swipewipes, which seemed to be on the edge of coping with some nasty seas until it ran out of luck and slowly sliced into a big wave.Of course no visors must have made things even worse for coping.
Same as Swipewipes, which seemed to be on the edge of coping with some nasty seas until it ran out of luck and slowly sliced into a big wave.Of course no visors must have made things even worse for coping.
That was one of the last wet moments in that race, of 30 or more crossing the bay west>east, it was one of the more mild ones too, the one that took my helmet left us in the dark for what seemed like an age.. We simply didn't have the length, and / or bouyancy fwd to bridge them, or keep the sharp end out of the oggin. Most frustrating. You could feel that the first thing to touch the taller (& very steep) waves, was the rubrail/pointy bit, the forefoot just didn't get a chance to do it's work of 'recovery' before the inevitable was already happening. What we wouldn't have given for a few extra feet (or big, wide blunt bow, ala Scorpion) ho hum.
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"I Agree with everything you say really!" - John Cooke to Jon Fuller - 26-01-2013