So it all started with a text to dave b,  saying i have found a skiff what u think, a few phone calls and some excitement, we ended up striking an amaing deal for a 18footer,

we spent a day working on it and now its stripped and ready for a nice new coat of paint and some new sails, we have ourselves a very nice skiff

so we now have 6 of us an 18footer,

if anyone has any sails or know of any spare skiff kit to donate to the cause then please do it,

ill put some pics online soon

Hi.

Which 18 is it?

We think it is Gill, it is a light blue b18 from queen mary,

has a few logos, and looks like there were more on the bow that have been sanded off,

you know anything about it

How many wing tubes on each side?

Also

Has it got a flat jib track?

IIRC Gill was also Aquatonic?

Yey thats 3 B18's i know that have been resurrected in the last year. Perhaps we need to setup a cheap and cheerful B18 series of get togethers.

Good luck guys. Post pics of your progress. Heres ours:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/98882529@N00/sets/72157603767804694/ - http://www.flickr.com/photos/98882529@N00/sets/7215760376780 4694/

I'd be more worried about making sure all the standing and running rigging works properly than the colour of the faded block ...

If anything breaks it's big money so make sure all is reliable.

ill put them all up in a min, ill also set up a flikr account,

richard, im trying to put a name to a face?

and it has identical racks to erricson but with perfect netting,

the hull has no holes and is solid as a rock, and has a curved jib track with a ronstan traveler,

it wont let me upload any pictures but have put them on flikr,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43734790@N06 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/43734790@N06

Is that the carbon B18 that Ovi built for Lawrie Smith in '95/'96?  The only ones I know of which had a dished deck (i.e. not out of the B18 deck mould) where that one and Ericsson.  All the standard ones were glass not carbon.

Mike

it is deff a carbon boat

and has a dished deck so sounds like that boat.

just need a kite now, do u know anyone with one?

Not these days!  I'm sure the Draycote skiff boys will be reading this thread, they may be able to help.

Mike

well after the paint job, there isnt a huge amount to do, there is no damage and just got to set up the rig, we pulled some tension in to it and no creaks and cracks,

Unfortunately I dont think we have any "spare" kites, sorry.

Your boat does look very, very similar to ericsson which has the dished deck as Mike says. When we were sanding ericsson we definitely came across carbon all over the hull so pretty sure it is a full carbon hull and not glass.

Nope, ours are on the forward wing bar. This is about the best photo I have showing them. I'll see if I can find others.

We put ours on the forward wing bar as well, but not hugely different to having them just in front of the shroud.

Beware the self-capsizing jib if you haven't sailed with one before!

Mike

Its not the B18 built for Laurie Smith. - That was at Grafham.

This is the sister ship to the Ericson. - ST Foils. Ovi built two hulls which were finished by Bunny Warren (ST Foils) and have a unusual very aft swept wing bars.

They also have longer bow tubes to allow a larger number 1 jib (which the standard B18s didn't)

There were only 4 modified deck B18 built from Ovi hulls. These two. The one built for Laurie which became one of my Base 1's and a final one decked by Graham Eels (s) which was also a "Base 1" for one season before I sold it to some one in South Wales never to be seen again!

I never knew Bunny did 2, I'm pretty sure only Ericsson saw the light of day before I retired.  I'd forgotten about Eelesy's boat (that was after my time too).

Ericsson was built 95/96, I'm guessing that ST Foils must have been around the same time, I don't think a second one would have been built with the wings like that otherwise.

Mike

Bunny raced ST Foils for 1 season at least. I remember him at Datchet and Largs. I'm not sure of its full history but it did turn up at Hayling for a National with Ian Pinnel at the helm.

Did you buy your B18 new? or secondhand?

Ah,  confusion explained.  I thought the boat that Bunny raced as ST Foils became Ericsson when he sold it, didn't realise they were 2 different boats. Now back to your normal programming...

Mike

so is ours newer or older than erricson.

we dont have a stayed sprit which is a little odd, still massive tho

No stays? really? I'm sure Mike or Rob will be able to confirm this but it sounds strange to me. Our bowsprit snapped like a twig when one of the cheese wires connected to the front of the rack let go.

http://www.youtube.com/user/amygoodness#p/a/u/1/Lg7IQxU4lgM - http://www.youtube.com/user/amygoodness#p/a/u/1/Lg7IQxU4lgM

yea saw it, she is a fixed carbon sprit made by proctor,

seems pretty beefy and there hasnt ever been any stays, no holes in the racks or bow,

UK boats allowed stayed poles from '96 onwards I believe.  Everyone converted as soon as you were allowed to as it allowed a longer stiffer pole (hence bigger kite).  Maybe ST Foils was launched in '95 and only did one proper season, I don't remember.

Mike

we have a spare ali pole of an older boat will work fine tho.

so will pop that on, or may just measure our carbon one or use one of my older windsurfing rigs stiffend up

I am the proud owner of the well travelled, and rather aged B18 that was built for Laurie Smith. Yes I know... I bought it from James Brace!!

Well to be fair I have now managed to put some new progrip and new black netting on the racks so it staright away looks a whole load better. Just need to sort out the deck and some new control lines and she'll be ready to go on the water...with me and a couple of mates being dragged i'm sure behind or next to it!!

It would be great, once i have managed to actually get it out and on the water a couple fo times to take up the offer of an old 18ft'er sail off - but it might have to wait until the early part of next season as could do with some practice first. That Kite is not shy in size....

Demo

That boat is bomb proof! and the deck layout and pro-gip makes a nice ride. Where are you based with it?

That was my favorite "Base 1"

The boat is currently covered up in Southampton, as work commitments have taken over in the last couple of months, but it is there and i and others are itching to have a blast....

It currently has the sharks teeth sticker at the bow as Ella Bache did all those years ago but unsure if this really has anything to do with the boats history. If it does then I will try and do a bit of a retro job of the boat in the new year - i'm sure I have that old bright yellow and red long john somewhere at my parents house!!

James - with a bit of practice it would be good to try and give you boys a run for your money with my old classic.

Demo

Sounds like the older boats are going to have a bigger UK fleet than the new boats next year. Maybe we should have prizes for the top old boats at each event!

Or even work out a handicap series, could make things a bit more interesting???

Sorry, nothing spare. Infact if all goes well with the first sail then I am going to be on the look out for a new main and kite. I'll let you know if i get any angles.

Love the idea of an old and new hanicap system. Mine isn't a carbon boat but a glass one so i take it that i would get a more favourable handicap than probably everyone else, but at the same time others lack ability so maybe we should see!!!

Demo

Some more confusion here.  The boat you have Dave was a completely standard B18 built for Lawrie Smith for the '95 season.  I bought it off him for '96.  More recently it turned up at Draycote with the shark's teeth (and still sporting a lot of the useful bits I put on it!), sadly the teeth have nothing to do with the history of the boat.  For '96 Lawrie had a new B18 built in carbon with a dished deck, which is the one that became Base 1.

Mike

Ah, so that's not my old B18 but your old B18!!!! - I forgot Lawrie had a standard B18 first. and that you bought that when you jumped ship!!!

So where is my old B18 with the dished deck? I last saw it at Grafham.

It's still there I believe and it made it out to the open at Rutland ealier in the year.

I did do a double take as it had a very long snout for a B18 ... so I guess it will take the M18 jibs.

It will take a "Turbo" jib which is bigger than the M18 No.1 jib. They were used on Grand Prix skiffs, and that boat was built to race in the Grand Prix circuit that came to the UK. I still have the wire bob-stay needed to support the jib.

i i think we may have ur boat, ours has a massive snout, check our flikr

Originally posted by Inland sea Olly I Think Rob is talking about the below one edit ... photo didn't work try the link:- http://gallery.me.com/alecmck/100036/Grafham-205/web.jpg?ver =12411846610001 You could see the Base1 faded in red on the bow. Wow you can even see the bobstay

Yes that's my favorite B18. The hull was built by Ovi and the deck by Neil McDonald. She was made for Lawrie Smith as "The Sunday Times". Lawrie sold it to Russel Peters who had it for 1 season, I bought it from Russel and raced it for about 3 seasons.

The wire bob-stay in that photo is the one to support a standard No 1 Jib which is the maximum current rules allow, but there is room to put a "Turbo" jib - a light weather option used by the Grand Prix Boats.

The wings on that boat were originally 16ft (or 17ft?) wide for the Grand Prix Series than cut down to the current 14ft rule.

As I said before, that boat is bomb proof and with a good rig would be fast (but difficult to handle!)

right , after sanding fairing, stripping all the fittings, hanging it on a very sketchy rope system from the sailing clubs boat shed roof, one coat of toxic primer which made us feel very happy in a small room, 3 coats of a high gloss white paint she is looking amazing

took us all night and havnt been to bed but still very good,

we fitted her out today and are just finalising all the control lengths and the take ups( if anyone can help on these the please do)

one issue we have come accross are our racks, we have taken the glass off all the joints and they are in a bit of a sorry state, all the welds are strong however the material around them isnt, however this will be sleved and glassed over so will be ready soon

we pick up our new sails this week which have been kindly dontanted so will have new mains a few kits and no2 set of sails as well as some more advice and help.

all in all our cheep skiff is going well and we should have her out soon,

well i have finally recovered from the paint fumes,

we put the rig on the boat today and re did some of the wires, and went through the take ups.

no creeks and seems to be solid.

will get the pics up when the others get them downloaded

it is sand in the epoxy under the paint, is rough as.

so should be fine, after stipping the racks and now having them welded up we should be on the water very soon

yea and it is still pretty light, heavyist bit is the rig

its fine,

only made me feel a bit sick

dave wont let me weld them, come one if i can design alumium boats i can build them,

TIG is probably the easiest method of welding, but welding aluminium is a different matter.  The heat you put into the aluminium can cause the material around the weld to become brittle.  My advice would be to take it to a proper fabricator who deals with aluminium.

oh come one i can weld fine, and can weld ali,

and it may be girlfriend weekend, but she is a coowner of the boat so not a " you cant sail" gf.

just picked up our new suits of sails. so now have nearly 3 full suits and hopefully another 2 next week,

na just thought that we would see just how big it is, and the conclusion was very, thank god im at the back of the bus

Lads,

Treat yourself to a £5 early Christmas pressie 'Smack Down Under' Vid. There are some useful technique & handling methods to gain from it. 

Here; http://www.ldcracingsailboats.co.uk/index.asp?selection=saleitems - http://www.ldcracingsailboats.co.uk/index.asp?selection=sale items

there was no wind at all,

and yea i am going to pop into ldc today and pick one up.

olly_love - If you are popping into LDC today then give me a shout. It would be good to talk 18ft'ers and compare notes. I've not really done much to Swordfish other than a bit of a re-rope, new nets (which are a real pain to fit), and rig the bad boy up!! and yes that rig is huge, esp with the racks and prodder on.... I like you also can't want to find the time to getting out and on the water.