Fairy Finn

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Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

And was bought by a cvrda member, I think?
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davidh
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Post by davidh »

yes, the Unit was bought by Andrew and now resides down in Emsworth near Chichester. That's the only one that I'm aware of recently that has come onto the market. Ed - did you have some contact from a Unit owner wanting to move it on?

D
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Post by nick clibborn »

Interesting. Though this Finn is showing number 1 on the sail, the owner says it is really K122. But according to the Finn register K122 is a Pearson GRP boat built in 1962. A mystery ?

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neil
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Post by neil »

Her sail number is 129 and the hull number is 122. Apparently they were built in batches then registered so this is normal.
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PeterV
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Post by PeterV »

Neil,
I noticed it has a makers plate on the thwart. Mine doesn't but does have a number carved in the hog at the stern. Would this be a builders number and is there someone to tell what it means if it is?
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Ed
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Post by Ed »

Generally all Fairey Hulls have a number carved or more often stamped in the front face of the transom.

As Neil says, Fairy boats were made in batches and normally numerically from '1' by Fairey.

So for instance My Firefly is F2942 but the number stamped on hog in fact on fireflys is 2956. That should mean that it was the 2956th hull through the system and one of 6 or 8 that were made in that batch of hulls. After boats were made they were later registered and given a sail number. Some hulls were built but never registered hence the difference.

With other boats there was a bigger difference due to the hull being made by Fairey, but then fitted out by other boat-builders and given a number when registered with the class. This was the case with the Jollyboats. FWIW. My Jollyboat is registered as J3 but has shell number 2. I do not know if No 1 was ever given to Jollity the prototype.

My Int I4 is registered as K556 but was the 5th Fairey Mk1 hull and has 5 stamped on transom.

Of course by now you can see the weird thing.......Can't imagine why/how Fairey had numbered hull as 122, because I can't imagine they made that number of shells. As I said, I would normally expect them to number numerically rather than try and give a registered number....and if that was the case then why 122 and not 129.

To add further to confusion, seems to me that there was little standardisation to the numbering system and I suspect there were plenty of boats with no number....others with wrong number....etc etc...

So not really sure Peter if the number will really help you.

However.....as I am sure I have told you....I know a little history of K179. I know she was made by Fairey, but that she did not measure and was therefore stripped of 'Fairey' authentication - she is not in Finn records as a Fairey boat. A Finn sailor finally bought her (cheaply one presumes) and undertook the work to bring her back into class. This entailed building up bilges with another veneer and also adding a strip onto top of deck to raise sheerline (you can still see screwholes for this).

This strip is gone, so strictly speaking I presume that she is back out of class. I did have the name of original owner, but am afraid that it escapes me at moment.

hope this helps a little.

cheers

eib
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Ed
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Post by Ed »

incidentally, the name placque looks like a standard Fairey Builders plate.

I think this would normally have the correct registered number and not shell number........but there seem to be few rules as such in this.....lots of variation.

cheers

eib
Ed Bremner
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Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
Bathurst Whiff - looking for someone to love it
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PeterV
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Post by PeterV »

Thanks Ed, I just thought I'd ask!
I don't subscribe to the theroy that anything was added to the deck, the screw holes are where the rolled decks are attached to the inwhale and exactly the same can be seen on all other Fairey Finns with original decks. The mods must have been somewhere else. The Finn sec did tell me he'd send me the original certificate, I'll have to chase him up again.
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davidh
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Post by davidh »

Hmmmnnnn...sadly my father, who'd worked all his life at Fairey's, is no longer with us else I'd ask (could try planchette I suppose). They did have sheerline problems on some of their early boats,the real whizz on all this is a guy called Mac mcIntyre who was the workshop foreman. Have you tried the Fairey owners Club - they're very actice still, have access to mac (who is of course now a tad long in the tooth) and are keen on ALL fairey boats and have a wealth of information.

One thing though I do recall is the burning of the moulds. Fairey's had pulled out of dinghy work and had a monster clear out. Many of the old moulds, the 505, Jollyboat and I think the Finn were piled up on the high water mark, doused in old fuel oil and torched. With years of pressurised glue being forced into the structures they burnt all right - the blaze was so big that smoke obscured the entrance to the hamble. The harbour master called the Fire Brigade (several of the daytime crew work at Faireys) and a lot of finger pointing and red faces followed........ a sad end really to what was one of the great post war dinghy builders.

D
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Post by andrew »

Well done Neil !
Was it you ?
A beautiful boat.
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neil
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Post by neil »

Thanks Andrew.....so I appear to now be the owner of a Fairy Finn.

I was not too keen in taking Rannoch to Clywedog (light winds only) or the Tideway (too slow) so I think we'll be there with the new boat now.

Neil
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Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

Excellent! Now I can stand and stare with none of the costs of ownership...
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neil
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Post by neil »

I would hope you would wipe off any drool that got on the varnish work.
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Mark
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Post by Mark »

Congratulations Neil, time to search for an old Pearson, just two problems
1) Karen
2) Towing one behind the Mini
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davidh
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Post by davidh »

Mark,

ha..... towing behind a Mini. We've gone for one of the BMW Mini's, great but the Cooper 'S' with central exhaust doesn't have any EU clearance for towing so there won't be a towbar made for it....bummer!

Not sure if either the Typhoon or the Unit will be ready for August, planking it (or wiring it) up there sounds a long shot!!

D
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