Classic International 14 for sale, and advise please

[Bill123]

[Classic International 14 for sale, and advise please]

Hello,

I’m new to the forum, and am hoping somebody out there will be able to offer some advise. I recently purchased two classic International 14 dinghies from the bankruptcy auction in Lowestoft. I didn’t mean to buy two, but ended up being the highest bidder on both!

Details:

Zeus K 500, International 14, Class/Type: International 14, Build date: 1947, NSBR ref: 123 (LC2), c/w Mast but no sails, Mast step missing.

Negaunee - International 14 Sailing Dinghy Built by J. Thompson to a C.W. Bourke Design, 1939

I’ve since come to terms with the fact that I have too many other projects so these boats have to go. I don’t know a huge amount about them, and I imagine that if you’re reading this then you probably know more about them than me.

Zeus is in good condition (see pics). A wipe with a damp cloth reveals a truly beautiful boat. She has a few small scuffs and scratches from being moved (see pics), but these marks are not deep and it wouldn’t take much to bring her back to great condition. She has a mast (see pics) but no boom or sails. Negaunee however, is in no way near as good a condition as Zeus (see final pic). I guess she could be brought back to life, but she would require a lot more renovation.

Both boats are in my workshop near Bristol, but I could do with the space so would love to find a home for them. Both boats cost me, after fees, taxes and transport to Bristol, a total of £1,214.

I recently had the misfortune of dealing with someone who said he was putting together some sort of International 14 club, said he was very keen, strung me along for nearly a month, and then changed his mind.

So there it is. I have a flatbed trailer and access to a van, so can potentially deliver both boats. I’d rather sell both boats as a pair because if I sold Zeus on it’s own then I’d be left with Negaunee which is in poorer condition. I’d love to find a good home for them, and would like to only deal with honest people. Any advise gratefully received. What are they worth and who wants them?

Thanks,
William

(more pics to follow..)

[Bill123]

More pics:

[Bill123]

And this is Negaunee:

[Aquarius]

Well done for saving them from export to China.

It looks as if ZEUS was refitted not so very long ago.

As you may see from the "repairs" section I bought GALATEA, a sister of ZEUS, from Eyemouth, at the same auction and am currently tidying her up.

Since GALATEA is sail number 478, built in 1946, she is very close to ZEUS in terms of the detail of her construction, and I think I can tell from your photos that ZEUS does have the mast step, which is integral with the forward extension of the centreboard case, but what she does not have is the original mast jack, which fits between the foot of the mast and the mortise in the centreboard case. This fitting was unique to the 1946 and 1947 boats, and it's a hefty bronze casting - Uffa Fox Ltd can supply drawings for it and I am sure that Moray McPhail can cast a new one - since he is near to me, he could use GALATEA's as a pattern and save the mould making costs. Or just glue a tenon to the foot of the mast.

It also looks to me that ZEUS does not have her original mast but may have a more recent mast made by Collars, which I suspect will not fit without modification, hence your suspicion that the mast step is missing. The original mast had a circular hole in the base to fit the lug in the jack, with a brass binding round it, and integral wire retaining reel halyard winches.

Collars wil make and supply a new boom and indeed GALATEA has a replacement boom.

The tube self bailers which are present on ZEUS are absent from GALATEA so they are a refit and the diameter of the transom drain holes looks larger so I suspect there has been a "re-bore"! She also seems to be missing the floorboards (which are fairly vestigial mahogany slats!) but an earlier restorer has added the inspection hatches into the buoyancy tanks. And it looks as if someone has fitted a Firefly or Albacore mast gate.

I need another Fox 14 like a hole in the head, but I post this to assist anyone who takes her in... and in the event that you get no takers let me know... I will also proffer the useless information that a Fox 14 can sit perfectly on a Sovereign 86 (Albacore, etc.) combi trailer and will perch less comfortably on a Sovereign 76 (Firefly, N12, etc.) combi trailer.

[Bill123]

Thanks so much for your help. I'm so tempted to keep her but my head is overruling my heart this time around. Interesting to hear about the mast and mast step. The mast does indeed have a round profile at it's base, with a brass circular binding and hole in the bottom to help locate it in the mast jack. I thought that, instead of floorboards, she has extra pieces of wood in-between some of the ribs, but perhaps she's meant to have both.

I'll certainly let you know if I have no takers. Do you know of anywhere else that I should advertise her? I'd rather avoid eBay.

Thanks,
William

[Aquarius]

Dear William,

Then you have the original mast I think. You just need the jack, to be original, but it would be easy to make a wood tenon to do the job, losing about an inch of mast height in the process.

I'd think this is the safest place to advertise the pair, but I recall that that Peter and Richard Gregson ("Woodenships" - yacht brokers, in Salcombe, Devon) do handle Fox Fourteens and they are reliable people in my experience.

Cheers

Andrew

[Aquarius]

ZEUS has the original headsail sheet fairleads. Both boats have had the centreboard modernised and the differential winch removed.

[Aquarius]

This is GALATEA's mast jack:

And her mast gate:

[Chrisrjwood]

Hi William,

I might be able to take Negaunee off your hands and leave you with the better boat to sell, perhaps we could discuss a price?

Alternatively, I might be interested in both boats.

Chris

[Bill123]

Hi Chris,

Sounds good. Give me a call when you've time.

William
07988 036634

[suffolkmerlin]

Wish I had the space for ZEUS we really could make this part of East Suffolk the home of classic 14's, Peter Wilson at the Aldeburgh Boatyard recently bought a ribbed 14 Lancing

[Aquarius]

And this is Negaunee:

Bill, this may be "old news" to you but there is a reference to NEGAUNEE in the history pages of the UK Fourteen website:

http://gbr.international14.org/history/ ... 1946-1955/

"... The P. O.W. Cup itself was won by Thunder and Lightning sailed by John Winter and Peter Scott. Using the same mainsail by Ratseys that had won the cup for Stewart Morris in 1932, John Winter in 1934 and John and Peter Scott in 1938 and now 1946.
T.R.H. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, sailing with Sir Philip Hunloke, Commodore Royal Yacht Squadron, attended informally to watch the racing. Also in the fleet were two boats imported from Canada, Coyote (424) and Negaunee (429), both were fast off the wind but not so good to windward...."

[Bill123]

Amazing! So she's Canadian. Stop tempting me to keep them, I've a six month old baby and need sleep, not boats!

[Aquarius]

I went to Lowestoft yesterday and Tony very kindly showed me the boats waiting to go to China.

Including quite a different NEGAUNEE, lighter build with a very wide (as compared to Uffa Fox boats) transom. ..

She was omitted entirely from the sale listing.



This looks much more like a 1946 boat than this one:



In fact I do wonder whether the boat in the picture might be (and Jane Shaddick will know) a Morgan Giles boat, from perhaps two decades earlier?

The lack of buoyancy tanks and the single (?) skin suggest an earlier date, as do the bottom board and thwart arrangements.

[Ed]

What other racing dinghies were there at Lowestoft....waiting to go to China?

eib