INVESTIGATOR 563

A bit like Ozzie. I have a 27mhz because it was in the boat when I bought it. Actually its not installed because I rewired the boat many years ago and set it up with wrong polarity for the radio so its in the shed - but the bracket and aerial are installed - change it one day. I have Marine Rescue A...

The biggest issue I find with the top top mechanism is that it terribly clumsy - you gotta be an octopus to raise it. The Cole 23 mech is a dream. Spring loaded so you just push the tube up and hey presto.No lock pins and it rises vertically not backwards like ours. By changing the arm lengths you c...

That 780 looks like a 760 extended with a 26 cabin top. Remember seeing the 760 plug being built by Ian Perdriau who was Sonata's plant manager. The bottom of the boat (planing surface)under the cockpit area was an 8x4 sheet of pine board. Now that's flat.

Was suggesting that the Adams builders or their connections (Sheerline Spars) my have some lying around. The big Aluminium extruders have owned very few marine dies since the late 70's. The dies are all owned by the user. In '78 cost us $1600 to have die made for a mast which had previously been a C...

My Bad. Knew and dealt with Alan in the 80's and since. He was getting on. Sad as he was badly dudded by Seawind Cat when they went belly up then phoenixed in Vietnam. The extrusion for the toerail is off the Adams 10. Maybe the guys in Newcastle who used to build them might help. Saw a post that sa...

Hey boys, go back to the previous topic on toerails and you'll find everything to source ally toerail extrusion
viewtopic.php?p=998#p998

You need to make sure that what ever you do the last sheave (ie the one before the sail itself) swivels otherwise the spinnaker oscillating or when shy can easily cause the halyard to jump off and jam next the sheave - big problem. I have a yolk type hound near the masthead with a swivel block - the...

Sorry if the contracting comments were confusing. There were a number of contract moulders around. They just did all of the FRP componentary. Then delivered it to fit- out guys, which could have been run by the manufacturer, or another contractor. Unless the manufacturer requested mould changes the ...

The contract moulders were usually born out of the fact that so many manufacturers were frustrated boat owners who didn't have a clue about GRP boat building. Timber boat builders didn't want to get into 'glass and, especially on Sydney's northern and southern beaches, there were plenty of surfboard...

Yep Bob Barnard was who I was thinking of. I would say that is pretty correct as I briefly mentioned. The different factory locations in NSW are correct. Jim Voysey started Sonata yachts and it had a number of incarnations also - with Jim in and out a couple of times. In those days many boats were f...