Seeking history of the investigator 563

[Bartman]

Wow - what a fantastic yarn this thread has turned out to be. Thank you for all these great anecdotes.

I have a "romantic fascination" with the concept that I was about 13 when my I563 #138 was built (... or born). At that time I was living in Mona Vale and going to school in Manly (and sailing for school sport, plus on weekends). It makes me wonder if my Investigator and I ever crossed paths back when we were both young and unblemished. We've since had a half dozen relationships but have finally gotten back together in our prime.
Hahaa... don't scoff - I have seen almost everyone on the forum declare that we love these boats

Getting back to the story...
Do you know what the conventions are regarding the boat names.
Were they all sold nameless and christened by the initial owners. I'm sure a special order would have included artwork for the name.
But what about boats that weren't pre-sold - did the business name some of them during the build and sell them complete with a name ?

[Ozzie]

I can see why I was confused boats were being built in one place and finished in another. Interesting stuff and well done again Ray for piecing the Investigator’s storyline together. To new members Ray is a true “Investigator “ as many boats have had name changes. Spritzing II was called that when I bought her but I decided to come up with a new name so referred to her on Ian’s original MSN site as Old 143. After a while the name rather grew on me so I kept it. Nobody has ever mentioned any history on the name so I’m not sure about it other than I bought it from an elderly couple from Bellbird who had had it for a good while but were not the original owners.

Boats have regular name changes and providing you follow the traditional rules, remove all items with the previous name on it and sacrifice your local member to Poseidon its all ok. Actually I made that last bit up.

[Ozzie]

David, maybe if the mould seller ( sounds awful) gets desperate he might include delivery. We need investors here. David has the experience, I have an empty trailer. Now all we need is someone with shares in the Spirit of Tasmania and a lot of money

It’s ok , the rain has stopped and I can go finish my polishing instead of posting these ridiculous posts.

[no way]

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 fabricated by contract FRP moulders and finished by either the Manufacturer or he had a contract fit out team - same deal as the fabricator. Bob Bernard generally didn't sell boats in any other form than complete.

[Ozzie]

The contract moulders is the bit I find interesting and would that account for the minor variations we have noted in these boats? Like the round depressions under the seats and various closed or open v berths etc.

I have no idea about contract moulders but I know too much about contractors in Civil Engineering and to lesser extent the housing industry. And contractors means a wide range of experience and work practices Given David’s comments re the difficulty of getting true qualifications in the industry it would be why I’d consider the comments on asbestos relevant. Some might have used it others not.

Not talking about Investigators now but when anything in any gig industry is going well and the work is flooding in often any wino with a screwdriver and a set of king gees is drafted into the fold. But I’m a cranky old cynic and it’s raining again

[no way]

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 manufacterers so there was labour with a bit of knowledge. Surfies wouldn't turn up if the waves were good so were paid as subbies (really contracting around PAYE and essentially illegal today). Timber fit outs were kept to a minimum so no real joinery and spar makers, sail makers and trailer builders supplied to rest.

[Raya]

Interesting discussion regarding the sub-contracting of the fibreglass components. I'm still of the opinion that one set of moulds were used for the hull and deck. Maybe the lesser parts were contracted out, but my reasoning, for want of any concrete evidence, is as follows:

Boats produced prior to number #55 had, what I call, the early stern, in that the outlet for the bilge pump was moulded in the same place. After this number, the outlet was in a random place, probably cut after the fibreglass had cured. I believe this change occurred as a result of the original mould being damaged by fire, or because of customer requirements. If several hull moulds were being used, then this changeover in location would not have been so abrupt.

The same goes for the change from one hinge hatches to two on the deck mould. If there were several deck moulds, there should have been a spread of Investigators, some with one hinge and some with two as the design change was made instead of the distinct change at the #107 mark. Another line of reasoning is that the production numbers of the Investigators was not great compared with others at the time. The 172 boats were produced over 14 years, averaging just over 12 boats per year. Although production was higher in the earlier years, I doubt whether the additional cost of multiple moulds would have been justified.

In any case, my arguments are conjecture, and I welcome input to the contrary. There are probably still a few people around who were involved with Investigator production. It would be great to hear from one of them.

[Bartman]

Yes it really would be great to hear from anyone who was actually involved in the production at the time.
Does anyone know what became of Kevin Shepherd. Given the first boats are all in their 40's - I imagine Kevin would have to be in his 80's by now ?

[Geoff]

Jeez Ray,

That is pretty good deductive reasoning. I will refrain from any investigator puns, too obvious, but that is pretty good forensics.

[no way]

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 fabricators just built the glass work. Pretty sure in the early days at least that Bob Barnard did everything under the one roof. I was heavily involved in the fabricating business from early 70's to early 80's we did moulding work for Careels, Mariner Cruisers, Dancer, and various small power boats. Mariner, which later became Riviera was big on subbing out moulding work. I'll give you an example of how it worked. David Rose Yachts owned the moulds of the Careels and did all the coordinating and sales but the boats were moulded by FRP Ind, the fit out work was done initially by Boat Interiors, Sparfit did all the S/S and spars, Messent did the trailers.