Showcase your Investigator

[Peter T]

Hi all, Peter T here, just purchased our I563. Travelled from Ulverstone to Huonville, stayed in B&B, early start headed to South Bruny Island via ferry and looked over and purchased a boat known to the group "Spindrift"sail No 114. Its not in too bad of a shape, my big worry is that the centreboard has never been removed but on the trailer at least it moves and seems free so that hopefully is a good start. No sign of antifouling on the hull but there has been a few osmotic blisters repaired over the years. The boat came from Deviot Yacht club, owned by a David Harvey who I am trying to get in contact with to find out a bit more of its history. The trailer is an absolute basket case so will need to build a new one. If anyone has trailer plans, I would be very interested. the trip home was uneventful and it was parked in my shed just prior to night fall so was relieved about that. Boat comes with 5 average condition sails, new radio, 8 Hp Yamaha outboard and a new portable loo. reasonably tidy, a few surface cracks in the gel coat on deck, hull pretty good. Am looking forward to its restoration, am sure it will keep me busy for many hours. Cheers

download/file.php?mode=view&id=1833

download/file.php?mode=view&id=1832

[Vrongel]

Hello there,


Owner of an Investigator with the most likely original sail number #153

My name is Alex and currently finishing year 12,
A few months ago I have bought the Investigator and joined this lovely forum, at first I wasn't sure how I should post but now after reading almost all the previous posts, want to share mine with you all and to also start posting separate topics.

[Geoff]

Hi Alex,

Welcome!

I have applied full membership permissions, so you can create new topics and post to existing ones.

Looking forward to hearing more about how you got involved with an I563, especially at your age.

[Peter T]

Hi Alex, welcome to the forum. Good luck with your boat, I too have not long ago purchased my I563. Great little boats. Don't hesitate to ask anything, there are no stupid questions, so just ask away.
All the best.
Peter T

[Topaz Bill]

Welcome from me too Alex, when I was your age (about 52 years ago), I developed a life long love of boats. It's good to have you aboard this great forum.
Regards, Bill

[snoopebj]

Welcome Alex
Lovely to see young people taking interest in trailer sailing and the Investigator in particular. We often have younger people curious and asking questions when seeing us old fogies out on our adventures. Often they are put off by the hassle of rigging and
de-rigging in ramp car parks. So much easier and quicker launching a jet ski. However the rewards are many and varied. Over twenty years we have sailed the Myall lakes Port Hacking Jervis Bay and many other beautiful locations often with other Investigators and trailer sailers. Socially and as a challenging stimulating hobby it’s hard to beat.
Well done and looking forward to your posts.

Castle bay Hawkesbury

[Frenchy]

Hi,

A small introduction, thanks for having us on the forum.

We bought our Investigator Drifter in April this year. Lockdown happened and we decided to paint the hull....that ended up with us painting the whole boat and fixing everything.
She is looking pretty good and we took her for her first sail last Sunday. We are in Perth and we launched from Pelican Point boat ramp in Matilda Bay. We are new to sailing and bought her so that we can teach ourselves to sail. We only have a small 2.3 HP (Air Cooled) outboard which seems to do the job fine on the river. Will probably need to upgrade to a 5HP to go to Rottnest Island eventually.
I have read several articles I found regarding the history of Investigator and that they were built under licence in WA. Ours, interestingly also do not have a centreboard (cannot find evidence that there ever was one) and we do not have the front hatch either.

Our windows were glued on and could not open - and hatches being priced the way they are, we decided to 3D print latches that enable us to remove the windows if we need extra ventilation. Its a fiddly process, but when on a mooring it helps the airflow.

As I said, we are new to sailing. Every time we go out, we learn more, come back home and change a few things. We are in the process of sewing a boom tent, sorting out sail ties, an attachment for the iPad so we can use Navionics etc.

Happy sailing

[Geoff]

Hi Frenchy,

Welcome, and thanks for introducing yourself. I have applied full member status to your account, so you can start your own topics now if you like.

[Frenchy]

Thanks David and Geoff. Fritz (my husband ...the deckhand) does most if the fixing up and I (Louren) do the research, fiddly bits, cleaning of stainless steel and skippering and navigation. We have been stalking the forum for a while. Nice to see all the different Investigators. I wish I can find out more about our boat. I am planning to ask the prev owner if he knows more about it. I am guessing a lot of the WA investigators came sans front hatch or centerboard. I have read of another one and there is one for sail atm that seems to not have the front hatch either. David, from where in Tassie are you? We caravanned around Australia in 2018 as a family and spent a short 8 weeks in Tasmania! Love the place! We are wondering what the sailing is like.

[Topaz Bill]

Hello Frenchy ( Fritz and Louren ), a cordial welcome from me too. I usually get to spend a fair bit of time in WA, Bunbury area.

The waters around Walpole really appeal to me as a cruising destination, even poking out into the bight. Plenty of shelter and nice scenery. Also Albany, although Queensland is hard to beat over this way.

Happy sailing and enjoy our blog.

Regards, Bill