INVESTIGATOR 563

Thanks Bill, we have been eyeing the Walpole waters as well.
David, we have a sail with the number 4 on it.... not sure if it is original though.

Welcome folks, we also love WA , particularly Margaret River District. I think you have to be a good sailor in WA though, one of the few things that stops us moving there I think the investigator will be up to the open water conditions. All the best.

Howdy Louren and Fritz
Great to hear from members in WA. Not familiar with any of the sailing spots over there so looking forward to your photos and sailing experiences. Good Luck

Hi Louren and welcome to the Investigator family.

I have always been intrigued by the WA built boats. I've only come across a few, and yes, the plug for the cabin was sans front hatch. My guess is that the boat was designed to be more seaworthy than the east coast model. This was likely a good selling point (WA boats tougher than the east) but would have also made them a little cheaper to build as well. There are a few Investigators in WA that are of the conventional design so were east coast imports at some later time. The WA ones that I have come across have either no front hatch or a modified one. Lamu Lamu (last seen in Mossman Park in 2015) had a large hatch installed while Spirit of Christie (search for this one on the forum) had a fixed perspex window. The only other ones (three now, counting yours) that I have come across, have no hatch.

The Investigator sail number 4 was originally sold in Queensland, but is now somewhere in Victoria. Your number 4 sail is likely off anther boat. When you next contact the previous owner, please ask if he/she knows the original sail number. I don't have any verified sail numbers for any of the WA boats that I have seen. Knowing the sail numbers might nail down the build dates.

Enjoy Drifter. It certainly looks smart. I look forward to seeing a few more photos of your boat in action.

Hi Ray, thanks you for your reply. Sans front hatch for WA conditions seems like a good idea to me. I am pretty sure that the one for Sale in Armadale is our boat. We bought ours off Gumtree March this year from Bayswater and the owner sold it for $1 per cm . Do you know when it was sold in Armadale? I will contact the guy who sold to us. I think he had it 4-6 years. It was in really good shape with mainsail, spinnaker, Gib 1 and 2 and a small storm sail. I will put some photos up- just need to figure out how- need to host them somewhere first. Cheers. Louren

As in $563?

Frenchy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:13 am Hi Ray, thanks you for your reply. Sans front hatch for WA conditions seems like a good idea to me. I am pretty sure that the one for Sale in Armadale is our boat. We bought ours off Gumtree March this year from Bayswater and the owner sold it for $1 per cm . Do you know when it was sold in Armadale? I will contact the guy who sold to us. I think he had it 4-6 years. It was in really good shape with mainsail, spinnaker, Gib 1 and 2 and a small storm sail. I will put some photos up- just need to figure out how- need to host them somewhere first. Cheers. Louren

The ad was run in 2014. Here are the only other photos I have of the boat. Hope this helps.

montoman wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 11:40 amAs in $563?

I wish! Sorry, I meant per mm.
$5630

Louren

Thanks Lauren! That seemed the most likely, but I wondered if you had hit the jackpot.

Great looking at your pics!

Private Eyes wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:22 pm Interesting photos Ray.

Is it just my eyes,or is the mast and mainsail shorter than normal.....it looks very stubby like...l.and I dont mean beer stubby like, maybe I need a beer and then look at it again....:LOL

I have read somewhere that the WA boats have a shorter mast. How much shorter I don't know. When I am out again I will measure our mast.