Search found 27 matches

by Billaboard
Sun July 28th, 2019, 11:53 pm
Forum: Latest News
Topic: Scoter wild duck 19
Replies: 11
Views: 46539

Re: Scoter wild duck 19

Hi from another Wild Duck owner, or maybe ex-owner now. She is now in the hands of my son, who built her with me and the rest of the family. During the last days of building, I met a young man from Formby, outside Liverpool, who had built a fibreglass Wild Duck. I was invited out for a sail up and d...
by Billaboard
Sun December 31st, 2017, 2:47 pm
Forum: General Board
Topic: Wild Duck
Replies: 1
Views: 16487

Wild Duck

I thought I would disturb the calm and peaceful waters of this forum with a small amount of, hopefully, relevant and acceptable news. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but someone directed me to http://www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article/wild-duck/25248. Our own Wild Duck is, sadly, currently stil...
by Billaboard
Wed April 6th, 2011, 10:51 am
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Standing rigging
Replies: 4
Views: 21422

Re: Standing rigging

On our vaguely similar Wild Duck, we found a local genius who welded up a pushpit. I bought the scrap stainless tube and he came and looked, then welded up this 3D creation in his path. (His day job included creating one-off metalwork for the production lines of a well-known cake manufacturer). The ...
by Billaboard
Wed December 22nd, 2010, 8:26 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Refitting cast Iron keel
Replies: 9
Views: 29766

Re: Refitting cast Iron keel

When we built the Wild Duck, this was something I worried about and got few answers to. All I can say is what we did. We cut canvas to match the iron and wood mating faces and doped it liberally with red lead paint. Then we painted the surfaces with red lead and put Sylglas (which I used to use to w...
by Billaboard
Thu November 18th, 2010, 12:12 am
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Trailer for a Wild Duck
Replies: 7
Views: 24470

Re: Trailer for a Wild Duck

Thanks, John, that is indeed very helpful. I've been today to the local trailer builder who will check it over and add some extra support sockets for the hull props to sit in. As I said earlier, there is a very simple system for these props - basically a large tube on the chassis, a smaller tube to ...
by Billaboard
Thu November 11th, 2010, 12:14 am
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Trailer for a Wild Duck
Replies: 7
Views: 24470

Re: Trailer for a Wild Duck

Thanks, James! I did actually go through the process of looking at all the bits of the launching trolley that look OK and trying to price up the necessary parts to convert it, but it came to quite a lot of money. In the event, I've found something, bought it off ebay and towed it to my son's house w...
by Billaboard
Mon October 18th, 2010, 11:48 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Trailer for a Wild Duck
Replies: 7
Views: 24470

Re: Trailer for a Wild Duck

Thanks Chris. I went to the nearest Indespension stockist this morning and found that they do stock all the parts even though they no longer fabricate one-off trailers. They were extremely helpful, bringing various sizes of suspension units from the back so that I could get an idea of what the vario...
by Billaboard
Sun October 17th, 2010, 7:05 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Trailer for a Wild Duck
Replies: 7
Views: 24470

Trailer for a Wild Duck

For 20+ years our Wild Duck has sat on a launching trolley every winter with gradually increasing patch welds to hold it together. We dug the original trolley, which had big castors, out of a doctor's widow's compost heap, added an antique solid bar axle and wheels, and it has been fine, but the whe...
by Billaboard
Mon June 7th, 2010, 11:47 pm
Forum: General Board
Topic: boatbuilding articles
Replies: 6
Views: 20855

Re: boatbuilding articles

Sean, These are just comments based on my experiences with a Wild Duck. It's only 19', but I'd never now consider an outboard for anything except emergency. We are on our third diesel engine, all bought second hand and each one more powerful and more sophisticated. With each change, it has just been...
by Billaboard
Sun September 27th, 2009, 2:52 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Athaena - Rot near the chine
Replies: 19
Views: 55454

Re: Athaena - Rot near the chine

Sorry about the thrashing about in this thread. I've now done a small set of pictures with explanatory captions and posted them at http://picasaweb.google.com/billaboard/Boat# Even if they don't help much, I think they tell a slightly scary story about our winter repairs in an open boatyard in the 8...
by Billaboard
Thu September 24th, 2009, 5:17 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Athaena - Rot near the chine
Replies: 19
Views: 55454

Re: Athaena - Rot near the chine

Post modified as per suggestions! If Chris of Athaena would like to contact me by normal email. I can send him the photos of my last repair. I now understand that the Outbox on the PM utility here only becomes empty when the recipient reads the message. My lack of understanding caused a bit of a per...
by Billaboard
Mon September 21st, 2009, 11:46 pm
Forum: HELP ?
Topic: Athaena - Rot near the chine
Replies: 19
Views: 55454

Re: Athaena - Rot near the chine

I don't know if I'll be of much help, but the history of our Wild Duck is that we finished the build and launched onto someone else's mooring in about 1986 and then a couple of months later in a storm the mooring broke and she was driven backwards into a U-shaped recess in the rock sea defences. The...
by Billaboard
Fri August 28th, 2009, 7:54 pm
Forum: General Board
Topic: Heard on a builder's meet
Replies: 0
Views: 32765

Heard on a builder's meet

After seeing the coverage of the return of the round the world teenage sailor, I was reminded of the following. Some years back, my son and I went to what I think was one of the last EOA builders meets. We drove up a mountain in North Wales, through the snowline and arrived at a pub. In the building...
by Billaboard
Mon August 10th, 2009, 6:25 pm
Forum: General Board
Topic: Any Wild Ducks here?
Replies: 1
Views: 9721

Re: Any Wild Ducks here?

I'm reluctant to post after seeing how neat a boat can look. We are in North Wales. Wild Duck number 96, built by us in about 1985. The plans were delivered to the chief engineer on the QE1 on his and the liner's retirement. and had passed through a few hands before reaching us. The engine is a Vetu...
by Billaboard
Wed August 5th, 2009, 7:38 am
Forum: General Board
Topic: Boat Insurance
Replies: 1
Views: 9387

Re: Boat Insurance

I have no personal experience of any claim, but others round here speak highly of http://gjwdirect.co.uk/ after making claims, and I've been insured with them for many years now. They seem to be real people rather than call centres, and operate from real offices in Liverpool. (I also insure the Land...