This was sent to me by an old friend...
At Portsmouth Offshore Group we have a member who is very elderly and now quite ill, who owns a Fairy Fisherman.
As you will no doubt know, this is a canoe sterned 25ft or so, motorsailer of 1960s vintage. The hull was hot moulded hardwood of some kind and the actual hulls were made in their hundreds because they were used as lifeboat hulls as well as this Fisherman market offering.
This particular example is in pretty poor shape currently in that although it had around £4K spent on it last year by Richardsons at Cowes, installing a new keel and shaft seal, it has been neglected ever since and it was bought as a restoration project to start with. She is currently ashore at POG and we have persuaded the owner to put her up for sale as it is unlikely that he will ever be able to get down to the yard to work on her ever again. These boats are now very rare and as you will know, she is a classic.
So she is up for £1000, currently on Apollo duck and her name is Quaybab. https://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/fa ... ale/731452
We have had a few people interested but are suffering a number of time wasters who think they can just turn up and sail her away as a cheap boat for the summer. She will need a little work to get her seaworthy enough to move to another home but she will need quite a bit more to bring her up to a fully restored example. The pictures on Apollo Duck were taken a couple of years ago and she doesn't look quiet that good now.
So, my question is: With all your contacts and history with Fairey Marine, Would you know of anybody who may be interested in buying her? It would need someone who is seriously into restorations of this kind.
Do please let me know as we are struggling at the moment and Boat Breakers may well be our only solution to get the boat out of our yard.