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Kraken

From: Dublin Bay

Registered: 2011-02-24

Posts: 333

Victoria Spares

[Moved from 'Technical Advice' pages, dated 22/05/05]

Ian Powell has sent several e-mails which contain useful information about spares for his Victoria 800 cutter but which may apply equally to the Frances 26 or other boats in the Victoria range. In particular, Ian needed to replace the bobstay and the fittings at each end after some minor boatyard damage.

"The lower U-Bolt was bent, the wire damaged and the 'Cranse Iron' distorted. (I'm showing off now! The 'Cranse Iron' is the chunk of bronze on the end of the bowsprit, but I only found out it was called a 'Cranse Iron' a couple of weeks ago!)

The U-Bolt is an unusual size (!) but I've managed to locate a new one at "Baseline" (01489 576349), who originally supplied these and several other fittings to Victoria Marine, but finding a new Cranse Iron is proving to be a bigger problem...unless someone out there knows different...???!

Incidentally, the Rigger who helped me agreed with my evaluation that the outer forestay and backstay are a little bit on the small side, so I shall definitely change them for 6mm wires next winter.

Also, it's worth knowing that the Victoria withstood a considerable force and yet the damage was minimal really. It bent the 9mm rod of a U-Bolt but didn't damage the GRP at all! ... and the bottom-front edge of my Cranse Iron has pulled away from the bowsprit but there isn't even a tiny crack around the bowsprits joint to the hull and deck.

Happy sailing...Ian Powell.
Much Ado

8th April 2005"

Before long, Ian was back with information...

"Baseline Marine specialise in hardware and fittings. They supplied Victoria Marine with things like my bobstay U-bolt and still stock a number of items that look very familiar. Download their excellent pdf catalogue from baselinemarine.com. They're at Unit 10, Apple Industrial Estate, Fareham.

Their phone number is 01489 576349 and e-mail at baseline.marine@btconnect.com.

As for my "Cranse Iron", I've found a marvellous little place called Classic Marine who specialise in traditional hardware. Apparently our Cranse Irons are actually Mastbands and while they couldn't match the original they did have an 'off the shelf' 2 eye bronze mastband which only required a fraction machined out from the inside of the main ring, and a quarter inch or so taken off the front. They charged me about £27 for the fitting and £23 for workshop time (plus VAT) and the result is a far sturdier version than the original. The main ring about half as thick again and has a rectangular section which should butt up against the shoulder on the bowsprit better, and the eyes are more solid, but still fit OK.

Classic Marine are at Lime Kiln Quay, Woodbridge in Suffolk and their phone number is 01394 380390.
Their e-mail address is sales@classicmarine.co.uk and their website is www.classicmarine.co.uk.

Hope this is of some interest...

Regards...Ian P.
Much Ado"

Many thanks, Ian. That information could be of great benefit to many of our members.