Thanks also Dave. The photogenic model is a Tradewind 35. Moulded by Blondecell at Lymington (now defunct unfortunately  - they were experts in GRP) who moulded all the hulls. About 78 built I believe. There was also aTradewind 33 and a 39 on the same lines but they were less successfull. The 35 was finished by a number of yards including Blondecell and also by a few home builders. Mitchells built some as did Chris Berry - traditionalsail.co.uk . Mine was extremely well fitted out by Tideway in Salcombe who finished more than anyone so they new their job. She was one of the last the two chaps there built - very sadly they have since died and Tideway is no more. Being hand buit by crafstmen there is just no economic sense in building one- offs like the Tradewind anymore. I think the latest owners of the brand name can build new (in Holland) but as the cost would be far higher than a production line boat I doubt if any new Tradewind 35s will ever be launched. She always pays due respects to her builders when we snuggle in to Salcombe - I hope the family of those who built her can take pride in the work that went into her fit out.

Hi Robin, the Tradewind 35 along with a handful of others, is definatly one of the few boats I think I would like to own if I ever buy another boat after my Twister.

What is she like to sail shorthanded?  

Am I reading it right,  or do I see from the Chris Berry website that he is still fitting one out? 

http://www.traditionalsail.co.uk/traditionalsailfiles/traditionalsailfiles/traditionalsailfiles/Tradewind%2035.htm

Hi Scotty, oh how I have dreamt of Twister's in my time! Lovely lines. I missed out on that size of vessel and went up from a beloved Hurley 22 to the Tradewind. I normally sail single handed on long passages all year round and I know of no better boat for the task. I have sailed her single handed non stop from the Solent to the North of Ireland and Islay (and back) on several voyages and she cannot be faulted in that work. Handles beautifully in heavy weather. Makes a mediocre motor boat and is something of a cow to manaouevre in a small marina but stick the Hydrovane on  and she is off like a whippet of the seas - well ok  a lethargic whippet, but one that plods on and on. 

 I think Chris Berry fitted one out some time ago but not sure. He does seem to like the breed!

About 20 years ago there was a well know sailing personality who championed the Tradewind(cant Remember who)-but recall it spawning several articles in either PBO or Yachting monthly.

They do come up for sale very now and then

Lovely looking boats-my old wooden 27ft.  pocket cruiser circa 1947 has the same lines including its haslar self steering.

Phil

If interested in Tradewinds, beware those made in Ferro-concrete!

They usually have a major rot problem, where the wooden decks join the Ferro hull. (And yes they were professionally made in Ferro, we are not talking about amateur built boats)

There was one at Halls Yard in Walton a few years ago, the cost of the repairs, only a few months after they had bought it (secondhand) literally bankrupted the owners after a very expensive lawsuit between them and the surveyor they had appointed for their purchase!

A revalation-from the early 1980s thru to at least late 1990s there was a ferro boat ashore near where I then lived-recalling its lines it was I think a ferro tradewind-looked at it as project about ten years ago-although there was what had been beautiful internal fittings etc the deck and dog house had just rotted away

Phil

I have a ferro cement yacht which appears to be a Tradewind 29, but I have not found any reference to that size being built. Sh'e been in Suffolk for twenty years and original owners were from Liverpool. She was called Dawnbreaker. Interesting as there is no bowsprit and the mast is markedly in the middle of the boat, although with sails set she looks just right. The wooden cabin sits on concrete decks so is simple to repair. The cabin has been raised I think because I removed the forward carlin and the original carlin below has two small ports looking forwards which were covered in by the higher cabin. She may not be a Tradewind but looks more like that than anything else I've seen and the stern has a lovely shape.

Its the junction of the wood with the concrete that is the problem with this form of composite construction (the same applies to GRP & wood as well) the water runs through /soaks through somewhere and then runs along the joint between the wood and the impervious material, it then sits there, never drying out and just quietly rots away, even teak will rot if wet enough!

So if you own or are thinking of buying a boat of composite construction, beware and have a good look/thorough examination.

The trouble with this water ingression is that the water will sit in a place and cause rot in places that are far from obvious.

Its strange that everyone gets up-tight about a bit of minor blistering on GRP hulls (which is easy & cheap to repair, but we never hear about this sort of rot problem which can be terminal or certainly terminally expensive for composite boats. This is another reason I'm against teak decks on GRP boats, it's just a problem waiting to happen!

---"even teak will rot if wet enough!"--- Yep especially if it is wet with rain water!

And as for rain water getting under a teak deck - I'm not even going there.

I had bits of wood trim on my boat which I'm sure loked fine when it was new over thirty years ago. Unfortunately over the years people have tried to re-varnish it and when it got older they sanded it and knackered the adjoining gel coat in the process. Most of it has gone now and the gel coat repaired, the rest of it is condemmed and will be removed when I get round to it..

To sum up (or at least in my opinion) you can't maintain the wood properly because of the adjoining gel coat and you can't maintain the gel coat because of the wood. 

Chas

We seem to agree rather often on a lot of stuff, I rather think we've had similar disasters on our hands!

It's down to owning old but real boats David!

I don't know about you but I certianly couldn't afford to go out and buy a brand new boat then trade it in in three or four years time and buy another new one. Well, certianly not a boat that I even remotely wanted.

For normal mortals like me, buying and running a boat that's thirty years old keeps you very skint so you can't afford to pay people to do things, you have to learn to do them your self. That involves a fair ammount of study before you even start the jobs.

When you actually get started, you then start finding out what the original boat builder did well as well as the things they didn't do so well. You even find things along the way that make you shake your head in despair, then you stand back and try to think up a better way of doing it.

When you've been along that path (and are still are nowhere near the end of it) and seen people building all of the problems you've tried to solve into new boats; you tend to loose faith in the industry.

Cheers

Chas

The John Rock designed Tradewind 33, 35 and 39 are all very distinctive and have the same lines although the early 33 was finished off with significant differences in the detailing. The 33 was also built with a timber dog house and a few in Ferro. The 35 was  by far the most popular and although I believe at least one has been buit in steel the vast majority are all GRP. The Tradewind name has certanly been applied to various other boats including the Atoll and the Islander which Blondecell molded but these have completely different hull and rig forms. There is a vessel on the Lymington river which has a label "Tradewind 45" on her  - similar to a stretched 39 but I think she is a one off. Dawnbreaker also sounds like a one off - could we have a photo please? It didn't make much economic sense to make small boats in ferro - if you went to all the trouble of setting up it was easy to go for a larger vessel.  

As for rain getting under teak decks I have a survey report commisioned by The Royal Navy on Gordonstouns old boat a steel Robert Clark one off circa 1968-a beatifull looking 70 ft.  classic BUT you could poke holes in the steel deck under the teak deck-in fact for various reasons it was back in 2000  a rust bucket!

Phil