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My thanks to Dave Rowlands for spotting the advert.
Tag: Equipment and boats for sale
Turk’s auction – are you missing the small wooden boat bargains of the year?
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These photos come from a viewing of the items being auctioned at Turk’s Boatyard at Chatham on Saturday.
Julie and I went over in the company of a clutch of other boating enthusiasts, and a pleasant, sociable and productive time we had, as you may gather from Chris Partridge’s post about the outing at his Rowing for Pleasure weblog. And yes I did manage to snap up a nice pair of oars and a sign from a hire boat business – as Chris observes, Turk’s are disposing of generations-worth of old-style hardware, models, rigs and who knows what else.
By now, I’d hope that most trad boat enthusiasts who use the Internet regularly are probably aware of the astonishing auction of equipment and craft belonging to the Turk’s business. If not, I’d advise you to quickly take a look at this earlier intheboatshed.net post about the sale, which closes on the 14th April.
Jolly outing though it was, however, I was a little saddened and surprised by how few other people were looking at the lots on Saturday. If this was close to indicating the level of interest in the auction, I thought, the sad end to all this could be that a number of interesting, even historic, craft will be disposed of in some other way, possibly even burned for all I know. But looking at the prices at least some of the boats are attracting that doesn’t now seem so likely – though after seeing the lots I can say for certain that there are still some real bargains to be had.
Arthur Ransome fans work to buy Swallow replica at Turk’s film prop boat auction
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Swallow is included in the Turk’s sale
Swallow, one of two dinghies made for a 1974 film of Arthur Ransome’s popular children’s novel Swallows & Amazons, is up for auction in a few days and Ransome enthusiasts are looking for supporters to help raise cash to buy her.
The idea behind the campaign is to get Swallow on the water so Ransome fans can have an experience just like in the books; anyone will be allowed to sail in her for a small fee, and those who have donated to the original appeal will be given credits towards an appropriate number of sailing visits.
Volunteers who skipper Swallow for the benefit of a non-sailing crew, drive her from place to place as needed, or undertake maintenance will not be required need to contribute. However, as the organisers of the bid say, the boat is not likely to be cheap, and they will need a lot of pledges to get their attempt to buy the boat off the ground. See the group’s website here: http://sites.google.com/site/swallowbid.
A separate bid to acquire the important 1906 steam launch Cygnet in the same sale has also been put together by the Heritage Steamboat Trust, the Thames Boats Trust and The Consuta Trust, which plan to bid for the important old craft and to exhibit and store her at Beale Park. The organisers believe they can access matching funds for 50 per cent of the purchase, but are also looking to enthusiasts for funds – as they say, if she was sold abroad or modified by a private buyer part of the UK’s marine heritage would be damaged or lost forever. For more information on the Cygnet project, see www.steamboattrust.org.uk/cygnet.htm.
The boats are part of an auction of boats used as film props currently to be held at Chatham by the long-established Thames boatyard Turk’s – click here for more on the sale.
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