FOR SALE BY OWNER/BROKER
AN EXCITING PROJECT
OFFERS INVITED
'Blue Blazes'
A Christina by Bruce Campbell Ltd on a Fairey Marine Huntress hull.
'Blue Blazes' is a Bruce Campbell Ltd 'Christina' power boat, hull number 13, built on a Huntress hot-moulded hull supplied by Fairey Marine of Hamble (hull design by Alan V Burnard).
First sold in 1960 with a 125hp General Motors Detroit Diesel 4 cylinder forced induction engine and recorded on the UK Ships Registry with number 302058.
The second owner of Blue Blazes was Mr J Atkinson who bought this Bruce Campbell Ltd Christina in January 1964. There is evidence that he changed the engine and entered a power-boat race on June 6th 1964 organised by the Cresta Yacht Club, Newhaven.
The race report in Yachts & Yachting on July 10th 1964 refers to Blue Blazes having a 280 hp Graymarine engine, probably a V8 petrol unit. (Evidence was found during renovation of twin exhausts, shown in one of the pictures). From that report the race number might have been 46.
Years later, with the Detroit Diesel engine re-fitted and the boat in the Channel Islands 'Blue Blazes' sank in the harbour at Alderney, was hauled ashore and then stripped.
Subsequently purchased by this Owner as a bare hull and legally imported/repatriated into mainland UK for renovation. Initial work done in a yard's work-shed on Hayling Island included:
*Making and fitting additional deck-supports
*New marine ply fore-deck fitted.
*Well-known improvements of extending the 'hog' and lengthening the engine bearers in the engine bay were carried out
*A number of holes for multiple exhaust systems and fuel pipes were filled and a bulkhead doubled-up for strengthening.
Subsequently, in a yard near Ipswich and closer to home, more work was undertaken by a skilled shipwright commissioned by the Owner as the renovation gathered pace including but not limited to:
*1 a new transom
*2 using the Owner's Agba veneers to make repairs to the starboard and port aft quarters
*3 small repairs to the cabin and elsewhere
*5 sheathing cabin sides
*6 sheathing some of the new decks
*7 closing some small skin-fitting apertures in the hull using Agba veneers
*8 extending the spray rails as advised by an ex-Fairey Marine employee who had assessed the spray rails as being 'race-boat' wide.
A further substantial investment was made in taking out the existing 'keel' and fitting a new 'keel' with a reverse shear into the stem.
This Bruce Campbell Christina 'Blue Blazes' is for sale as a bare hull with some desirable loose items such as: original aluminium framed windscreen with green-tinted 'Sundym' glass; original rod steering system; spare rod steering system; steering wheel; dash panel; rudder; navigation lights; windows; mast; P bracket and drive-shaft.
Main picture credit: PHOTO BEKEN
(Image purchased by Owner and used with permission)
Comment from Owner/Broker
The golden age of power boat racing was in the '60s and '70s. The increasing rarity of survivors (it seems that every year another one or two are lost to posterity) meant that to this aficionado the opportunity of renovating a Fairey Marine of Hamble Huntress-hulled Bruce Campbell Ltd Christina was not only tempting but within reach given previous experience.
After assessing the bare hull on the hard at Alderney (the boat had sunk in the harbour and was subsequently stripped of the power unit and ancillary items) it was clear that the project was do-able.
Returning for a few days, a 'flat' (the base of a container) was used upon which a wooden frame/support for the hull was built enabling movement by fork-lift and then craning onto the deck of a freighter that made a regular Channel crossing to Poole.
After receiving clearance at Poole there was a short journey by truck for unloading at a boat-yard on Hayling Island with known expertise on an ex-race Fairey boat and other heritage wooden boats.
In parallel
Extensive research obtained data about the original owner and through Facebook the Owner spoke with the young lad (at the time) in the two purchased Beken images. He has since passed and like all boats from the golden era, there is a back-story.
At the age of 8 or so, he told the current Owner, his father worked in the UK for General Motors/Vauxhall and the message from General Motors in America was to 'get Detroit Diesel engines into the UK marine market'.
Previously, for the Fairey Owners Club magazine, the Owner interviewed Ken Raybould who worked at Bruce Campbell Ltd in period and wrote an article whereby Ken recalls a truck arriving with three Detroit Diesel engines on it - but only the small one would fit a boat and so that four cylinder engine was used by Bruce Campbell Ltd.
In the first two Beken pictures, the contact from Facebook identified himself and his parents aboard Blue Blazes on sea trials with the 4 cylinder Detroit Diesel engine fitted and the boat's owner at the wheel. (That burly gentleman had a powder-blue Aston Martin DB4 which the Facebook contact, as an 8 year old at the time, vividly recalled as the DB4 had only been introduced about six months previously).
Dependent upon the engine chosen by the next Owner then perhaps, recognising the extra strength already added to the hull and with all the work done to date, comparatively little more raw wood-work is required. The topsides of this Bruce Campbell Ltd 'Christina' boat have already been professionally primed.
Alas, the impact of Covid and additional co-factors have changed plans for the Owner.
Disclaimer
Nicolle Associates offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.
This vessel is compliant with UK VAT after importation from Alderney, Channel Islands.
As always photographs do not do justice so a viewing is highly recommended.
This boat is lying ashore near Ipswich, England
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