Jaguar

In November 2018 I received a message from Paul. He had just swapped a case of beer for an Australian Sailfish that was about to be burned, and was he wondering if I could come over and check it out.

When I arrived at his place I found:

Jaguar, plan number 875, sold to B Taylor in 1967 and registered on 26 October 1968. Jaguar was looking a bit the worse for wear, it had been a long time since that deck had seen any varnish, and the sail was in need of an industrial scale clean.

But the bones look good, the hull felt sound, and the way the deck is fitted out over the top of the gunwales indicates that the builder knew what they were doing all those years ago. Plus it still has one of the classic Victorian cradles that all of us in NSW lusted after in the 1970’s.

In January Paul brought Jaguar along to Inverloch for a visit, cleaned up and looking much neater (Jaguar, Paul looked about the same), but the actual restoration hadn’t kicked off yet.

A full set of battens and a cleaned up Rolly Tasker sail. [By Greg Barwick, Inverloch, 26 January 2019]

Today, 7th March, Paul let me know that the restoration had begun, paint being stripped back off the hull. With a boat this old what will be found under that paint is always a mystery, it might even tell us what the original colour was.

Getting started. [By Paul Murphy, 7 March 2019]

Hmmm, was it originally varnished, or has it always been this colour? [By Paul Murphy, 7 March 2019]

I think there is a LOT of paint still to come off this. [By Paul Murphy, 7 March 2019]

Apart from B Taylor, the other owners we know about, apart from Paul, are John Nowland and A Bell, so if that is you, or you know who it is, get in touch, we would love to be able to build the back story of Jaguar as it is being restored.

10 March 2019

And Paul is not messing about, today the varnish came off the deck. Those of us who saw Jaguar at Inverloch will be surprised at how good it is coming up.

All photos by Paul Murphy, 10 March 2019.

For ply that is over 50 years old and has spent a chunk of that stored under a caravan it is looking pretty good, if we could only still get ply like that!

Paul tells me it looks and smells like oregan, does anyone know if that was an option for plywood in the ’60’s?

11 March 2019

Paul has the first coat of varnish on the deck, not bad for a boat built in 1968 and I can’t wait to see it with a few more coats to give it added depth.

20 April 2019

After a short break caused by having to work to pay for the work on his boats, Paul has sent in an update, the first coat of paint is on the hull of Jaguar.

This is a RED to get you noticed. [By Paul Murphy, 19 April 2019]

Quite a difference in the condition of the bow from the earlier shot. [By Paul Murphy, 19 April 2019]

The hull still looks in good shape, with fair lines. [By Paul Murphy, 19 April 2019]

Looking forward to seeing the progress on the deck soon as well, and then getting it in the water again.

26 May 2018

Latest update from Paul, clear coat on the bottom with a touch of blue in the mix. Compare these to the earlier photos to see just how far this boat has come already.