bertram31.com

Hi all,

I've just found out that "BLUE MOPPIE" is somewhere in the UK.

Apparently,she was outside in the yard, at the rear of the Basildon Boat Museum,near London.

The museum closed in December, due to lack of funding and she has possibly been aquired and maybe stored in a marina not too far from me!

Will keep you posted.

Ian.

http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af120/sandychad/

Ok, here she is.....the feelings of emotion, awe & trepidation were undescribable when i first saw her today!!!! She is 'one hell of a mess' but worth saving.

She needs to go home, (USA).

Any ideas???????

Ian[/img]

That's a hell of a stringer grid in there.

She's probably not a "flexible flyer" with that system.

Ian.

How sad.

shes probably doable, hell shes already stripped down

You obviously need to buy her Ian...
You only own 3 Bertrams, quit screwing around and step up to the plate
and make it 4.

Seriously though, I couldn't see the pics. Can anyone post one or two?

Tried to view the pictures but only got the legend, "there are no pictures in this album."

i got a malware warning when i opened the link!!

Thanks Patrick.
She's not as bad as I expected... Hull looks good.
Ian, not to be a wanker, but is there any evidence on the vessel that it is for
sure Blue Moppie? Faded out name, numbers, anything?

Buju,

I understand why the question,

The same thought went thru my mind.

There is absolutley nothing to ID her as Blue Moppie .

The owner told me that she (the family) had her in their yard for many years, before donating her to the museum that was going to restore her.

They(the museum) obviously did nothing to her and when it closed Dec 09,the owner took her back.

I have no reason to believe this is not the case.

As and when I find out any more, I will let you know



Hmmmm Bertram no 4, now there's a thought!!


Don't tempt me Buju.....Cheers Ian.

Obviously there was some early effort towards refurbishing this hull and likely any race numbering and other graphics could have been polished off of the blue gelcoat.

The hull definitely has a race boat configuration. The heavy stringer grid, as Ian noted, allowed for a more rigid hull from the engine placement aft. The engines were about in the same fore to aft relation as the stock B31, but placed much closer together and the fuel was held in saddle tanks built next to the hull sides. Note that the four holes in the transom are for the exhaust ports.

Blue Moppie raced in the first, second, and third Cowes-Torquay race in 1961-3. Sam Griffith drove the first race, (second place), Bill Shand Kydd drove the second race, and Keith Schellenberg drove the third race.

The real accomplishment aboard Blue Moppie was in August of '61 when Griffith drove the boat from Miami to New York with an elapsed time of 38 hours 28 minutes, beating the long held record time of 47 hours 15 minutes set by Gar Wood 41 years earlier.

It seems that Blue Moppie was sold to Bill Shand Kydd between this long NY run and the second Cowes-Torquay race. So Blue Moppie very likely never returned to the US and probably is still in GB.

The early evolution of the "Moppie" racing hulls began with the original cold molded hull, (Griffith Miami-Nassau), then the first fiberglass production hull, (Glass Moppie), the third being Lucky Moppie. Only the Blue Moppie had a blue gelcoated hull. Glass Moppie was even confifured as an Express Cruiser...

I'd give this hull about a 95%, (or better), probability of being the original Blue Moppie...

Capt Pat,

Thanks for your input.

The stringer and cross members grid have been glassed over at some time and it is impossible to see any original engine mount holes etc.

It's definfitely not Bertram glass fibre, looks like the same type of glass repairs I found on Paper Tiger.

She is definitely configured as a race boat but has some strange stuff going on, albeit from along time ago.

Would she originally have had engines mounted aft,through V drives?

The lady that owns her is from a long established, well known marine business background and I'm sure that she would be 100% correct in what she says.

When I spoke to her,she told me Bertram were interested in her (Blue Moppie) and I think this is probably the best option, as they are most likely the only facility with the resources and info to re-build her to original specs.


I still can't believe that I have touched her, gives me goose bumps.


Hey Buju,I think Bertram no 4 = divorce no 2, I can't afford either!

Ian

Amazing piece of history..Thanks for the post and the history lesson Capt. Pat. Love to see Bertram restore it..but highly unlikely.

Ian

Unfortunately (or perhaps fotunately depending how you look at it) divorce #2 might be cheaper than restoration. Plus you could probably plead insanity and the judge would probably believe it when he finds out you went for boat #4. He would probably let you off cheap.

:-D yes.........i can see that would be the case haahhaaaa