Hi all

[chris_wht]

Just had one of those moments when you can't pass something up, and ending up agreeing to buy a very dilapidated looking 2640 by the name of bubbles. It's in a bit of a state and I plan to do a bit of a resto job whilst looking into the option of going 05 rules on her. Definitely going to ditch the ugly and heavy ass spaceframe that's bolted in!!

Collecting Thursday so we can see just how bad it is!

Pictures when I can remember how to use photobucket....

[JP233]

Ahoy!
What patch of water will we be seeing bubble burning up from now on?

[simon_jones]

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum/fleet. Look forward to seeing some pictures, where abouts are you based?

[roland_trim]

Welcome and well done.

If you need a crash test dummy please shout (and I'll give you jamies' number :-) )
Always worth sailing it in "shed mode" to work out what you want in pretty mode.

[chris_wht]

thanks chaps.

Boat is down in falmouth, cornwall. not 100% on plans yet, im pretty much big enough to single hand the thing, it was just too good to pass up as a fun experimental resto project really.

as for shed mode.. its more like emmental cheese mode at the moment in places! 

[Neil C.]

Hi Chris, welcome! If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to hear about / acquire Bubbles 2640? This is a Bistro design which was owned by my old mate Stafford G. back in the day. He sold it about 1995 and then it became "lost" from the fleet thereafter. Various people tried to track it down without success, so it's great news that it has re-surfaced 20 years later! I really hope you manage to get it back in action again. Any progress reports or photos of the restoration project are always good to see on this forum, so keep posting and let us know how it's going. If you want any more info on the history of 2640 you could try PM'ing stafford1977 via the forum. He's a great guy and I'm sure would be happy to chat.

Cheers, Neil.

[flatbackcaper]

When finished we should meet up and have our very own westcontry bistro bash , 2661 Eva Dexoff.Give me a bell or pm me if you want to chat about refurbishing clapped out bistro's cheers Andy

[HighwaytoHelm]

What rules rig does bubbles have on it? And 2661 for that matter?

[stafford1977]

I am the past owner of 2640 that Neil mentioned. Bought her in about 1994 from a guy who had her at Netley. She was unusual in that she had a dish cockpit, lots of ironmongery (spaceframe, gantry) and a twin spreader rig. At some point she must have been twin wired, and the kite was an enormous illegal masthead version that no one seemed bothered about. It seemed rather overweight and that fact together with our rudimentary sailing skills did not convert into stunning results - but we certainly had alot of fun doing some of the events, and going drinking with Team Scotland, Mike and Matt, Dave Roe etc.

Great to hear that she's being restored. I have various photos kicking about that I'll try and post on here at some point.

[chris_wht]

Hi Chris, welcome! If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to hear about / acquire Bubbles 2640?

i work in a chandlery specialising in dinghy bits, and a regular customer came in saying about clearing out his barn, and wondering if we knew anyone who was after a cherub, rest as they say is history...

When finished we should meet up and have our very own westcontry bistro bash , 2661 Eva Dexoff.Give me a bell or pm me if you want to chat about refurbishing clapped out bistro's cheers Andy

thanks, will almost certainly be calling on you at some point!

What rules rig does bubbles have on it? And 2661 for that matter?

erm, its got a twin spreader jobbie thats set up for a masthead, but is quite short. Its got single wire but has got fittings on it to make twin wire, but the sails seem a bit small for it to be '05 setup. I havent yet got my hands on the kites to have a look at them, but the sails are all pretty naff.

I am the past owner of 2640 that Neil mentioned. Bought her in about 1994 from a guy who had her at Netley. She was unusual in that she had a dish cockpit, lots of ironmongery (spaceframe, gantry) and a twin spreader rig. At some point she must have been twin wired, and the kite was an enormous illegal masthead version that no one seemed bothered about. It seemed rather overweight and that fact together with our rudimentary sailing skills did not convert into stunning results - but we certainly had alot of fun doing some of the events, and going drinking with Team Scotland, Mike and Matt, Dave Roe etc.

Great to hear that she's being restored. I have various photos kicking about that I'll try and post on here at some point.

great to hear from a previous owner, pictures of her in her original glory would be awesome!
Not surprised to hear it was a bit heavy, theres so much tin bolted on to it thats going to have to come off! Thinking about going for lowers rather than the spaceframe and building a carbon gantry.

Will sort some pics out as soon as poss

[JimC]

Be very wary about what you change... My vague memory is of rumours that she was heavy due to too much epoxy used in build - poor fibre to resin ratio - so it would be difficult to make much of an improvement without compromising structural integrity. Whilst I don't have any time for those alloy spaceframes as a concept (stupid idea, like so much off 14s of that era!) she'll need something to stop her folding in half: if you just remove it the results could easily be catastrophic and if you replace it with a carbon foam spaceframe that feels like a lot of time and money for not much of a weight saving. It doesn't just support the mast you see, its also absorbing much of the rig load. It may well be better just to put her in good order as she is. To my mind glass bistros definitely need something solid at deck level or better to deal with shroud and forestay compression. I recall when 2641 got a twin spreader rig which required extra loads you could see the foredeck ripple as the rig tension came on until I gave her a complete new carbon space frame structure.

[stafford1977]

Would have to agree with Mr Champ re the spaceframe etc. I recall Dave Roe saying that she was overweight due to the build - I remember him advising me to take a belt sander to the whole thing, which I never did.

The sails I had were definitely '91 rules on the white sails - mylar Batt main that was nearly dead even back then, and two Batt jibs, one knackered mylar and one dacron. The kites were both masthead so I'm guessing experimental and not within the '91 rules set - both Saunders if I remember correctly. One blue and pink one that was huge, and a slimmer white one that was definitley on its way out.

Hope it still has the beautiful Bloodaxe carbon rudder blade we got for it.

Still seemed to go pretty well despite the extra weight. It would have done far better if it weren't for the two idiots at the controls.

Thanks to this wave of nostalgia I've just gone and bought 2623, so hope to see the boat in all its restored glory at a future event!

[Will_Lee]

Wow! In 2003 I tried to track all the boats down from 2637 onwards... and 2640 was thought to be in Falmouth, but the trail went cold.