Looking for a Yacht named "Shoestring"

[BoatFinder]

Hiya, I am trying to locate a sailing yacht that my late father designed and built in his mid 30's. He launched it on the 16th April 1971 onto the River at Norwich, Norfolk. It was / is called "Shoestring", due to the budget it was built on ;-)) I was wondering if you / anybody could suggest any way of possibly locating it? That would be great ;-)) This is my first real attempt at finding it. Any help to do with Yacht registers or something similar would be amazing ;-)). Thanks in advance. Steve McManus, Southampton.

 

[Tassie 1]

Sounds like a " needle in a haystack " quest
it may have had it's name changed,
Been sailed to some far off tropical island etc etc
ran into some stormy weather etc etc

Anywho,
Tried the Wooden Boat Forum etc etc?
The Cruiser Forum?
Sailing Anarchy ( sp )
Rude chaps they be though

 

[mr 88]

Very small chance it was documented at some time with the same name ,but you can research that on the USCG site . On the home page there is a Mariners icon scroll to the National Vessel Documentation Center. In that section someplace,[ you may have to bump around a bit,] they list every boat that has been documented by name and there home port , I think they may also list make and length of vessel ..Maybe you will get lucky. You can Google Boat names by documentation or the USCG Maritime Info Exchange has the list ,just have to punch in the name.

 

[southkogs]

My grandfather had a boat that we all recalled, but he sold long before he passed away. One of my uncles happened to be in the area where they used to keep the boat, and ran across it on the trailer in someone's yard.

If you have a couple of photos, I would suggest starting out at a few of the marinas and see if you can find it just by walking about. Maybe ask around a bit locally and see if anyone knows of the boat. If it's a trailer boat, then she might have migrated out of town ... but who knows?

 

[mike_i]

Is it a 36' sailboat?

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Not an answer for your question but an interesting story and maybe something to help you keep searching.

a long time ago I bought an air compressor off a nickel ad this was pre Craigslist and online sales methods. The guy selling it was an old sailer and his last name was in fact Waters. His wife has died and he had everything in a storage unit for a while but it was time to hang up his old life and move to a place with more help. He’s got this huge model sailboat hand built its like three feet long hand carved not from a kit. Probably took him years to complete. My boys were young but were fascinated by that boat.

he insisted we take it. Its was really cool. Value wise I can’t know maybe quite a bit extremely detailed out right down to the knots and shudders on the windows. So we took it.

many years later we revamped our lives And house and there was no room for this boat in our house ityook up a lot of room. I placed it for sale on Craigslist. About two week later I had a response. The guy called and he asked me or stated a few things about the boat that were not visible from the pictures. He and his dad had built it when he was a kid. He drive about four hours to get it. Tried to pay me for it. Told me A few stories about his dad he went by Muddy Waters which was also the boats name. He was about as happy and sad as a person could be when he left with that boat. Couldn’t thank me enough for saving that part of his family history for him, and how amazing it was that he happened to find the ad I had placed because the chances of that happening were about as slim as they get.

now I hope one day I find the 1964 Chevy pick up my dad and I brought back to life in 1987. I am adding this because it’s about a boat. I moved to Washington state from Texas with it in 1990. Dead broke had to kill salmon. Needed a boat so bad that I sold that truck to buy a boat.

my dad died in 07 two years later I saw that truck. It needed a restoration again. Guy wanted $3000 for it but I was knee deep in chemotherapy not thinking right and also thinking $3000 out of pocket right now not a good idea. Well today I don’t even have words to tell you how much I screwed up not buying it today i look for it all the time.

good luck with your quest my both of ours end up with success.

 

[mike_i]

what a cool story, what are the odds? I may have information on the shoestring if the OP ever responds to my question.

Not an answer for your question but an interesting story and maybe something to help you keep searching.

a long time ago I bought an air compressor off a nickel ad this was pre Craigslist and online sales methods. The
guy selling it was an old sailer and his last name was in fact Waters. His wife has died and he had everything in a storage unit for a while but it was time to hang up his old life and move to a place with more help. He’s got this huge model sailboat hand built its like three feet long hand carved not from a kit. Probably took him years to complete. My boys were young but were fascinated by that boat.

he insisted we take it. Its was really cool. Value wise I can’t know maybe quite a bit extremely detailed out right down to the knots and shudders on the windows. So we took it.

many years later we revamped our lives And house and there was no room for this boat in our house ityook up a lot of room. I placed it for sale on Craigslist. About two week later I had a response. The guy called and he asked me or stated a few things about the boat that were not visible from the pictures. He and his dad had built it when he was a kid. He drive about four hours to get it. Tried to pay me for it. Told me A few stories about his dad he went by Muddy Waters which was also the boats name. He was about as happy and sad as a person could be when he left with that boat. Couldn’t thank me enough for saving that part of his family history for him, and how amazing it was that he happened to find the ad I had placed because the chances of that happening were about as slim as they get.

now I hope one day I find the 1964 Chevy pick up my dad and I brought back to life in 1987. I am adding this because it’s about a boat. I moved to Washington state from Texas with it in 1990. Dead broke had to kill salmon. Needed a boat so bad that I sold that truck to buy a boat.

my dad died in 07 two years later I saw that truck. It needed a restoration again. Guy wanted $3000 for it but I was knee deep in chemotherapy not thinking right and also thinking $3000 out of pocket right now not a good idea. Well today I don’t even have words to tell you how much I screwed up not buying it today i look for it all the time.

good luck with your quest my both of ours end up with success.

 

[jebby]

1 post...…….. he gone

 

[mike_i]

That happens a lot around here. I have some very good information for him, I'm pretty sure I found the boat. Hopefully he found it then moved on.

1 post...…….. he gone

 

[Captain Caveman]

He only posted a week ago. Sometimes I post on here and then life gets in the way until I remember that I had asked a question. Although for most of the folks that post once and go, it's bad etiquette for sure. At least post a thank you or update.