oldspeedboats Forum
RESTORATION & HISTORY => Almarine-Mitcham Boats => Topic started by: si on July 19, 2015, 05:13:09 PM
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Hi, I was looking for information and came across this site , just been looking at the boats on here, very nice , I noticed the Almarine part and have been trying to date and collect info on my little seafire , serial number 5333 , its a bit different as its a single seater and a one off colour scheme which for the most part is laid up with most of the colours not painted ? I was told many years ago when I bought it that is was one of 12 specials that had usually been two colours and a couple had been single seat , I have no clue , maybe someone could help with dating it etc , will post a couple of pics ,
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Hi and welcome. A picture will help a lot. If you have cloud based pictures, they can be linked, but large 'non cloud' files are restricted due to bandwidth. In the meantime, I am trying to find out about your boat.
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Hi BN and thank you , I tried to put photos up but the files were too large, I will try to resize later, cheers
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Heres some pics , the design continues underneath but having trouble resizing any more images
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Wow, that is one colourful little beastie :D Love it.
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Cheers BN , I also noticed the bow deck is smooth whereas all the others appear ribbed, it certainly is colouful usually when I launched it a crowd of kids would gather and run down the quay to watch it once clear of the speed limits, I dont think many people have seen such a small speedboat and its hard to miss the colour. Have to say its so much fun , rides rough water with ease infact I find myself chasing after big waves, turns on a sixpence and has a fair rate of knots, also very easy to manage a launch. It appears to have been laid up in these colours and then the black lines hand painted , any help identifying it would be great, I also have another small boat which is buried under a load of stuff in my garage, I cant even find a makers name but the shape is very cool , its only 8ft long , I hope to one day post it here and maybe get that identified too, my goal is ultimately to restore them but planning on using the seafire as is until then . Cheers
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Si, from your pictures, it certainly has the Seafire character and appearance. Having said that, there were some copies made, when the company closed down, by Classic Moulds, who purchased the moulds from the defunct Almarine, but they did not make colours like that. The moulds were then handed around, loaned, sold and who knows what after that. Does your ID plate look like the one I have attached below, if so, it is a good indicator that it is a genuine Almarine?
There is a company making small versions of the boat now, but they were from moulds, that were not Alma, more likely Mitcham Marine left overs from the 1960's. Don't worry about the deck, they were smoothed off. Finally, the ID number 5333, is a bit high for Almarine.
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Hi BN , tried a few different online resizers but no luck , however I was watching youtube and a chap with a restored blue Seafire saying it was no 64 off the production line in 1973, its serial number was 5063 , he showed the Almarine disc with number on , mine has this same identity disc in the same place almost identical to yours but black not red ,number 5333, also has the raised seafire logo on flanks, I read that about 200 seafires were produced yearly so mine could be circa 74 ? Still not sure really about it or how the other people dated theirs at 73 ? Cheers
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I think you mean, this ID plate (below), which is pre-Alma and un-dateable as all records have now been lost apparently. The Ship & Boat Builder Federation has gone, unless someone knows something I do not, which would be great. These plates had nothing to do with the manufacturer as they were issued as they were requested. The dating of Alma's is very difficult and until John arrives in the UK, I will not know. I am not even sure if he knows that sort of detail as he was design and build.
Re picture resizing, try this as it is brilliant and free, but I use the pro version, which is a one off donation of a few dollars. Worth every penny and Simon is excellent with help.
http://www.fotosizer.com/
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Hi BN , sorry if I confused things , my ID plate is identical to yours except the colour which is black , mine is the same as the ones I have seen online and in the same place , maybe the colour changes with the model ? Maybe red for the spitfire , black for the seafire etc ?
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Like this . . .
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I think the resizer is working so heres the underneath .
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The black Almarine ID is off my boat , its hard to read now downsized but is 5333 , not sure what the 5 represents unless its the seafire code I think its the 333rd made ? Cheers
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Mmmm , just noticed infact yours also starts with a 5 :o , so much for that idea !
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No one knows the answer to that until John arrives and even then, I have my doubts. It may be something very simple, but we will have to wait and ask John.
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I think the resizer is working so heres the underneath .
The paint job, I would say is an after market job, because I cannot recall any boat in the 1970's with a gel coat such as yours. Modern paints are good and this looks modern.
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Hi BN it does seem to be a mystery, hopefully John can shed some light on the years/serial numbers etc , was wondering what model the red Almarine ID came from , I see you have a collection of Almarines. I know little about the paint job ? But a friend that works with grp told me its not painted but laid up like that, the black looks brushed on , im not sure . Also its a single seater , I will take some pics of that later . Cheers
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The ID plates are not a problem, because they were more than likely made in various colours. The paint or gel is another matter, because it is so futuristic that I cannot recall any boat in the 1970's having a finish like yours. Gel can be redone and look original though. Another possibility is that Teamac have done the work, as they do pick rare boats to put unusual paint work on to promote their paint.
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Hi BN , it would be nice to know how it ended up painted like this and when and by who but would be even better to know the year of manufacture.
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Hello Si, I am sure we will get an answer, they just take a while sometimes.