Purple Swanson 36 called Plum Crazy , can only find information on a half Tonner of the same name and colour, can only assume same owner different boat.
I think you may be conflating two different yachts from Middle Harbour in the 70s. Both around the same time both purple.
Plum Crazy - Joe Adams designed 31ft half tonner (IIRC Bob Miller was involved somehow). Owned by Tig Thomas - Channel 7 guru and the man who helped get Iain Murray the Channel 7 sponsorship. Raced a lot. Helped get my brother into sailing and then the lot of us got swallowed up in the vacuum.
Cooee - a similar colour flush deck Swanson 36 made in the front yard of the Eltringhams in suburban Cromer. Rob built it (and I sailed it to Fraser back in 1980 with them as a kid). Cooee was never raced when I knew her. Cooee had the blister cabin instead of the long Swanson cabin. Nice boat. She also had the wheel steering backwards - so you turned it the wrong way, just like a tiller - I wasn't old enough to drive when I steered her so it was okay but I reckon someone would have changed it after all these years - or had lots of accidents when driving cars.
Info on Plum Crazy
www.histoiredeshalfs.com/E148%20Plum%20Crazy.htm
Just remembered - I have a hazy recollection of seeing Cooee named Plum Crazy on the hard at Oyster Cove. Wouldn't put money on it. The last time I saw her was in the lake - the builders owned a classic yacht - Caprice of Huon and we sailed over to tell them of Cooee? (or PLum Crazy)
Why do you want to know?
cheers
Phil
Thankyou for the great reply, sounds like Cooee Maybe the boat I was inquiring about , same colour and blister cabin if that is the bubble cabin .
was she built in a back yard or finished off in the back yard? Do you think she was well built?
sounds like she was cruised not raced?
Yeah, well built. Rob Eltringham was not a boatbuilder but was very diligent and careful with the build. He then refit the classic Caprice of Huon so he knew what he was doing. She would be getting on now, I reckon she was launched about 1978 ish so things would need a check. Post a photo and I can check. As for being built, I have a recollection that Rob rented the moulds and laid her up, but can't be sure. She was finished off in front of the house at Cromer.
The former Cooee, the Swanson 36, was moored in Tilligherie Ck (sp) at Port Stephens, or was a few months ago. She did race in Middle Harbour's No 1 division for a few years.....I can still recall the problem with the sheet and lazy brace the first time the kite was popped! :-). KK's info is on the button.
She doesn't seem to leave the mooring but was in fair condition last time I went past her.
Thanks guys for your spot on information Cooee is in poor condition , not sure who has ownership of her now , would be nice to know if she is up for sale privately or if the person representing as the seller is trying to be a opportunist and adding a premium to the price.
she has osmosis not sure how bad, the deck has rot and at least one chain plate has rot in the ply around it.
Do these yachts have encapsulated lead ballast,???.
All the information you have put up is spot on amazing what you can find out on this forum once again thank you
Encapsulated lead keel. There are two versions of the keel too. I should imagine Cooee would have the deep keel. More than 50% of these were built by amateurs. Either they hired the moulds or bought the mouldings and fitted them out.
Plywood decks I assume are a different animal to core decks, I can get my head around fixing core decks , most YouTube is fixing core Decks having trouble finding what's involved with ply decks.
every fitting going through the ply seems to have problems. Is it a matter of cutting out the rot making a template bevelling the edges and epoxying the ply back in and if so is this a patch or a good fix?
Romona you bought your dream boat cheap and from memory had similar damage, would you do it again or walk away ? another question if the rot is along the the edge of the toe rail what method do you use to get the shape to fit the new piece in ?
Select to expand quoteMAGNESIUM said..
Plywood decks I assume are a different animal to core decks, I can get my head around fixing core decks , most YouTube is fixing core Decks having trouble finding what's involved with ply decks.
every fitting going through the ply seems to have problems. Is it a matter of cutting out the rot making a template bevelling the edges and epoxying the ply back in and if so is this a patch or a good fix?
Romona you bought your dream boat cheap and from memory had similar damage, would you do it again or walk away ? another question if the rot is along the the edge of the toe rail what method do you use to get the shape to fit the new piece in ?
Plywood deck repairs are easy. Just cut out the rotted area to the centers of the frames. Add fore and aft pieces between the frames if you need to. I don't have a headlining, mine is just the underside of the plywood varnished. The toe rail support in mine was a 'glassed in shelf. I had to replace some sections and just epoxied in treated pine timber and shaped that to take the ply.
And yes I would do it again!
Wow... What a job to tackle!! I remember you saying it took a good solid 9 months working on the boat.
You wouldn't know the boat today..
Was all the work carried out on the mooring, including the ferrying of materials?
Great job...Done like a Pro..!!
Cheers 
Select to expand quoteRamona said..MAGNESIUM said..
Plywood decks I assume are a different animal to core decks, I can get my head around fixing core decks , most YouTube is fixing core Decks having trouble finding what's involved with ply decks.
every fitting going through the ply seems to have problems. Is it a matter of cutting out the rot making a template bevelling the edges and epoxying the ply back in and if so is this a patch or a good fix?
Romona you bought your dream boat cheap and from memory had similar damage, would you do it again or walk away ? another question if the rot is along the the edge of the toe rail what method do you use to get the shape to fit the new piece in ?
Plywood deck repairs are easy. Just cut out the rotted area to the centers of the frames. Add fore and aft pieces between the frames if you need to. I don't have a headlining, mine is just the underside of the plywood varnished. The toe rail support in mine was a 'glassed in shelf. I had to replace some sections and just epoxied in treated pine timber and shaped that to take the ply.
And yes I would do it again!
Thanks for the reply Remona do you have more photos of the job as you progressed ?
i was knocked over when I saw that photo.
was you expecting the job to be that big ?
Select to expand quoteMAGNESIUM said..
Thanks for the reply Remona do you have more photos of the job as you progressed ?
i was knocked over when I saw that photo.
was you expecting the job to be that big ?
When I bought the yacht I could poke my head up through the deck in several places. All the work was done from my workboat.
If you click on my profile and go to the photo album back about page 4 you will see other photos.
I did that and it only shows about 16 photos and no option to scroll any more , am I missing something ?
Select to expand quoteMAGNESIUM said..
I did that and it only shows about 16 photos and no option to scroll any more , am I missing something ?
Yes. Up the top click on the bit that says see more from the gallery. There should be more than 10 pages!
