Original Mast?

I'm having the rigger professionally do her up as I type. I took a couple of pics of the name plate on the mast. Is it original to this Reed Craft? South Hampton seems readable and that would be on your side of the pond.  What say members of the forum?

That would be "Northhampton".

Hi Tom,

Certainly, "SS Spars" were the original suppliers of Reedcraft boats. Moores seemed to use Holt.

I've just been to inspect my mast. Up till now I had failed to recognise that it had a plaque like yours. That's because mine is completely unreadable. All that remains are the stamped numbers.

This accounts for why I only have an image of the blue and gold badge mounted a little higher on the mast on the site. I had not realised the significance of the riveted plaque.

Enlarging your image and playing with the contrast, reveals that the line appears to read "Rushden Northampton". Rushden is a small town in Northamptonshire, about 15 miles east of Northampton itself. I had always wondered where SS Spars were based. Interesting too, as Northamptonshire is in the Midlands, about as far from the sea as you can get.

Very interesting Greg. My original question remains - How in the world did this boat ever get to America?  Container ship?  Some plucky though certainly mad Brit sailing her across?

Might there be significance in the stamped numbers?

Tom,

It's one of those eternal mysteries, isn't it! That said, pretty much every tiny boat that I have read about that crossed the Atlantic (madness) has had a lot of modification to fit buoyancy, guard rails, lifelines, etc. Also, they seem to get stripped out to the bare minimum inside to fit all the food.

So, given that you've done so much work in it, does it look like that has ever happened? If not, then I suspect container is the answer, especially since it would pretty much fit perfectly into a 20ft shipping container, trailer and all!

But hey, keep looking, you never know what you might find.

Perry

Sent from my iPad

Hi Tom,

Surfed (Tom Altee) wrote

My original question remains - How in the world did this boat ever get to America?  Container ship?  Some plucky though certainly mad Brit sailing her across?

I should have said ages ago that I back the container ship idea.

"mad Brits" are likely to have attracted some form of publicity or reason for attempting such a crossing and I'm sure that I would have recalled any TV coverage of such a venture, as I would have taken an interest in any SeaHawk following my father's purchase of one new in 1973.

Hi Tom,

Surfed (Tom Altee) wrote

Might there be significance in the stamped numbers?

Almost certainly! But I fear the only people who could reveal the significance would be an employee of the long gone "SS Spars".