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QB plans and moulds


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Presumably he lived in melbourne?? A search of the white pages doesn't find any marmion's at all in victoria or NSW.

any suggestions where he can be tracked down as there was a request on the tips forum for QB plans?

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I would love to see some QB pics. I remember when I was just a little whippersnaper I was given a book on many different classes of boats and the QB always took my interest.

Are there any surviving boats at all. Now to see that class rebuilt would be a remarkable achievment, but not one I think we are going to see.

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The bottom image is probably the last QB found in Melbourne. The owner contacted me about 6 years ago saying he had restored it and was looking to contact former owners to find out as much as he could but then I never heard from him again.

I am searching for my photos and will try to get up screenshots from the only video I have of mine on Lake Cootharaba. I have pictures from the hull restoration but little in the way of on the water shots

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I'm not sure, it was a few years ago now, but I think I can remember a QB at Lake Learmonth Yacht Club, Ballarat, Victoria.

I don't have any info on the boat or whether it still exists but there is two people I remember might be able to answer the question, they are Darren Crick, and Ross Bennett both of, or around Ballarat. I found a D Crick in the Ballarat phone book - 03 53432548, too many R Bennetts, but Darren could probably give you his number.

Like I said, I don't know who the owner is, but I reckon Darren may have crewed (maybe)

So I help this helps

Matt Harper

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I wish we had this much interest whilst we were trying to keep the class alive!!!

I won one of the last Vic State Titles on my old QB3, Decadence, in 1997 at Lake Boga, Vic. At that time, we had around 6 boats still active. I sold my boat (for $1,700 on a trailer!) to a guy from Ballarat who was going to sail at Lake Learmonth. That would have made 4 boats at Learmonth - the last active fleet of QB3s in the World!

Unfortunately, Learmonth has been a dustbowl for last few years as a result of the drought, so that's the end of the class. However I know of at least QB3 that is in the process of being resurrected and will be back on the water shortly - maybe with a kite!

I had an absolute ball sailing QB2s and then QB3s. In their day they were an absolute weapon.

In terms of plans, I think you'd have no hope. It must be 15 years since a boat was built - by Barry Marmion (who, as far as I know, is stil very much alive!). I doubt very much whether the mold could still be used.

I hope the this sheds a little light on what happened to the class.

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Would you have any photos you can email?.

results on the last few class championships were recorded in a newsletter which i was sent years ago and i had hopes that some photos of the cats in the last few very keenly fought championships would have survived.

I have no shots of my QB on the water and only photos of the last restoration about 10 years ago.

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I had a Quest B which I restored and raced a bit in the 70's. I bought it off a Victorian guy (Keith ??) who I worked with for a while. It was 20ft x 10 ft with a 30ft mast and a 'C' class main reduced at the foot. A nice boat and we had a lot of fun with it. Last I heard it was neing used by some sea scouts as a training boat of some sorts without the rig.

I probably have some slides, I know I have a movie (8mm) my wife shot at Lake Munmora on the Central Coast. It was blowing and a Tornado was racing also but I broke the mast when the spanner system failed. The 'T' cartwheeled.

I have a zillion slides so finding the ones of the 'B' will not be easy frown.gif

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Any images of QB2's or 3's would be welcome. especially any in full flight.

The last person from the QB association I had contact with was a Peter Mc?something from Ballarat who was then working at Sovereign hill. He gave me tips and pointers on sailing my QB but I haven't heard from him in the past decade.

At that time some melbourne cat sailors were supposedly ready to pop out the first glass hulls from the original mould. I was very interested but never heard whether or not a glass QB was built

I would really like to build up a decent collection of images before the class disappears entirely so any donations would be welcome.

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Loose Goose was a glass Qb2 (later upgraded to qb3) It was a good 30 kilos heavier than the timber boats but that didnt stop it winning races.

I scanned the photo of the goose, I found it in the filing cabinet at the lauderdale yacht club. Colin Bird and Kerry Wickham were the former owners of the boat. They moved onto a 5.8 and are now in the process of building a 35ft cruising cat.

Colin once said to me the problem with building a QB class was the lack of a manufacturer. people would come up to him with money in thier pockets to buy a Qb, and ask where to get one? when he explained you have to build one and it will cost 3/4 of a new 5.8 people would run down to the nacra dealer and buy a 5.8. most people would rather buy a boat than build one.

the square top Qb3 was a nice looking boat on the water, well ahead of its time.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I used to sail a Stingray that I had built about 1975 and I had been told that it was a B2 class boat ie. 18' long by 8' wide and the 200 sq ft of sail. If all of of this is correct how did a Stingray compare against QB2. Ya gotta remember that back in the 70's the was fierce rivalry between Vic and NSW and you never saw a rival boat in the other state, I always remember thinking how nice it would be to race against one to see who had the faster boat.

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hi,

as you said, LC, the rivalry between the B2 classes was gi-normous, Stingrays,and Qb2's dominated the class, and many good sailors participated. Here in QLD the Stingrays seemed to take hold in the southern parts,and the QB2 in the northern areas, but in those days we had many ,many well supported Regattas all up and down the coast, The eventual introduction of the newer fibre glass boats saw the gradual demise of the QB2, but the Stingray held on for many years , the Super Stingray, taller mast, bigger rig, is still seen at regattas, and many clubs.

AAHH, the good old days.

pete smile.gif

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I loved the look of Chris Cairns all timber Super Stingray.

It was lacquared timber with a very hi gloss. I though it looked so good it could have been a grand piano.

In the US of A they have a beautiful fleet of timber boats called Sharks. I will find the site and post it.

They are a very old class, but beautiful boats.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ahhhh .. all this talk of boats long gone makes one feel quite maudlin. So I went out into the backyard in the long grass, you know, the really long grass where everything hides and lo and behold I found a Stingray. Looking at it closely I find that it aint in bad condition at all after having sat there for nearly seven years. The decks and deck beams will need replacing, the hulls and cases are glass so they are ok. I recall I had made new boards for it some time previously and I found those. The sail is very badly stained, BUT .... all the other expensive stuff is all there .. the hardware ..and I still have the plans from sail #177 which I built back in the early '70's.

I'm smiling.....

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I bought my QB in 94 in Townsville, It was originally called 'Bwana banana.' There was also a red QB2 "wind shadow? in the fleet. Local cats consisted of several A's, half a dozen tornadoes, a nacra or two and 'checkmate' the Cobra. That was the fleet until one of the tornado guys bought the first locally owned taipan. I had never seen a stingray until I sailed on lake cootharaba which had 6 or so top boats.

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  • 1 month later...

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