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CASMAH2

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Everything posted by CASMAH2

  1. In The Company of Strangers A Part History of Casmah2 Gutting in the Basin The space in the Carribean was still cluttered for me. There were bulkheds ; aft bedroom, head/shower, double bunk room and galley/corridor wall. The hull, the bearers were sealed in by a fibreglassed ply floor. The sealed sections had all taken in water over the years, The colour and smell was not unlike fermented yuk..... So began the gutting. The whole floor was ripped out. Every wall and bulkhead chiseled out laborously. Only one was left - the aft bedroom bulkhead. The fibreglass specks glinted in the sunlight - couldnt hold breath long enough. No - I said to my friends, the roof wont fall in. The whole inside hull was dried out and painted. New ply floor laid. The under deck areas which housed all the services and tanks were opened up and painted. Casmah was lost its damp boaty smell.
  2. In the Company of Strangers A Part History of Casmah2 Harts at the bottom of long water - then in the wake of JBS to the old Cubbits Yacht Basin Just correcting my history as I check things ; Chiki not Ciki, Scampi not Suki. Casmah - Chiki and Scampi, Mitch and Hugh My period moored at Harts was dominated by my efforts building my dive school up. I never appeciated the mooring or spent much time on re fitting. It was a wonderful spot on the river, always alive with traffic and movement. A gate on the other bank led into the bottom end of Hampton Court and the mile long - long water. A ride in the Zodiac to go shopping into Kingston - all taken for granted then, never appreciated. To make matters worse I moved into a flat back in Battersea with a girl who hated boats ! Two years I neglected Casmah. The dive school was going well and I thought I would pay someone to start work on the re fit. It was a disaster. I got angry and left that lovely mooring and went to the basin in Chiswick where I am to this day.
  3. have to wait and get someone else to do it for me this loading of pictures which are too big ! is all a bit - four sprung duck technique for me
  4. In the Company of Strangers A Part History of Casmah2 From Henley to Harts c/o a BBQ Whilst JBS was still working on his Carribean, I was visiting friends who had a house on the island at Henley. In the morning I swam round the Island and only in the evening whilst rowing round, did I see her. Moored facing the Henley side was Casmah with a For Sale Sign. I ran in and spoke to Chris and Aileen. Yes they said, its owned my Ann and shes selling it and moving into a flat in town. You cant buy a boat without a mooring... The next weekend i was at a BBQ and the conversation turned to my desire to live on a boat. Angus said my mum lives on a boat at Harts in Surbiton. She is selling the boat and the mooring will be free, contact Ozie now. So I got my mooring and then bought Casmah. Ann told me that her and her husband were only the second owners. The first owners bought the boat new from Wilds and had her kitted out at Springfields in Maidenhead. The name Casmah derived from Ciki and Suki, Mitch and Hugh, the owners and their two dogs. Hugh was a Commodore of a yacht Club and a theatre manager. Ciki was a beautiful actress. Casmah had never been used as a hire boat. It was unusual in that it had windows all around the bow. No forward outside area. Two Gull wings with steps either side as forward enterances. The windows were different, two long ones forward then six port holes then two more longish one at the stern for both sides. it also had rails all the way round. Inside from the rear enterance, there was a double bedroom on the port side. On the starboard side there was a corridor with a galley. Forward of the bedroom on port side was a head, forward of that a double bunk room. Forward bow area the sloon with a white vinal semi circle seat. The whole ceiling was polystyrene.
  5. In The Company of Strangers A part History of Casmah 2 JBS and the Basin The years have slipped by and what was taken for granted for so long is now very much valued. I grew up in the Council Estates of the old industrial Battersea. The chimney of Morgans was our neighbour in Battersea Bridge Buildings. The river ran alongside my life in Battersea Fulham and Putney. The first link came when a school friend said his father had moved out and was building a boat on Eel Pie Island...it didnt mean a thing to me then. Then years later JBS a fellow diving instructor asked if I would give him a hand bring a boat down from somewhere on a canal where it had been used as a cafe. He had to move out of his place in Brighton and was going to live aboard in Chiswick, do it up and take it to France... So I met my first Carribean. JBS had the energy of a teenager and must have been then in the 80's about 60 or more. I recall he would unscrew things as we motored along muttering that it was all rubbish and couldnt wait to gut the boat. Our destination was Chiswick Quay Marina. Cubbits Yacht Basin or The Basin as it was called in its previous life before the houses came.. So in later months I would turn up and watch his new radical design take shape. All the old windows removed replaced with ones from a Londond Bus, sides re fiberglassed, rear enterance sealed !!! steering position a third of the way inside midships !!! He had a master bedroom at the stern then a corridor with toilet, tool room, shower and storage cubicals. then his mad steering position and a long mid table with long seating each side to the forward windows. Oh and lorry wing mirrors. JBS was unusual - he did what he said he would. He finished his boat which he named after his friends two daughters, had it craned out and shipped over to Dunkirk. We lost touch for years but when i eventually did catch up with him he reported on the pleasure he and his friend had cruising thousands of miles over many years in France. I lost touch with JBS and I guess his Carribean with the bus windows and crazy steering position is still in France.
  6. Thanks John and Mary-Jane. At the risk of boreing people I will write out a history of Casmah and include some pictures on the F B Wilds section. Is that a picture of your boat ? Seth
  7. Thanks for the welcome John. Yes if I could share the history of my boat and what I have been doing to it over the years, that would be good.
  8. Hello, I by chance fell upon FB Wilds web site looking for parts for by Perkins 4108. It was wonderful to find out the history of my Carribean. I have lived on CASMAH since the early 90's. I always felt as if I was the ugly duckling in the moorings. Not a proper boat, bathtub etc.. were the comments. I love my boat however and have have spent years renovating it. Still not finished....Is there a Carribean Group in this forum ? I would love to share information and the history of Casmah.
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