I have written to say thank you for the replies which were sent to me in response to my letter regarding West Wight Potters. These letters were extremely helpful and convinced me that I should start looking for a West Wight Potter of my own. I did in actual fact write to all DCA members who are shown on the members list as owning Potters.

I eventually placed an ad. in the Practical Boat Owner under the Wanted heading for one. The response was not good. Initially I had one reply which was from Larry Rumpole who runs the Potter Boat Company. He offered me an ex-demonstration one, which he said I could have for £2000. He claimed that it had ‘everything’. I decided that it was probably a good buy seeing as how his new boats are £3500. So, one weekend, armed with the £2000 in cash and expecting to be coming home with a Potter, I set off to Wimborne in Dorset (quite a long return trip from Preston — 550 miles approx).

On arrival, it was quickly apparent that this boat did not have everything. It looked nothing like the boats pictured in his sales literature. The gunwales were black rubber instead of teak (and poorly finished off), the stern locker had a single rough looking piece of plywood on it, the sails, which were dark blue and not tan as advertised, did not have any reefing points fitted as shown in the sales literature and the cuddy had a piece of PVC where the washboard and companionway hatch should have been. The biggest disappointment of all was when I looked inside the cuddy. I was expecting to find 2 bunks as described by yourselves with upholstered cushions. The interior was completely bare and totally unfinished — no bunks, no cushions, no nothing. I couldn’t believe it. I queried Mr Rumpole’s statement on the telephone of the boat’s ‘completeness’ and he replied that this was the economy version. I was not impressed and did not buy the boat, returning home with my money still in my pocket.

A couple of weeks later, I went to see another DCA member, Dave Allen, who lives in Sheffield. He has a ‘C’ type Potter and he showed me round the boat. This was just as I had expected it to be. My interest was renewed again and I decided to continue my search. Some weeks later, I heard from a lady in Berkshire who said that her father had recently died and she had been left with his boat to dispose of. It was an elderly wooden Potter, original ‘A’ type, no 68, complete with trailer, cover, outboard etc for £500. I went to Berkshire to look at it and found it to be in excellent condition. However, all sailing fittings had been removed as her father had only used the boat on the local canal. The centreboard case had been sealed up, but the plate was still there. The mast, however, had had a chunk about 4’ long hacked off it for some unknown reason. I decided to have a go and see if I could get the old boat sailing again — the sails were in excellent condition.

Once home, I started to refit the boat — new standing rigging was required and a new mast, but how long should these be and where should all the fittings be attached? Phillip Rose of Bideford, Devon, came to my rescue. He sent me a comprehensive letter regarding dimensions of mast, rigging, position of cleats etc as well as a copy of an article which had appeared in PBO in November 1984. This article describes various modifications which had been made to the writer’s boat — guess what — the boat written about back in 1984 was the actual boat I had bought from Berkshire — Potter no 68 Shalmane — what an amazing coincidence.

Armed with this information and the article, I was able to refit the boat. A friend, Graham, ordered a length of Douglas fir from the local wood yard and made the new mast, which is 14’ 6” long, from the piece of 4 x 3 rough timber. All fittings were replaced, a dummy run carried out in the back garden to try out the mast, rigging and sails, a few final adjustments and we were ready to sail her.

Shalmane had her new maiden voyage under sail last week on Lake Windermere, where she performed admirably. Graham and I felt quite jubilant that we had got the old boat sailing again. We are now planning to trail and sail and will probably attend the odd DCA rally here and there.

Once again, I would like to thank you all for your assistance and in giving me your opinions of the Potter. I think the DCA a marvellous forum for exchanging ideas and information and I am most impressed with the response I have had from the members to my letters of enquiry.