CAPRI IV
photos & details ex Michael Fann
Danger – Alert – Not A True Woody 😉
Today’s post breaks one of the fundamental ww rules, it has to be wood………….. but sometimes rules need to be broken (not too often).
Capri IV is a Mason Marine Clipper 24 built in the early 1970’s & if you believed the company hype back in those days “the finest powerboat in the world”.
In recent weeks I have had the pleasure of sharing some time with the her present owner, Michael Fann & her previous owner, Tim Evill. Both gents are wonderful, passionate classic boaties but I understand that it was the owner prior to Tim, a Taupo resident who painstakingly restored her.
Capri IV is 24′ long with a beam of 8′, these days she is powered by a Volvo Penta 5.7L V8 that has her comfortably cruising at 22>24 knots & topping out at 32>34 knots -thats quick for a boat of her size. I imagine that Michael is on first name terms with the the fuel jetty jockey 🙂
I have dropped a copy of the May 1971 boat test from Sea Spray magazine into a slide show for viewing, see below. Click to pause & enlarge.
When launched the Clipper 24′ had a quite a revolutionary launching set-up with a sliding cradle trailer (see photo), further proof of the build skills of the team at Mason Marine, Capri IV is still using the same trailer today – thats over 40 years later.
Some of the sales advertisements make amusing reading, as do the features on Tony Mason.
Enjoy.
Sea Spray – May 1971
Remember to click images to enlarge 😉
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there are two throttles as one is for the auxiliary motor
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According to the April 1978 issue of Sea Spray, CAPRI IV came 20th overall in that year’s Atlantic Power Boat Rally powered by a Waukesha engine, the inference being that it was a single.
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The control is the split gear/throttle unit. As far as I can recall the only twin engine Clipper 24 was Dr John Taylor’s Clipper Kalewa, fitted with twin 170 Volvo’s.
Capri IV won the Boat of the Show award at Epsom, I think in 1973. The tri axle tráiler with separate cradle was a special (only a couple were built), as Pete Miller has written the standard tráiler was a tándem float on – you had to unhitch it and run it down the ramp. The triaxle was very heavy, weighing almost 1000kg.
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Of course she could have had a separate lever for reverse although comparatively unusual in my experience of that type of unit, which was identical to the one I had in my own boat built in the same era, which had 2 engines. KEN R
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If the interior shots are of the same fab., Mason Masterpiece as the boat featured, she must have been changed form 2 engines down to 1, as the fascia shot shows Morse single lever controls for 2 engines. — KEN R
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I’m 99% certain that is the boat bought brand new by Graham Lincoln back in the 70s… I was at primary school and a friend of the family and even went out to Mason’s to pick it up with them. And it was a beautiful boat… He was a member of the OBC for may years where I’ve now got my own woody… I even recognise the Bentley in the drive of their house, which – needless to say – was not used to tow that beast….
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Yes Tony never aimed for the bottom of the market as so many seem to now, always remember watching the Atlantic 100 – Clipper Commander, Clipper Comsec etc racing Spinner Blacks Old Crow and the Mystic Miss, back when offshore powerboat racing ventured outside Auckland Harbour. Clipper Black Tulip which at one time held the Auckland to Russell record under Lincoln Laidlaws ownership is today in Milford Creek not bad condition at all.
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Mig replacement?
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Love the Clippers….
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You don’t need to make excuses for featuring Tony Mason and his thoroughbred power boats. I love the selection of Tony’s cars shown, the T Series Bentley, the Mk X Jaguar etc. Tony’s perfectionism and style permeated everything he did.
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