Post JCL

When JCL went into liquidation in 1980, the factory was closed and any finished craft had been delivered, what became of all the Mould Tools and designs?

Well, I have been trying to trace the steps and with some luck I have located some of the Mould Tools and heard of what happened to others, and I have also found some surprising outcomes!

As far as can be determined, the design and Mould Tools for the Mamba were sold to Colin Hamilton who worked at the BBC, he built and sold the craft as a Falcon sports boat, as far as I have been able to find out, only one (pictured below) is thought to have been made before Falcon also went bust. If anyone knows what happened to the mould tools after that.

The Mangusta 65 never got off the drawing boards at JCL, a scale model was made for design purposes and probably tank testing, and interior design was decided, but no craft were built. The designs were sold to Cleopatra in Essex but they never actually made the craft either. I have no idea what happened to the design afterwards, though the 'Mangusta 65' sold by several boatyards in Italy has the same names and similar lines! See below and make your own opinion..

The Mystere was a design by Antonio Maggini for Versilcraft in Italy ( now New Versilcraft S.R.L.), JCL were licensed to produce a fibreglass version, but were eventually licensed to sell the craft as well, I don't know all the details of licensing agreement.

As the Hull mould was JCL's to use, they also designed there own superstructure based on the Mystere, the Mirage (& Mistral). The Mould tools for both of these were thought to be destroyed, but unless my eyes are deceiving me they are very much still in existence! See here if you want to see more or even buy them..

This was by far the favoured design of Colin Chapman as he had been able to start the design from scratch and make his own design lines, using a Don Shead hull designed for it.

The first boat to come from this design was possibly the Powles 53 shown below going under a bridge .

This was considered to be a design stolen from the JCL/Chapman drawing boards even before the company went bust!.

The next was to be the "Azure 150" by an ex owner of a Marauder who had this one built more conventionally and with its own weight saving ideas, I am lead to believe that the design was taken by having a mould taken from another Marauder! This was not a lawful copy however, and only this one craft was produced shown below. See the website where the Azure is shown.

these photographs are Copyrighted and the property of the owner of the Azure 150

The Hull and Superstructure Mould tools were sold to Cleopatra (Essex) who kept the design as it was, but made the hulls using conventional hand laid fibreglass, only a few cosmetic changes to fittings were made, this was a true Marauder except for the propulsion system which had been returned to the conventional 'P' Bracket supported propshafts. The Company made 6 "Camargue 46" before they too went bust. There is a Website for Cleopatra boats and owners here.. they have been very helpful in obtaining information about the Cleopatra Camargue 46

The Hull Mould was sold on from Cleopatra to the Trefjar Company in Iceland who intend to use the JCL VARI method to produce the hulls for a new boat design. they did not buy the Superstructure Mould Tool as it was thought to be in too bad a condition.

The surviving Marauder Hull Mould. photograph provided and Copyright Trefjar Iceland

This was a design of a sports boat that was in the making at the time JCL closed, based on the Mamba hull, and was nearly ready for production. The design was sold to Cleopatra (Essex) and they produced the boat as the "Streaker 32", they wanted to keep the JCL rakish superstructure design, but the agent that they used to produce the superstructure did not copy the JCL design as they had wanted , but produced a modified more conventional line. Here are 2 pictures of the Streaker 32 Brochure, (provided with Kind Permission of Paul McRae) notice they still used the Marauder as a company logo !

The Design and Mould tools were sold to Aqua Bell / East Anglian Marine in 1987, they produced the Moonraker Super 36, trading through Monitor Marine & D.C. Developments, the company brochure is shown below...

When they too ended production, the Mould Tools remained, and have been offered for sale,

The photo and description below of them is from a recent advertisement. http://www.boatsandoutboards.com/view/BS0818/

Designer: Rip Martins, Builder: Aqua Bell Ltd, Year: unknown , Construction: grp

A fantastic opportunity to purchase, direct from the original builders, the full set of mould tools for the ever popular Moonraker 36 Flybridge. The hull mould tool has had a hull laid up inside it to protect it. The value of the hull is £16,000, and this would be included in the sale price. Any help and advice to further the project once purchased will gladly be given. See "more photos" to view 10 internal and external photos of this vessel. Photographs, analysis and comments by Craig Morris of Boatshed Norfolk. Note: Offers on the asking price may be considered. Transportation available, please call for further details. http://norfolk.boatshed.com/viewboat.php?boat=6445' target='_blank'>Click for more details

LOA: 35' 8", Length at Waterline: 0', Beam: 11' 5", Draft: 2' 5", Maximum Draft: 2' 5", Headroom: 6' 1"

Category Cruisers - Offshore Make Moonraker Price £19,995 (approximately 28,993 euros) Country UK Region Norfolk Broker Boatshed.com Web Site http://www.boatshed.com Comments Trade and/or Brokerage Sale Telephone +44 (0)870 990 5857

BACK

This page was last modified 29th May 2007

images Copyright Mr R.Middleton & Mr S.A.Hayward

No unauthorised use of images or text permitted without the express written permission of the copyright holders.