hello there,
I am a new member to this, i have been restoring my kingswift 26, by William Osbourne. for the last year and a half, i can only find one picture of one other vessel the same as mine on the home page of William Osbourne owners site! the one i have, her no is 2011 on the plaque, the plaque says designed and built by William Osbourne Littlehampton Shipyard, she was left derelict for 8 years before i purchased her, and i have restored her to what i believe to be original, does anyone know anything about my vessel or the whereabouts of any similar vessels, she is believed to have been built in 1964. and been in littlehampton untill about 15yrs ago.

Hi, saw your post.

I also have a king swift, she's undergone quite a lot of restoration work.

Are there others here with Osborne boats?

I have only just joined, so not had chance to have a good look round.

Anyway, mine's based in Poole, Dorset.

Hi, I have just found this forum, I also have an Osborne Kingswift which needs to be restored but I like using it as well. Mine is the first one built and has two petrol engines giving her a top speed of 20knots. It is fairly original except for galley modifications losing the sofa. Mine is on the Tidal Thames and was in the Diamond Jubilee Pageant. I will figure out how to post pictures at some point.

I think/ hope there is a picture with this

Hi Al, I'm guessing that we will keep bumping into each other... bloody rare now ain't they???

There is an Osborne owners club online, but after several attepts at joining i gave up.

Glad to hear that you've still got Hummingbird, Last time we chatted i thought that you were going to get rid of her!

Anyway, all the best and if you want to get in touch, just leave a message and I'll pick it up on my next visit through.

Cheers,

Steve.

Stermy, what engine/s does your boat have, the year of manufacture will be 1969 at the earliest, mine was the first one and launched in 1969 . can you post a picture of her here, it was easy. good luck with her, they are good sea keepers. Alan

Hi
Did Hummingbird have some work done at Mill's dock yard Long Eaton by Steve Mills, May be to the top sides? Nr Nottingham

Volvo engines I think if she is same boat.

Cheers

Music Man

Hi could well have done, had decks overlaid on original decks plus other work, were you involved with the work? The one fuel tank was removed and replaced with plastic to get BSS. She does have two Volvo petrol engines and I bought her from Ocean Village, Sheffield rd., nr. Unstone, Chesterfield. Which would put her in the right sort of location. What else do you know about her?

Hi

The best guy to contact would be Steve Mills at Mills dock yard Long Eaton, Steve is a genius with wood and building boats in particular and unusual boats like yours are the sort of thing he would be interested in. Steve builds steam launches to full scale from photographs and his yard is just a great place to visit.

I had no involvement in the boat but I am sure Steve or his brother owned it and Nationwide Boat sales were notorious for selling this type of craft.

I look forward to seeing some more pics when available.

Steve Mills has a web site http://mills-dockyard.com/

Good luck

Gary

To any Kingswift owner/s. I purchased Seajoy last year and have since been working on her while using her for holidays around the Solent. I am very pleased with her apart from the tired AQD21A 75hp diesel engines and the 270d legs which snap up so the props are just beneath the surface when placed in reverse. (A common early design fault)

I am now looking to re engine and having considered many different options including Chinese engines. I am sort of committed to the Vetus VH480 which are 80hp diesel.

The Osborne owners club website cannot be logged onto so Osborne owners have no central point of contact. My boat looks exactly the same as Hummingbird. Please comment here if you own or know of Osborne Kingswifts which are about so we can at least guess on the numbers left and be in a position to comment re problems as they arise.

Thanks Mac