specification

Length - 5.35m
Beam - 1.75m
Hull weight - 133.9kg
Max, Carrying Capacity -
4 People
Main sail Area - 9.30m
2
Genoa sail Area - 4.65m
2
Spinnaker Area - 17.2m
2
PN Rating 940
Buoyancy:
2 Side Tanks, 1 Forward Tank,
1 Aft Tank


Construction
All glass fibre and polyester resin with large areas of foam sandwich strengthening. Internal stiffness is maintained using uni directional glass cloth with a ribbed internal stiffening structure.



Osprey

Simply the best trapeze boat.

This exceptional price includes a full set of sails, and is ready to sail at just
£8,995.00
including vat


why choose a Osprey


Fast

One Design

Inexpensive

Real Value for Money

Boat Built to Last

User Friendly Controls

Roomy Cockpit

Sensational Styling

High Quality Fittings

Challenging with Outstanding Performance

Demonstrations always available


This exceptional price includes a full set of sails, and is ready to sail at just
£8,995.00
including vat



OPTIONAL EXTRAS 

SAILING OPTIONS
£
Carbon Mast - Extra Cost
£696.24
Carbon Boom - Extra Cost
£203.88
Carbon Pole - Extra Cost
£99.85
Carbon Full Rig - Extra Cost
£999.97
Kevlar Main - Extra Cost
£298.00
Adjustable Rig
£229.94
Strut Assembly
£187.50
Spinnaker Taper Sheets
£69.94
Spinnaker Tracks x2 Rear
£96.40
Jib Cars Complete x2
£168.80
Wood Epoxy - Race Centre Board
£397.40
Wood Epoxy - Race Rudder
£197.80
BOAT ACCESSORIES
£
Large Tidy Bag
£29.98
Tidy Bag
£14.98
Two Colour Hull
£159.98
Boat Logos - Pair
£59.60
BOAT PROTECTION
£
Flat Cover Poly/Cotton
£219.98
Over Boom Cover Poly/Cotton
£219.98
Under Cover
£186.00
Rudder Bag
£39.99
BOAT MOVEMENT
£
Twin Cradle Launch Trolley
£329.95
Road Trailer
£469.90
Comb Trailer - Galvanised
£799.85
Standard Jockey Wheel
£49.98
Deluxe Jockey Wheel with Handle
£69.98
Lighting Board with Mast Support
£79.98


OSPREYS BRIGHT NEW DAWN
Ian Proctors son, Roger Proctor, a director of Ian Proctor Designs, tells his pleasure in the new FRP boat from Hartley Laminates.

The Osprey is without doubt one of my fathers greatest boats. It was designed to be a contender for an Olympic Class in the early 1950s. At the trials it was pipped at the post by the Flying Dutchman. Ironically, I believe my father had previously been asked to ‘clean up’ the lines of the Dutchman! However, it was a close run thing. The Osprey was one of the very first trapeze boats, if not the first.

My father decided to enter this revolutionary design in the Round the Island Race that was open to all newcomers for the coronation year. Sailing three up with himself, Cliff Norbury (British Olympic Coach in the 70’s and 80’s) and John Oakley (Olympic Squad member in the 70’s), they won by a matter of seconds in a dramatic all day race (their closest rival was a Jack Holt design, I forget the name). It was made all the more memorable by the very fact that my father was disabled through polio during the war, which meant that he only had one good arm, his left, and couldn’t breathe if he fell in cold water!

We are now the proud possessors of the only Round the Island Race cup that has been able to be kept by the winner. It really put my father on the dinghy design map and established him as one of the UK’s three leading dinghy designers. We are therefore very proud of the Osprey.

We, the Proctor family, are delighted that the Osprey has found a new beginning and look forward to seeing the final product. We wish you, the Class, well, and we are delighted that this great design will continue to give great pleasure to all who sail her.


PHIL MORRISONS VIEWS

Much of the design work on the Mark 4 was done by Phil Morrison, the designer of many of the RS Boats. Here are a few insights into his thinking behind the new boat.

“About 18 months ago I was approached by Richard Hartley to look into revamping Ian Proctors Osprey design. This was unexpected, but not a complete surprise as I had some years earlier worked on a similar exercise with the Kestrel, which Richard and his son Marks boat building company had successfully revived from a semi stagnant state. The Kestrel was one of the first dinghies designed for GRP production and had a usable, if somewhat tired, hull mould, so the exercise was largely to bring the deck styling and overall construction up to date. I approached this new project with some trepidation as it seemed an almost irreligious intrusion into a great designers work. Ian had designed most of the early Nationals and Merlin Rockets in which I started my sailing, and subsequently, designing career. After a meeting with Richard and all of Ian Proctors children, who were my age or older, I was myself reassured, and in turn reassured them, of my respect for the great mans work. As with the Kestrel, they gave me consent to modernising Ian’s Osprey design for today’s market and building methods.

For the Osprey, the exercise was a little more dramatic, as the boat had originally been designed for amateur wooden construction, with the customary measurement tolerances to allow for building variations. As the class mould was not in a good enough state to use, Richard would have to invest a considerable sum in tooling and equipment in order to complete the exercise to his usual high standard.

We would have to build a new hull mould, and this I drew up on the basis of the following: in common with many classes of a similar era, the Osprey’s hull shape and layout has been “tweaked” within the class rules over the years such that many of the newer boats are slightly faster or at least considered to be faster than the original. It would be pointless therefore to produce a middle of the road hull shape that would potentially fall victim to the already established “fast boats”. No one would want a boat from that mould, and the whole point of the exercise and success of the project to breathe new life into the Osprey would be defeated. Consequently, with Richard’s permission I have attempted to “optimise” the new hull shape within the original rules in order that the new boats would be competitive with the best of the existing boats but not outclass them, except naturally, because of their greater age.

This is not exactly rocket science and consists largely of ensuring that the boat is as long and fine as possible within the rules. Most of the classes from the 60’s and 70’s have settled into an epitomised shape, which ironically makes them more “one design” than they were originally.

In our initial discussions, held standing over an accepted state-of-the-art Osprey, I suggested a number of changes that would facilitate the construction, and improve and simplify the boat: moving the original thwart position, which seemed to be largely redundant now that all the controls and mainsheet had been moved aft, mainly to allow more space for the crew, who seemed cramped in what was, after all, a large boat by dinghy standards; removing bilge keels, a nuisance with foam sandwich construction; integrating a small stern tank as the best structural and building solution to finishing the stern of the boat. Whilst not directly affecting the boats performance, they did require rule changes, all of which were, I am relieved to say, recently approved. I decided simplicity should be the overriding maxim for the deck layout.

There is always a temptation when designing boats for GRP construction to add fiddly little plinths and recesses for equipment. Whilst this looks “cool”, temporarily at least, what happens when that particular fitting goes out of favour? Keeping basic layout simple means that different layouts can be introduced as fashion and technology change. Also existing boats can be brought up to date. It makes foam sandwich construction much easier, stronger and lighter, as all discontinuities are a source of more work and potential for faults and errors.

Unashamedly, the construction around the mast and shroud areas is based on the standard GRP 505, which has remained virtually unchanged for 20+ years. It’s strong, light, stiff and simple.

In general the fit out has been developed by Richard and Mark, with a large measure of input by Tim Rush, and occasionally my three-penn’orth; again simplicity and ease of operation have been the key words.

My brief was to “produce the best modern Osprey possible whilst maintaining the inherent nature and spirit of the class, to be competitive with the best boats in the class but not render the old boats obsolete.” You ladies and gentlemen, will have to be the judge of whether, between us, we achieved that aim!


A NEW BEGINNING

No new Ospreys had been built for several years and Osprey sailors were anxious to see a future for their boat. The decision was made to completely redesign the hull and deck moulds and bring the boat up to present day standards.

Late 2004, Mr Phil Morrison set about the task of redesigning the Osprey. Phil’s brief was to make the new Osprey a boat that would appeal to both existing Osprey sailors and a new generation of sailors. All modifications, changes and plans were discussed at great length and then finally approved by the Osprey Class Association.

Mr Ian Teasdale together with Kevin Driver were commissioned to build the plugs and moulds – their knowledge and experience being second to none. The first boat was produced early September 2005 which was followed by hours of testing. We are now happy that the boat not only looks fantastic but sails and handles superbly.

Production has now commenced at Hartley Laminates with a dedication to build a high quality product with longevity – offering you a real pride of ownership.


OSPREY STATISTICS

The Osprey has been used successfully for over 40 years. Its 5.35m length and a beam of 1.75m gives the boat its stable qualities. The hull design ensures excellent performance whilst a total hull weight of just 140kg makes the Osprey easily managed both in and out of the water.

QUOTES

“if you like the idea of a Bentley Continental GT, this could be the dinghy for you!”


© Hartley Laminates 2009

Colour Scheme

A simple way to choose your Osprey colour scheme.