Osprey Ribs still in business?

[beamishken]

So was mike in buisiness with northern diver or was he the owner of northern diver? I thought it was the northern diver time that they got big with a fairly large range of models. 98 would be when all the assets were sold at auction, a friend of mine bought several hull moulds up to around 8m & a selection of seat & console moulds . He built a few boats from them but never branded them as osprey. He bought an office PC in the same auction which had all the layup specs for all the various models which northern diver begged him to let them have back they claimed is shouldn't have gone in the auction. Also bought a mould plug for a 3.8 which we took a mould off & built a couple of boats, I actually just sold my 3.8 last year.
Did you buy the moulds you have in 98 or later? From Bmc?

[Neanderthaler]

As I understand he always built the ospreys for mike armitage, didn't he own northern diver?
I collected the moulds during covid at mike Witham place.
I have got the 380 mould and plug also overhere , can't tell you if thats mark1 or mark 2
I know i have got the original moulds from 1990. Thats the date in them all.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Neanderthaler

As I understand he always built the ospreys for mike armitage, didn't he own northern diver?
I collected the moulds during covid at mike Witham place.
I have got the 380 mould and plug also overhere , can't tell you if thats mark1 or mark 2
I know i have got the original moulds from 1990. Thats the date in them all.

I'm still confused as to the sequence of ownership changes & who was/is building what

My understanding was northern diver were the origional builders who built up the range & decided in 98 to get out of building boats to concentrate on their offshore diving kit buisiness but sounds like that is incorrect but maybe they were in some form of partnership with mike witham. The assets were sold in a liquidation type auction to more than one builder I thought the bulk of the moulds went to a company on the south coast but maybe that was the Belgian company (bmc) you mention . Some of the moulds ended up in north east england but the boats produced were never branded osprey. I knew mike witham built some but I thought he had acquired a few moulds in the auction, I never realised he was the original builder. If you bought your moulds from him in 2020 clearly the Belgian company didnt get the entire range . Who owned the moulds warrior were building from? It seems that an osprey could be a boat built by one of several owners of various moulds. It sounds like mike witham was the original parent of the marque who ended up in buisiness with northern diver but after 98 things get very cloudy & several companies seem to have been selling ospreys
It's an interesting story of the ups & downs of a British boat builder but I'd love to know the complete story.

[Neanderthaler]

It's an interesting story of the ups & downs of a British boat builder but I'd love to know the complete story.

Same here,


I know a few of the moulds are gone, also a few are mark2 moulds little changes in the original design, same as i do now, working at hull improvement and deck layout.
But trying to keep the boats recognizable as Osprey.



No mike was continued building them for BMC when BMC took over the osprey name, i know there are a few mould but not all were in use anymore.

I don't know the complete range of northern diving, i know they used mould of other brands also, I know mike witham, started the vipermax range when the name and the moulds were sold, just to keep working, later he sold this/his design to BMC also, and kept building them.

It is not easy to follow the whole story, a lot of it has been kept quiet or sold under the table. And people tell their own story as they think it happened.

BMC owned the moulds warrior was building from, that was the vipermax range. they are in polland now.

Next time when i am at mikes place i will ask him about the story . (y)

[Barraaaa]

Iv an early 90s 5.15 so presume Northern Diver era and there some hull for there size …. but by god it weighs a tonne lol