Osprey XR24

Andy Cox · 27 May 2004, 14:51

Can anyone give me any info about the Osprey XR24.
I've seen one locally with twin Merc 90 2 stroke engines which if I remember right are 2001. I know the boat has not been used for about the last 18 months, so i reckon they are low hours.
The boat is a bit on the scruffy side and I've no idea how old it is. The gelcoat on the hull looks OK and is black with orange tubes.

Any info would be welcome

Thanks

Andy

Pete7 · 27 May 2004, 15:22

Andy, the XR 24 where built between 92 and 95/96 time when Offshore Components (Osprey) modified the hull shape and called them lynx.

The hull is a Delta conic shape, the name of which ruffled a few feathers when it first came out as Delta are just down the road in Manchester from Osprey. The boat was way ahead of its time and built using a hull mould, a deck mould and nose cone mould which then had to fit together exactly. Scorpions build this way now.
An elaborate console moulding finished off the hulls.

Depending on the boats intended use the deck could either be marine ply or if a race boat or built for speed end grain balsa. Early models had a flooding hull but this was quickly dropped as the take off speed was effected and little was gained.

Hulls are quite narrow, compared with some of the latest designs and the tubes should be above the water line at rest which helps with a good top speed. 60 mph was achieveable with 175 hp, so you should have 2/3 of 180 hp, say 120 hp giving 45 mph ish.

Some of the hulls where made by Vector in Cornwall with limited success as quality suffered and Offshore Components had to take back the moulds and do it themselves.

Builders plates with hull number and DOM where a bit hit and miss, however Eurocraft made the tubes and had a habit of dating in pen the tubes in the nose cone.

GRP Fuel tanks where 130L as standard although bigger ones where sometimes built.

These boats where very good at carrying a light load very quickly but suffered a little if you filled them with divers for which the Viper series was recommended.

Checks: rear locker boxes for cracks to transom. Engine mounting bolt holes where sometimes a small gap occured when the two moulds where joined together and the engine mounting bolt closed this gap. Deck for stress cracks if something heavy has been dropped on it (anchor).

Overall a great boat, well ahead of its time, with high quality moulds and designed by a marine architect, whoss name escapes me for the moment, might be G Marvin.

Pete

Nick Hearne · 27 May 2004, 15:52

Pete when was it you left Offshore Components (Osprey)?

Nick

Andy Cox · 27 May 2004, 15:54

Pete,

Many thanks for your very concise and informative reply. One thing that I forgot to mention in the original post, was that after XR 24, it also says "Special Projects". What if any is the significance of this?

Cheers

Andy

Pete7 · 27 May 2004, 16:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Pete when was it you left Offshore Components (Osprey)?

Nick

Nick, wish I did, just bought lots of boats from them.

Andy, The Special Projects sticker on the bow was a standard graphic on all XR boats.

Pete

Andy Cox · 27 May 2004, 17:17

Thanks very much for your help Pete. This particular one is up for sale at a pice of £12K which I think is over the top but I suspect could be bought for 8.5 / 9K. I'm going to have a look at it over the w/e.

Thanks

Andy

paul tilley · 31 May 2004, 11:11

vector marine xr24 as built in penryn by pete kidd and damien bloor , vector marine all had hull moulding and deck moulding complete with nose/bow moulding not three separate pieces most of vectors tubes were built by henshaws mainly in blue or black for export to spain vector xr24 also won the round scotland rib race and was a development of the osprey xr18 and xr20 .most if not all vectors were balsa cored and had grp fuel tanks and were fitted with 200 or 250 yams

Rogue Wave · 31 May 2004, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Pete when was it you left Offshore Components (Osprey)?

Nick

For goodness sake don't mention BWM's

Hugh Jardon · 10 May 2006, 21:49

my console has special projects as an enblem on the top half of the console

i wondered about the history of that as in my chats with Mike he did not cover the special projects part

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7

Nick, wish I did, just bought lots of boats from them.

Andy, The Special Projects sticker on the bow was a standard graphic on all XR boats.

Pete

Alice · 10 May 2006, 22:27

I remember these things being built at the rear of the Cygnus fishing boat building in Penryn. They did a 21ft hardboat called the Vector Vulcan and a rib called the Vagabond. There are still a couple of hulls kicking around in this area. A local mechanic fitted a leg to a purple Vagabond and stuck a Ford Cossie 2Ltr lump in it, but they never got it to run properly. Another guy I knew sold a few Vectors to tobacco smugglers in Gib as they had a bigger 'payload' area than a 21ft Phantom. The fellow that runs Exe-leisure has a Vector with an XR2 on it which he rates quite highly.

Alice · 10 May 2006, 22:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul tilley

vector marine xr24 as built in penryn by pete kidd and damien bloor , vector marine all had hull moulding and deck moulding complete with nose/bow moulding not three separate pieces most of vectors tubes were built by henshaws mainly in blue or black for export to spain vector xr24 also won the round scotland rib race and was a development of the osprey xr18 and xr20 .most if not all vectors were balsa cored and had grp fuel tanks and were fitted with 200 or 250 yams

If I remember correctly, most were fitted with either Evinrude or Johnson lumps, 200 or 225's.