Bluebird Jetstar 520

Bluebird Jetstar 520. Powered by a Ford Essex 3.4l engine, coupled to a Castoldi 05 Jetdrive, using a Castoldi raw water intercooler to keep the engine away from harmful sea water. It really appealed to me as it has a semi-deep hull for the sea & a jet drive for safety & shallow draught.I brought this boat as a shell in 2010 & set about restoring it ( I’ve run a classic car garage for my day job since 1986). Although it wasn’t very pretty, the hull is extremely well laid up, the floors are fully part of the hull with 6 independent sealed chambers, so no rotting of the floor, much safer with buoyancy & a very taught ride without any hull flex or twist!The first thing was the paint job, then the jet drive was stripped & checked, the engine at the time I left as it worked fine. Next the interior was re-trimmed by our go to trimmer & I was away for my first taste on the water.Over the years I have continued with the restoration, upgrades & repairs.  As I use the boat during the summer on the sea to go mostly to the pub, it needs to be reliable!!The carpets are bespoke marine carpets and can be easily removed if there’s too much sand / mud inside to be able to wash it down.The engine is a Ford Essex V6, this is the South African version which is 3.4 litre that I rebuild before fitting it. I used a mild upgrade cam & re-jetted the carburettor to achieve a spritely, but reliable 185 bhp. I re-wired it & all the gauges are quite recent, everything works!The jet drive gearing was changed to suit & a new impellor was fitted.It has a Weber 38 twin downdraught carburettor (an early one ‘made in Italy’), Pertronix electronic ignition & a marine alternator. There are some spares to go with the boat, but most things are available from Lancing Marine in Brighton. Gordon Thukettle was working there until recently & he was also at Bluebird Marine.I have loved this beautiful boat which is admired wherever she goes, It has been to shows, classic motor boat meets with ‘Old Speedboats’ & the ‘CMBA’ many times. She has appeared in an article in Sportsboat & Rib ( a copy goes with the boat) It rides very well & is quite good at seakeeping as it is a semi-deep planning hull & I’ve had over 40 knots (45 mph+) out of her when pushed & can carry 6 comfortably, but have carried 10 various sized passengers & still been perfectly safe!   I have restored & maintained over the years so it is reliable & quick. However it hasn’t all just been done, some of these works were carried out in 2011, but every year since, even last year, as repairs need to be done. A few not so good points….The trailer is solid, but has no brakes at all & will need new axles & hitch as the brake backplates have all gone!The hull has shrinking cracks on it, not bad, but visible. The windscreen has a small crack on the right side.This particular boat was made in 1975 for an expedition to Chagos Archipelagos, headed by HRH King (then Prince) Charles III. This is known, as it’s the only Jetstar 520 with the 6 seat layout using the Essex V6.  As a six seater was specified by the Expedition, so It spent it’s first 2 months there carrying people around (maybe the future King, but can’t be confirmed!!).I displayed it at Beauleiu when K3 was being shown as one of the pictures shows.The video was taken in September 2022, off to the pub in Faversham as usual I do have many more videos & pictures, (please send me a WhatsApp number if you’d like to see more).Bluebird marine was a company originally started by Donald Campbell to produce small safe runaround boats for everyone without the risk of a propeller. The very first Jetstar was Donald’s used as a tender to K7 & to run the press around on days that he couldn’t do speed runs to promote the boats. The first production Jetstars were due to be shown at the Earls Court boat show Jan 5th 1967, however following his death on Jan 4th on Coniston Water, they were withdrawn.  Following his death, Bluebird Marine kept on production with Leo Villa (Campbells Mechanic) & the Norris Brothers in charge.  The hull design is from Peter Milne, a famous designer ( including K7, the Fireball & Javelin sailing dinghies).I hope that this boat has intrigued you as much as it has me. It has had it’s moments, but it’s a piece of my history I wouldn’t have missed for anything. I am asking for a small fraction of what has been spent on it over the years, but it’s been worth every penny.please ask if there’s anything that I’ve missed!….MarkSea Trials can be done weather permitting, with a NON RETURNABLE deposit of 100 pounds Please don’t send me any offers without seeing the boat first, they will be ignored !!! The boat can be viewed on the Isle of Sheppy in Kent.  

Current Price: £9250.00

This Bluebird Jetstar 520 may be available on ebay