Identical Crisis

A pair of Freeman 26's in Bridgehouse Marina, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

No two boats in the marina, or anywhere else for that matter, are absolutely alike. By the time any boat has been delivered, launched and commissioned it will have been altered, added to or modified in some way by the new owners. By the time it is a few years old it will have had any amount of equipment screwed on to it and personal preferences applied to it, from the colour of the upholstery to the deck layout. All boats are different in some way from one another even before this process takes place. They have their own identity in a way that a showroom full of Fords can only dream about. Why else would boat owners expend so much time and effort on choosing names for them? There aren't too many Mondeos called 'Enchantress' outside the Chatsworth Estate, and I don't know anyone who has named a Honda after their favourite perrenial.
There are, (and I am a little ashamed that I can work this out from memory) 18 Freeman 26's at the marina. Apart from the handful that have hardtops, and the odd twin engine installation, they are all identical on paper. They all have blue canopies, all have chrome window frames, all have an enamelled 'Freeman Cruisers' badge in the cockpit. None of them has been painted (perish the thought) none of them has had a flying bridge fitted, and not one has been 'restored' inside with five litres of eggshell and a laminate floor. And yet, they are all different. Apart from the obvious, like names and curtains, there are two different bow shapes (pre 1968 boats have a cut away forefoot) four different types of masts and an infinite variety of bathing ladders, davits and lights. The older boats seem to sit higher in the water, the twin engined ones are (predictably) lower at the transom and the hardtops seem bigger all round. Their gelcoat exteriors may have left the factory at Wolvey the same colour, but a lifetime of polishes and cleaners has given them as many different shades of white as a Dulux colour chart. After forty years of different owners the only similarity in their electrical systems is the fact that they conduct electricity, and their classic four berth interiors are as varied as show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show.
They may well steer and handle differently too, but I would have to own all 18 of them before I could be sure. I'm not particularly opposed to the idea of changing my boat from time to time, but I'm also not the Sultan of Brunei, so that's an experiment that will have to wait until my 7 numbers come up.