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Merlin Rocket Design GuidePart 2 - Modern MerlinsRewritten in 2007 by Chris Martin |
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After years of diverse shapes and sizes, the design of the Merlin Rocket has stabilised over the past fifteen years. This is partly due to the immense success of the designs of one or two particular designers, who seem to have dominated Merlin thinking for the past twenty years.
For many years, Phil Morrison's designs were immensely successful and dominated results sheets. From 1972 until 1988 the Morrison-designed boats won the National Championships unchallenged. Many hundreds of boats have been built to Phil’s designs, and his NSM 1's, 2's, & 4's are the backbone of the modern class. In recent years, the limelight has fallen on designs by Ian Holt, but the total numbers built from his drawing board is but a fraction of those from Morrison, whose designs are probably still the most popular at inland clubs. It must be said that many of the earlier designs would still be successful in the right hands. Some owners, as happens elsewhere, have become ‘fashion conscious’ and tend to buy identical boats to those which have won championships, even if they are usually racing on a totally different type of water. The wise helmsmen thinks where he is going to do most of his racing, picks up a good bargain second-hand, and fits a modern rig if necessary. Do not dismiss any of the other designs. You can still be competitive in older boats at club level, especially inland, but if you are capable of finishing in the top ten at the main events, then you will probably want to sail a "modern" Merlin. Current Popular DesignsThe majority of the people at the front of the fleet are sailing Ian Holt designs. The Let it Ride, Winder Canterbury Tales and EZ Roller (joint design with Kevin Driver and Phil Morrison) will be seen at the front of the fleet on a weekly basis. Designs by Laurie Smart are also seen doing well at open meetings, though few have been built.Usually lighter weights sail any of the designs above, while heavier teams will tend to stick with the Canterbury Tales, or an older boat designed to carry more weight like the Thin Ice. Thin Ice Designed in 1992 by Phil Morrison, the Thin Ice follows the thinking behind the Canterbury Tales, but aims to give a very low wetted area and the ability to carry more weight than many of the current modern designs. Perhaps quicker-tacking and easier to sail than the Canterbury Tales, but thought to lack the straight line speed when planing. Proved to be quite fast, finishing second in the 1992 nationals, and winning Salcombe week in the same year. Relatively few have been built, most of them by Rowsell & Morrison, with one or two owner-built examples. The Winder Canterbury Tales quickly replaced it in the late 1990s, but a well maintained example should still be successful in the right hands, especially if equipped with a modern rig. Likely to be slightly cheaper than an equivalent Canterbury Tales, a Thin Ice could be a bargain for those a little on the heavy side for a Tales. Thin Ice has gone fast carrying up to 26 stone. Canterbury Tales Originally designed with Jon Turner in 1988, Ian Holt’s Canterbury Tales is the longest lasting competitive design ever. Jon Turner’s boats produced most of the early successes, but slightly modified boats by Rowsell’s and Alan Jackson at Chipstow Boatyard also have had their admirers. These earlier wooden and composite boats are still very competitive and make excellent introductions to competitive Merlin Rocket racing, especially since most have been upgraded to carbon rigs. In 1999 Guy Winder obtained Jon Turner’s hull mould, built deck and internal mouldings to match, and made a few adjustments. These boats have proved extremely popular and very much the “people’s choice”. Winder Mark 1 Canterbury Tales These are much the same as the Turner composite boats, but with a glass deck and internal mouldings. Hull wise, the bow has been straightened out slightly, rise of floor pushed in to minimum, centreboard moved slightly forwards, and the gunwhale profile altered to accept the glass deck. These boats proved an instant success and 38 were built, 3554 to 3604. Avalon Sunset (3564) and Time ZULU (3569) were championship winners, Insomnia (3593) won the Inlands, and many more have been (and still are) successful at open meetings and clubs all over the country. Winder Mark 2 Canterbury Tales Still very similar to the Turner boats, but with a few more refinements. The keel is faired into the transom, bilge keels rounded off and faired into the hull, and the whole mould was faired up to reduce drag and surface area. The centreboard case was also shortened. Carbon decks and forward structure started to appear from 3604 onwards. 14 boats were built, 3607 to 3624. There were no championship or Inlands winners, but the boats are far from slow and have won many open meetings. Winder Mark 3 Canterbury Tales This design never really existed. The class rules at the time only permitted the mould to be altered by 10mm before re-measurement, and the only way around this was to alter the mould in two goes. Class rules have now been amended. The bow was dropped by 10mm. No boats built. Winder Mark 4 Canterbury Tales The bow has been dropped a further 10mm. Some earlier boats also feature bilge keels continued right aft to the transom, but this was abandoned. Modified Winder Mark 4 Canterbury Tales Later boats have been further modified with increased volume in the bow and the run to stern flattened. The bilge keels have also been moved aft and faired into the stern. To date 30 boats have been built to the Mk4 design, including modifications 3627 to 3664. Several older boats have been altered to this shape. 3637 and 3643 have won the championships, 3670 has won the Inlands and the Silver Tiller, and 3662 has won Salcombe week. Make it So Designed and built by Laurie Smart, relatively few of these boats have been built. This is more to do with the popularity of the low maintenance Winder product than the speed of Lawrie’s boats - those that have been built have proven to be at least as fast. All are built in wood, have carbon spars, beautiful to look at and soundly built. The design is a development of Laurie’s earlier Smarty Pants design. If you compare it to the Canterbury Tales design which has become the ‘industry standard’ Merlin in recent years you will see quite a number of differences: Starting at the bow the stem is lower, the garboard planks are flat further forward. The keel line (rocker) is different to allow a narrower waterline all through the boat, and the run aft is narrower with more buoyancy low down. You will notice the transom shape is different too. Make it So Mark 2 So far only one boat has been built to this design. Principally the lines are based on his ‘Make it So’ design but with a little less rocker, lowering of the stem and slightly narrower displacement water lines. The major change is in the construction as Laurie is using a new material for the hull which has a 3mm foam core sandwiched between 1.5mm ply weighing a remarkable 40% lighter than conventional ply. The decks have also been sheathed in carbon to produce an unconventional, but still beautiful looking boat. There is no reason why one could not be built using conventional materials if the client so wished. As both designer and builder Laurie can easily tweak his boats to suit individual client’s requirements. Let it Ride A Canterbury Tales variant, Kevin Driver modified the standard Holt design in 1995 shortly after setting up his yard. Let it Ride furthered the developments previously made by Jon Turner in his Heaven Sent design, itself a Tales variant. Compared with the Tales it has considerably fuller underwater sections forward of the mast, a flatter run with virtually no curve along the lands at the turn of the bilge, and increased beam at the transom. Meticulous attention to detail has enabled the constraints imposed by the rise-of-floor rule to be minimised. Two boats exhibit minor variations - 3537 XS has extra rocker aft, whilst 3543 Storm Cloud has a hollow run. Boats to this design have proved significantly faster downwind than Tales in marginal planning conditions. Claims that they are less manoeuvrable, are more difficult to handle in a blow, and possibly marginally slower in sub-planing mode are difficult to assess because the limited number of boats built to this design have generally gone to top sailors. They have proven to be extremely successful, 3549 Unfinished Business has won the champs and the Silver Tiller, 3539 Gangsta Paradise has won the Nationals twice and Salcombe Week 4 times, and 3573 Rong Number has won the Silver Tiller twice. They are sought after and rare! All are beautifully constructed in wood and will almost certainly be equipped with a top spec rig. EZ Roller This design came about as a result of further work by Kevin Driver and input from Phil Morrison. It is the only Merlin Rocket so far that has been designed ‘from the ground up’ to be built in FRP, and has a very innovative internal layout. When they first appeared they were also the lightest Merlins being built, although the other builders have now caught up. The idea was to slightly modify the Let it Ride shape to give a more “all round” design. If you look at an EZ roller hull there is noticeably more rocker at the bow than the other designs being built today. There is also more rocker aft of the centreboard case, though the garboards are still very straight. This gives a hull that tacks better than the Let it Ride and is rather easier to get the best out of in lighter winds. Planing performance is very good, provided the boat is held absolutely flat. It is at it’s best in a sub force 3/4 and is a very good Salcombe boat. On the water they were a success from the start, but have never really achieved popularity with only 11 being built to the original shape. 3606 and 3634 have won the Nationals, Inlands and Salcombe week (a number of times!). 3612 has won the Inlands, and 3601 went very well too, just missing out on the major events. They seem to go best with about 22 to 23 stone on board. It can be summed up as being a good, competitive hull. Very much the equal of the other boats available and definitely worth a look. Modifications Will Rainey felt that the design could be bettered and asked for a number of modifications to two of his boats. In 3629 the entry was made finer to help the boat sail through a chop. With 3660 he asked to go even further, dropping the transom 8mm and the stem about 28mm. This boat has no rocker at all aft of the centreboard case, and is much closer to the original Let it Ride shape. It is however strictly for lightweights (20 stone). See also: Part 1 - Introduction Part 3 - Older Designs Part 4 - Glossary |