Well I have just bought a wreck of a Merlin, sail no 96, she's pretty rotten, decks,stern and bow will have to be replaced. But I have been wondering whether any one has any history on her. It will help to keep the daughter interested while she helps with the clean up!!

She was built in 1947 by J.P.White and Sons Ltd and was called Flika.  She is a Holt 1b Merlin design according to the year book.  Good luck with her - I restored 111 last year with lots of re-ribbing so it is good to see more old ones coming along.  Has she got the original tall rotating wooden mast and are the sails with her cotton? Take plenty of photos as you go along - always nice to look back and see what you did and achieved.

Unfortunatly not, she has an alum Proctor mast and nylon sails, but who knows at a later date it may be worth converting it back to the original spec if I can get hold of the dimensions of a wooden mast. Thanks for the quick reply it helps when restoring something like this to know that other people are interested from the begining and not at the end result.

If you need anything I will pass on my experiences - drop me an email.

Steve when you join the association you will get a copy of the Winter 2005 magazine.

on page 14 is a great article by jeremy detailing his restoration of an old boat 1781 (although your project boat is considerably older !)

I guess the temptation will a project like this is to cut corners to reduce the time scales and get on the water quicker - but the extra time taken at this stage will be worth the effort in the longer run.

Good luck with this - its great to see people prepared to put the enormous effort involved into getting a vintage boat back to its former glory.

I did 1728 also but on 111 the ribs are a devil!!  Never mind replacing - cleaning round them is great fun.  But you are right - the easy option is not necessarily the best in the long run.  Steve have you got the original lead weighted centreboard which drops under its own weight?  Now there's an interesting bit of kit!!

Send me your address and phone no. and I will add you to the vintage mailing list.

My phone no. 0208  8231  8911 - business,  I have restored a number of old merlins, and I am sure I can help.

My vintage boat was young enough not to have ribs so that made it a little easier. I only noticed the other day when i sold her that she had the original 22'6'' rig and the original sails which are in excellent condition. New owner will be joining the association and coming to the Cookham Vintage/modern open. 

Garry are you going to join us? We can find you accomodation and there is sail training from Pat Blake and a vintage handicap race on Saturday and the open on Sunday. Plus a party on the Saturday Night!!

Sorry I won't make it - it's a long way to Tipperary but even longer from Aberdeen!!   I am doing the Tideway and then Banbury later in the year (which I can combine with the August bank Holiday at Clywedog with the CVRDA - that's a 3 or 4 day event which makes it worth the trip.  Upper Thames might be a possibility too if I can find somewhere to leave the boat for a week or two!!

Well I have spent the weekend stripping the hardware off the hull. Things are worse than I had originanly thought (they always do). The keel box also needs replacing. Oh well!!!
One thing that does seem strange is that the hull is made without any ribs. and also sometime in its past it has been bodged with soft pine wood and cheap plywood, it seems as though this is the root of most of the problems. It has just soaked up the water and rotted the surrounding wood. The keel is a straight forward blade with out any lead weights, and the bow has been boxed in with a fibre glass box (used for floatation0. This has got to be removed to see what has happened behind it. Still a project worth doing but it does beg a question, how much of the original boat will be left in the end ?

First thought is why no ribs?  The planking should be solid mahogany rather than ply (up to boat 500 I believe) and certainly Nos 36 and 111 are ribbed so difficult to see why 96 is not.  Perhhaps there has been epoxying between the planks and rib removal.  Can you see evidence of holes where the ribs may have been riveted?  If they are in lines from the deck to the keel that should be a giveaway.  However tricky to see if there is a load of paint obscuring everything.  I also can sympathise - it's always worse than it looks!!

No the hull is plywood and there is no sign of any epoxy or old rivet holes. so it seems that either the boat is younger than first thought but fitted with an older sail, or it has been completely rebuilt using ply. I am not sure. But it is still worth the work to bring it back to something like the original. I have to do it now as the wife has got over the shock of me turning up with it.I have just got to wait until it dries out a bit before I can do much more.

Is there a number carved or stamped on the thwart?  Photos may help in the design and age.

Does she look anything like this?  Had forgotten these were posted

The obvious question is where did you get the number 96 from?

96 would be built of solid mahogany planking not plywood. Also as stated it should have ribs.

If you got 96 off the sail, has one of the other numbers fallen off? The hull number is usually carved into the thwart or the hog aft of the centreboard case.

"...has one of the other numbers fallen off?"

ROFL

why? that can happen....though the glue residue normally gives it away.

Does it have a rear deck? or spinnaker chute? 

Even if it had been epoxied between the planks the ribs would still need to be there otherwise the boat would be very flexible!?

I do believe it isn't number 96...
See photos entitled "s payne unknown".

Should burn nicely.

You used the word bought, would a sack of coal not have been cheaper and taken up less storage space?

I really hope you didn't pay more than a few bob for it. That centerboard case reminds me of James Ramus's (Son of the late, and much missed, Farmer, Naval Hero,Fox Hunter and Merlin Committee Member and owner he crewed his own boat, Clem.) "Posilipo" which was I think a mk14 sailed at Yarmouth & Gorlestone championships by James ans Stewart Jardine (He crewed Stuart in a Flying Dutchman.)Having been to the Olympics in 1960 crewing Slotty Dawes of Whitstable - one time Amateur Steeple Race Jockey, the controversial selection that year. The boat was fitted out with a massive jib,35-40 sq ft, short foredeck and a wide centerboard - very much a mini FD. I recall later a self-tacking jib following James crewing for Stewart in the 1968 Olympics in a Star named "SNAFU" a nod to Stewarts' Day Job as a Royal Engineer officer. Stars at that time had self tacking jibs.This boat shows evidence of lots of mucking about. James was a great mucker about!

Don't listen to them Steve, it looks like fun! It is most cirtainly not no 96 it looks mor in the region of 1900's it could be a Proctor mk12?
The seats suggest it is below 2000's and the toe strap fixings suggest it is above 1800's. The front tank is an addition and needs either removing or lowering. It could be an early Callaghan design as the transom looks familier.

Fire wood !!! To rotten to burn, but a good project to while away the evenings instead of watching tv. OK so it seems that I have a sail with the wrong number on, or a boat with the wrong sail. When we get it up and running what sail number could I use if any. No I didnt pay a lot for it. Its just as well

You can't just put any number on it. You need to find out what number it is and get a cirtificate from the RYA. Who did you buy it from and do they know where they got it from?

I'm not sure about this, but if you can't find the number, usually engraved in thwart, hog or transom, then I guess it's rebuild and then get it remeasured.  You'd then have a bang up to date number on it!

Now if the sail number wasn't immediately obvious on my boat I'd first establish exactly what design it is, and then liaise with the class registrar or whatever to find likely candidates amongst known missing/believed lost boats. Given a short list of candidates I'd then hunt round the boat carefully, and wouldn't be at all suprised to find the sail number pencilled under a thwart or somewhere obscure, possibly a bit hard to read, but interpretable by me when checked against the list of candidates.

Steve has just sent me some photos of what he has done with the rotten hulk he bought earlier this year. I'm not sure it's the same boat! Take a look at the 'before' photos first, to remind yourself...

What a superb piece of work.  Steve, I don't know what you do for a living, but ......

...give up your day job!

Could she be 1896 Auceps, Dr Fowler and Mike's Chippendale Mk 1X?
or 1996 Queen Phillipa Mike Herman's Chippendale X11?
Apologies if I've come to this thread too late and the identity has already been determined.

I didn't do my homework thoroughly enough. It certainly isn't 1996.

I didn't do my homework thoroughly enough. It certainly isn't 1996.

Steve,
What a lovely job you have made of her, worth a little more then fire wood now isnt she.

Congrats i hope you enjoy sailing her

Steve, come and sail her at the Vintage and CVRDA events. Upper Thames this weekend and Shearwater (Wiltshire) on 23rd/24th Sept. Lots of old Merlins at both!

Assuming Steve copied what was there, when did the spinnaker chute become standard?

I can remember putting a shute in on my old Sugar Plum, I think it was around the Time of the first Ghost Riders, and Courageous, definitely early 70's

Thanks for the comments, when I first put this on the forum some one said it was only good for fire wood, God I was so close to puting a match to it, but petrol being the price it is thought better of it. As for the spiniker chute, this seemed to be one of the main problems in the past so this time the deck is without he hole in the front. unfortunatly I cant make the vintage weekend do to work comitments but rest assured you will see the daughter and I out soon at one of the meets. Once again thanks for the comments.

1970 first one on David Robinson's "Ghost Rider" unless you count BAZ in 1969!

Just recieved an email from Mags and he suggested that I put some info on here to try and find the correct number. When stipping the boat down there were numbers on the hog.But it was so rotten that I could only see the first three numbers,these we think were 189 the last number only had a bit of the number left,it could have been any of the following a 0,9,8,6,5,3,anything with a curved bottom half of the number.Tony has suggested that it could be 1896 (Aucpes)this would fit in with the possabilities given above.I have tried to find something on the sail to give me an idea of its age but all I have is the number 96,which as we all know now is not the right number for the boat,I have also tried to date some of the old fittings to give me a rough idea but with out any luck.Not long til its finished just got to trim the side moulding up a bit, and then its a case of four more coats of varnish, two have already put on to protect the wood from any damage while working on it,and then the fittings. Thanks for all your help.

If 96 was on the sail i'd suggest that the 1 and the 8 had either been removed or fallen off over the years.

You would be very unlikely to put a sail off boat number 96 on 189*

1896 seems the best possibility.

Hi Chris,why didnt I think of that, (call me stupid) I was so wrapped up in the rebuild I didnt even think of that. There doesnt seem to be any sign of the numbers,but if they fell off years ago there probably wouldnt be any glue residue or stitching holes.I will arrange for it to be checked out when I attend one of the vintage meets hopefully later on in the year. Thanks for the input,now I  feel as if she has an identity, and the owner feels really stupid.