Sailing on the pond this morning I went aft to drop the rudder and herd a most horrible sound and felt something flex.
If a Rowsell NSM 1 needed to have the case removed and all along the hog rebuilt would it be best not to bother or seeing as we hit the vintage circuit in 20 months bite the bullet remotgage the house and turn my 1979 boat into a modern version of KATE. 
I am never going to be fit or good enough much less have the commitment to come close to winning the nationals but at 42 years of age have had a 30 year love affair with the class. If I went for the monster rebuild who would you get to do the job?

Any of the leading wooden boat builders will be able to help so that means Alan Jackson (South East), Lawrie Smart (South but less east) Kevin Driver (South west) Rowsell & Adkin (Also South west).

Sounds like new boat time really though! That's a big job.

2789, which I bought last year, had her cb case reseated many years ago and it is still sound. The last but one owner, Mike Peel, may have the details of it. He can be contacted on 01275 463821. He is not an MROA member but was happy to chat to me about 2789.
Best of luck.

It's not really clear what has happened.  If the rest of the boat is in good condition and you enjoy sailing it and have no particular urge to trade up to a 7ft2in Merlin, then it's surely at least worth looking into the cost of the repair.  Any other boat of the same age may have faults that are just as bad.  There's a big difference between something coming unstuck and a load of rot.  If the hog has rotted out and that's why it's parting from the centrecase then that probably is terminal though.

In 1620, C'board case parted from hog when (plain) steel screws inserted from beneath the keel rotted away. I removed, in chips(chisel & mallet)the keel, detached and cleaned up C'board case and hog, refixed case, rabitting it in this time, and fitted a nice new mahogany keel. There was nothing really difficult; one does need woodworking skills & a dose of daring. I think the trick is to do this repair as soon as the leak appears and BEFORE the hog has suffered too much from the permanent humidity. A rotted hog can be replaced(I'm doing it right now on Jo's 42 yr old OK Dinghy) but this is a trickier repair.

I had just gone to twin poles as well and what a difference that made. I will have to get it costed I think, sad thing is if it's more than £1000 I am out of class and into Enterprises. The reason being they are the predominat class at the club and the sailing comittee are not intrested in playing by Merlin handicaps as they know it would be adverse to the Enterprise fleet.

So I took the boat to a local builder of wooden boats, who has built half a dozen Merlins.
He took the keel plank off and reported that although the Hog is wet like the two planks that join it there is hardly and discolouring let alone rot! So it would appear that after 3-4weeks drying time and liberal coatings of a modern resin along with a new Keel plank my boat will be back on the water hurrah! 

PS we are only 18 months away from the vintage events, this is my driving force to keep her afloat.

we admire your enthusiasm and dedication!

also wooden boat sailor.