My partner and I have become to big for the National 12 we have and are looking to get something bigger.  We sail on a mid sized lake and am possibly looking for a merlin.  Whats the reccomendation of designs for inland waters and what pitfall should i look out for?

Thanks all.

Welcome.  I also moved on from National 12s for the same reason, and have never regretted it.

Rather like the 12s, almost any design will work on inland water.  Broadly speaking:
- the more modern, the quicker to plane
- older designs are often still competitive on restricted waters
- the class standard now is for a deck stepped, fully raking mast which allows for optimum sailing in a wider range of wind strengths.
- I don't think there is any signifcant difference between FRP/GRP or wood in terms of performance.  Wood looks better
- modern boats tend to be much stiffer with same advantages as on the 12.

As for what to look out for:
- make sure you get a new size spinnaker with the longer pole(s).
- fixed or lifting rudder
- if a wooden boat, look for separation of planks or of side-deck from hull.
- usual sharp eye out for rot along the hog and bottom of transom.
- best sails/spars you can afford.

And from personal experience, don't expect to sail consistently fast straight away - there's a lot to learn!

Hope you find what you're looking for.

We moved from an RS200 and are just loving the Merlin, we had never stepped foot in one until we purchased and will be with the class for a long time, they are such a pleasure to sail and if it gets a bit windy we just move the mast back, I would reckomend a Merlin to anyone. Our all up weight is 21 stone so really fast in the light stuff!!

Thanks for the reply guys really helpful. Yeah think we would be between 22 and 23 stone,  we have about 2k to spend,  any suggestions?

Have a look down the secondhand boats for sale page on the main site - click the dinghy logo top left and it will get you to the home page - there is a list there.

3393 and 3342 look like very good deals and both beautiful boats when new. They would suit weight and location and at the price, not much can go wrong

Dont forget that prices can be haggled down and do go for a deck stepped rig and if a wooden boat then check that it was epoxied from new.

As usual the answer boils down to how much you want to spend.  If you have £6,000 to spare then go for an older Winder Canterbury Tales.  But as an introduction to the class and sailing on restricted water then NSM1's and 2's are plentiful in wood and reasonably common in plastic, often with wooden decks.  With older boats (once bitten etc. I can give this advice having had considerable problems which large quantities of epoxy only ever solved temporarily) the condition is just as important as the hull shape, no point in having a boat that is the ideal design for your crew weight and sailing water that was built by someone with little idea about how to engineer for rig loads and has spent the last 5 years out of doors under a leaking cover full of leaves.  The fittings will all ping off as soon as it blows even if they actually work.  But a really well-maintained September Girl or Proctor IXb (one on e-bay now) would be just fine.  It's something of a buyer's market for older boats and you should be able to get a decent boat that will be good for club racing and some open meetings inland for £1000.  Older Canterbury Tales in wood with a respectable rig from £3500 and something that will be competitive in an open meeting when pointed in the right direction for £6000

There is another one here which looks nice NSM -2 built by Rowsell in 1982 called Plum Crazy (hence the colour I suppose)

Roy Axford's boat = very well looked after

Was Roy's Boat and very well looked after! She is cherished by her current owner (Me). However I am not sailing it often due to my Son's Optimist events and getting crew for the time I can sail. So I feel it a shame to leave it in the dinghy park when somebody could be enjoying it.

lets get it back sailing!