Hi
Spent last week stripping varnish, removing excess epoxy resin and re-varnishing 3055 which i bought last month.  Looking great now - launch on saturday at Beaver SC. The spinnaker looks as though it exits through a cloth tube which is sorely in need of replacement.  Has anyone any details please of what this should like when its correct or would a length of 6" diameter plastic drain pipe work more effectively? (there are mice around occasionally at the club!)
Thanks Phil

Merlins dont usually have any sort of sock. The spinnaker flops about under the foredeck loosely, and simply exits through the hole - just make sure the wood is smooth and rounded!

Ha yes forgive my ignorance i am learning fast ... its just a sheath for the purchase system that tensions the lower shrouds.  thought it looked a bit thin!!  A young chap who has sailed extensively rigged the boat for me in a matter of minutes and had a great first sail though wind was light to non existent .  took it out solo and a bit of breeze got up and it flew - cant wait for a windy day!
Thanks
Phil

Does anyone know who make the plastic spinnaker "chutes" that you see put in the foredecks of some of the older Merlins (and other boats) that didn't have them fitted from new. Usually on one side or the other of the forestay?
Thanks,
Nick

Funnily enough (See first post.)the first proper spinnaker shute was on DAvid Robinson's Ghost Rider and the bit that went through the full height tank was a plastic drain pipe distorted under heat to flare out at deck level, I retrofitted, to a new boat, a cut down 505 shute with a sail cloth tube varnished with resin to waterproof it,and a wee bit of drain pipe to take it thriugh the bulkhead, shortly afterwards the low tanks were introduced - though not as low as you have today - just a simple varnished hole and a large diameter tube to support the jib tack round which the spinnaker ran.

Nick, your best bet might be to find an old knackered five-oh.

25 years ago, and in total ignorance of how things are usually done, I fitted 1620 with a GRP tube which has a nice funnel aft & to port of the forstay, goes down the stem and in a nice large radius curve UNDER the big bow bag, hugging the hog to finish beneath the thwart with a slight up-tilt to get a clear line-of-sight to the recovery pulley on the aft corner of the C'board case. it was moulded on bits of heat treated 6" drainpipe with plaster additions for the entrance flare etc. The pipes were pre-cut along their length and held together with sticky paper so that I could 'collapse' them after moulding. The whole thing was a bugger to make, but has has always been a joy to use, and is well worth the minor extra weight.

Don't use drain pipe! We had that on Half Cut and it was hopeless - the kite jammed in the tube every time. We replaced it with a plywood box "tube" which is about 15-18 inches across at the mast end and about 9 inches across at the front and 9 inches high and is fitted under the foredeck and keeps the bow buoyancy bag down. Plenty of room for the kite to flow easily.

Thanks all! Any other ideas gratefully accepted.
Nick