hi all i am a lark sailor just moved over into merlins....i have just bought 3236 would any of you guys have any idea of its history...racing ect

i can be emailed on [email protected]

look forward to joining the merlins on the open meetings, i will se sailing her at shustoke

chears  d  :)

Darren
Trioman here! I remember this boat when it was new - if you are at the Club on Sunday we can have a chat. I owned her sistership 3287 'The Message' which was of the same type

cheers peter see you sunday :)

3236 'Smasher' is a Morrison designed NSM Smokers Satisfaction built by Rowsell, probably in 1981, with an Omega Foam sandwich hull for Steve Robertson of Bristol Corinthian YC. I remember the boat as being very quick when Steve sailed her but Scottie will tell you more.
In 1984 she was owned by P Fontes at Queen Mary SC.
She then went to Hamble where she was owned by P Kerslake in 1987.
The 1990 YB shows her owner as G Wood, 37 Bramble Rise, Cobham, Surrey and Hampton SC and he seems to have kept her for many years.
The 2004 YB records the owner as Barry Watkin, 35 Old Rd, East Cowes, IOW,PO32 6AJ and in 2007 she was owned by Paul Connell, 3 Cantors Way, Minety, Malmesbury, Wiltshire and South Cerney SC.

thanks for all that tony i like to keep the boats history up to date......very usfull info thanks

Darren - Smasher's previous owner but one, Barry Watkin, seems to have done quite a lot of work on upgrading her, some of which is recorded in the Rigging Guide section of this website.

G Wood....he is my mate! I bet he comments on here later.....much later.....AAAALLLLLLLLEEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!!

Woof Woof!

Guy owned Smasher at Hampton for a while though the work of actually reattaching the fittings if they fell off or doing any other remedial work fell to his father Philip.  though during her stay at Hampton Smasher was not exactly in concourse condition she always seemed to go pretty well

thanks andrew she is not in tip top condition now ...well just need decks re varneshing, i was thinking on painting them rather than varnish what are all you guys ideas  on that..well when i say me i mean someone that nows what here doing......i am pleased with the way that it has been re rigged by someone, done a realy good job of deck stepping and stuff...looks the part, will soon find out if it sails well too...

Keep the varnish. Once painted its a hell of a job gettng the paint off and getting good "Merlin" finish again.  Best of luck in her.

"Smasher is a Smoker Satisfaction built by Rowsell with an Omega Foam sandwich hull".
Are you sure?  With respect, I thought the Omega foam sandwich hulls were NSM 1s. Have I been wrong all these years. Point of information.

its an NSM 1

PLEASE dont paint the decks, we beg you!

Is the Year Book wrong then?

She's definitely an NSM 1 with a sandwich hull built by Omega and completed by Spud Rowsell in 1980. The first of these boats was 'Gringo' no 3216 built for Graham Pike, he and Tessa Godfrey were 5th in 3213 in the 1980 Championship. As chairman at the time I bought the second Omega/Rowsell boat 'Prospect' no. 3216 to keep this innovation moving forward. 

Nearly half the new boats built in 1981 had Omega NSM 1 hulls

The Lark-Merlin sailors link seems extremely strong at present - more Merlin sailors also sail or have sailed Larks rather than any other class and also ex-Merlin sailors now owning Larks. The design similarities must play a part - the Lark being Mike Jackson's plastic offspring of his N12 and Merlin designs but also both classes strength and community and appeal to all ages and sexes. 
And the best after sail partying of course!

Dont paint the decks whatever you do!!

god you merlin guys are quick to respond......

i sailed it today for the first time and noticed that when planing there is alot of water shooting up the centre board caseing..i take it that the slot gasget need replacing am i correct..apart from that she sailed well apart from i think i had the mast in the wrong position...need to look at the rigging guides (god what alot of ropes)need a year to find out how they all work...my wife will be pleased with all the trips to the boat shops to replace it all.

This might do the trick ?

http://www.merlinrocket.co.uk/gallery/default.asp?folder=gallery/rigging_guide/hull_fittings

thanks ....i will try to make sence of the diagram i think i understand it..

Thats a very old suggestion, and I think it was only ever used on 2 boats. Most these days have good slot gaskets, and (if your case is open aft of the mainsheet hoop) a 'stuffer'.

Yup, Allez the Woods aka Guy used to own this lovely vessel. Always used to love sailing her. Happy yotting Darren in your new bateau, think she has changes quite considerably since I owned her but one thing i do remember is to take care launching and recovering and not damaging or causing any nicks to the rubbing strips on the hull as being foam sandwich they tend to act like a sponge as i experinced on a slightly earlier version of the same that the "Woods" family also owned any yes dear Daddy did carry out all repair works!!! Even to the extent that we had to replace one of the rubbing strips on the earlier model (dont worry Darren) not 3236.

Hay Dudley looking forward to some happy yotting in July LOL ALLEZ!! PS Are you still gonna wear the dog collar??????????????????

woooooof! Guy...before midnight! 

Blimey....woof woof!

thanks for that i will take on all that info, she sails realy well feels a fast boat when i am not making mistakes, going from a lark to a merlin is a challange as i am getting used to tacking without ripping my dry suit as i do in the lark....i think its good bye larks and hello merlins i am sailing it with my young son at the moment hes only 10 bit a sh*t hot 10 which leads to another question for you guys....is it possible to lower the spinni ring on the mast (on carbon mast) so he can reach easy without having to stand on the centre board.

and also is it normal for the carbon spinni poles to bend when spinniis up and on a reach

You will lose very little from dropping the height of the ring on the mast, the only limiting issue is to keep the attachment far enough away from the high stress area of gooseneck and puller/strut to avoid weakening the mast.  I did exactly this when sailing with my 13-year-old daughter and it made a world of difference.

Re your pole bending, if this is the standard twin pole arrangement with a ring on a line going to the end of the pole the usual reason for the pole bending is that the ring is not pulled tight in to the end of the pole.  Either that or the pole is binding on the forestay.  It needs sorting out or you could break a pole in a blow.  You need a purchase and good very low stretch line on the pole downhaul and to make sure the knots in the spinny sheets keep the pole just off the forestay (bear in mind it is easier to tie the spinny on differently than to get the existing knot untied).

thanks for that

If the pole is bending on the forestay when on the reach try placing the guy behind the reaching hook to help pull the pole away from the jib luff.

the pole is not bending on the forestay its just bending under pressure of the kite...it was doing it on sunday while sailing and it was only a force 3 , looks like it was going to snap under that pressure

I used to have a boat with a single self launching pole. This was very good for small children, as they didn't have to read up. Just gybing them was a bit tricky, you have to do a sort of 'half' dip.

But, and I think it was on one of Phil Woods' boat actually (probably not Smasher), I have seem twin poles on self launchers. Now with short, crew that may be an idea!

The other alternative, and it will probably happen soon enough anyway - trust me I have been there - is if your 10 year old is s**t hot, let him/her helm, there is so much important stuff for the crew to do, With a carbon rig without a 'one string' the helm definately shouldn't be fiddling with the rig (you admitted you got the rake wrong :-) ).  Apart from the rig tweaking (lowers, shrouds, jib halyard) and the normal crew tweaking (outhaul, cunningham) you can be adjusting the kicker for gusts and lulls, and on fully hiked beats on waves you can also play the mainsheet, so the little ones arms dont get tired and can concentrate on steering through the waves. Of course that is on top of the jib and spinaker work.

Yup me old man did have self launching twin poles on his bateau - twin pulley all in one type system riveted to the mast where the pole would have attached to then pulley and cleat either side of mast on foredeck all launched with string you pull on hard attached to rear end of pole then bang it in the cleat!!!!!!!!!! Only prob i found was the poles used to fly back quite quickly (maybe bungee was too strong) and yes I did receive a broken nose as a result of this maybe should have ducked but didnt even see it coming Cheers Allez!!!!!!!!!

sound like living with my wife....(broken bones that is..)

thanks for that, does anyone have pictures or diagrams on self launching poles...would be interested in doing this on 3236

I found you a Mirror one.  You need to repeat on both sides and have the up haul/down haul at the end through rings as per standard Merlin twin poles

Darren, i think Jim Hopton sails out of shustoke and tried this on one of his boats. He's your man.

thanks guys

Darren good evening,sorry for not picking up on this earlier I've been modemless for a couple of days, however. Firstly it was I that rejevenated 3236 4/5 years back & deck steped it a year after that. the decks were treated with two coats of SP115 epoxy then 4 coats of epifanes single pot varnish so i'm surprised nee-horified to think they might need painting over. i've got photos I took of her from sept 06 prior to selling her where you could she your reflection.
I built a carbon mast for her but it proved to bendy and gave it away to a student for a college project thinking I was being given a neatly superspar by a friend. However a delay in his insurance claim meant I didn,t get it untill 4 month after I sold her (it now fits very nicely on my Int Canoe!) Paul to whom I sold her to put the Carbon superspar on her & converted her to Merlin standard twin poles,I had sailed her with a single auto pull out system as used on 505's and interestingly used by various Merlin numeries untill fashion got them, The case never leaked as you mentioned but gasgets do age, there replacment is resonably simple. She had two centreboards one from Rowsells & a second from Top Foils' via Glen Treswell which was a bit tight in the box.
I'm not sure why the confution over the 'string' as she was fairly straight forward compared to her modern sisters I have numerous photos taken of the layout just prior to her going if there any use.
The casette rudder system was by 'Carbon Craft' here in Cowes, The triangular boom was out of the GBR AC challenge yard but my son who built it got carried away & reckons it could of been half that weight! The BMW sails are by me (x-Mcwilliam)
She is as you gathered a Rowsell Morrison NSM1 there is a right up on these in the 'design details' taken from the Merlin book that worth a read. 
Going back to the decks if they have suffered without seeing them all i can suggest is that you likely rub down any damaged areas to get a key then recoat with epoxy/varnish, I did give the timber a coat of 'interstain' prior to the epoxy and wouls happily send you some if you require(it's no longer commercially available but I've still got some)  Anyway times moving on & coffee beckons, dont forget e-mail me if you want any pics
                      Regards Barry
ps dont paint the decks or I'l send the boys round!!!!!!!!!!!!!(humour)
pps 'Smasher' I thought reminded me of 'Smashy & Nicey' to much or as my kids said was a crap name thus the change. regards again Barry.

(should read-neatly 'snapped' supersparby a friend!)