seems a nice selection of oldies on ebay this week;
3068 Rowsell Smokers
2932 Aln Hooligan
2531 Probert September Girl
1885 W&C IXb
1513 W&C XII
1213 W&C XII

The description of 1885 as a family boat -------!!!!

Sorry broken link

Well if 1885 is anything like 1886 she is not for the family! but that's how we purchased ours as a nice calm family boat and we have never looked at anything else since!.
Loving it.

Anybody got any info on 3068? What would a Smokers of that vintage go for? Would this be a suitable first Merlin to sail with 24 - 25 stone in on a fairly big lake?

Smokers is a good weight carrier, should be less that a £1000. this looks a good example as as its all varnished you can see the state of the hull. It has happened that some boats when the rig tension waqs applied caused a split along the bottom of the hog when the hull compressed and was forced down, this happened with one of my old boats of similar vintage.
Would be good in light to medium winds but just wont plane as fast off wind like the newer CT's. ( still feels fast though) A good intro to the class though

The pictures make the boat look just gorgeous, the rig looks generally OK, it will be the dog's whatnots in light winds, quick tacking and responsive, though not the most stable downwind in a blow.  An ideal restricted water boat - how big is the lake?

I am only restraining myself from bidding because I don't sail the 1 Merlin I already own enough and I haven't anywhere to keep another boat.

The lake is huge (Kielder Water) but we sail fairly short technical courses. The wind can be very shifty but when it blows it really blows

Short technical races ie short tacking, quick acceleration out of tacks is where you can excel in a smokers