hi all

i have just bought 3391 as my merlin 3236 is going off the water for a couple of months for some repairs and a re varnish...

does anyone now anything about 3391....all i now its an nsm2 am i correct.

regards

darren padro

According to current yearbook, it's an NSM2 named Dissident built by Bob Hoare Racing Dinghies circa 1986.

I believe Dissident was built for Mike Fitzpatrick who 'tried out a few radical ideas' on her.  These included the distinctive wide and 'droopy' side decks.

Ian Little and Andy Biddle sailed her at Up River for a couple of years in the late 80's.  My only recollection was that they said it was very wet and you had to be careful not to let water in on the tacks - something to do with the low freeboard. 

Of course the reduced freeboard could have had something to do with Mr Biddles generous proportions...

Well well. Yes it was mine for a short while. Actually it was a glass hull shell by Bob Hoare and the woodwork was finished off by a young Whitstable lad named Ian Tomsett. He is now building huge great motor cruisers in West Australia but visits Whitstable now and again. The unusual things were comfortable sitting out narrow side decks with deep inwhales and gunwhales (legal max) like OK dinghies, Pussy Pads like Finns and a very fancy back tank with a curved W shape top giving loads of bouyancy but with drains down to transom base each side of the centreline. This got rid of water really fast after a capsize, I think better than modern flaps. If it still has them I'd really appreciate a photo or two as I never kept one. The fitting out and rig was all done by me and was simple and in no way unusual.I don't recall the boat being particularly wet, but then I was trained in a Proctor 9b! Sadly two small boys, now in their late twenties, took too much time to take the boat seriously and the crew resigned so it was back to boring Lasers for me.

"The fitting out and rig was all done by me and was simple and in no way unusual."
What! It had a self tacking jib on it when I bought it! The track's still kicking around my garage somewhere. It also briefly had some funny travelling strop mainsheet system - the details of which escape me now.

To the original poster - Mr Biddle and I had loads of fun racing 3391 against Jacko the boatbuilder and Mr Trout - We replaced it after a couple of years with another boat off the same Bob Hoare mould - the only difference being the topsides in the middle of the boat had been extended upwards to the point at which the original wooden mould's topsides would have intersected the deck. Yes the replacement boat was drier.  Normally this freeboard issue was not a big problem however - except if you took it to Whitstable, the Thames estuary chop was a killer! Or tried tacking repeatedly in no wind to try and induce forward motion in a usually futile attempt to beat Jacko and an outgoing River Crouch tide simultaneously. 

Mr Trout - I toyed with the idea of posting this reply pretending to be an aggrieved and angry Mr Biddle but couldn't be bothered with the aggro in the end.
Regards to the rest of the Trout family.

Ian Little

As a long time MR sailor I am always on the look out for a bargain NSM 2 and have just brought 3391 from club mate Darren. I will be doing some varnishing etc to her over the next few days in my workshop and then take some photos for you Mike. She will then be sailing again at Shustoke SC along with my other MR 2046.
Some years ago I sold Harry Hayne s wonderful Smokers Satishfaction 2849 to a guy from Trent Valley but it doesnt appear in the year book anymore does anybody know her location ???

Wonderful to hear the old bus is going to a good home. Thanks Dave. Don't worry about Mr Little's carping about self tacking jibs and wire strop mainsheet travellers. At risk of being lynched I have to say that Merliners seem to have have a blind spot for good ideas that emanate from other classes.

Thanks Mike, with you there. I uesd to own and sail Merlin 156, now that had some unusual features eg blue jib and spinniker with three very neat hole s set in and hemmend,all original. I wonder where those idea s came from ?

Those holes were first suggested by Dr Manfred Curry; (Who went on to design the VW Beetle bosy for Dr Porshe.) in his excellent books in the 1920's-30's often to been seen in 1930's Beken pictures of the big class. It's an idea still purused in some cruising shoots today with slots rather than holes - supposed to stabilise it.

"Venturi effect"?

Last year I came by and passed on to Chris Barlow (Merlin No 6) a spinnaker which seems about "very old Merlin sized" and it had "hemmed holes" in it.   Can't remember if it had two or three holes. Made of cotton of course, so it would be nice to see it flying one day.  Should have saved it for No 111 but would have to fit a sheave into the wooden mast and Chris has the full set of cotton sails for Iska.

In the good old days, before even AG was a boy, spinnakers used to have holes in them.  They were called parachute spinnakers and the holes were designed to encourage the airflow into the middle, to stabilise them and stop them collapsing.  Some of them were even made of nylon.

How times have changed - now we don't have holes in our spinnakers and sports parachutists don't even have round parachutes, let alone holes!

Thanks everybody for the old spinny comments I had a feeling somebody out there would have the info. 3391 varnish now under way so photos to follow Mike asap.

Free accommodation for 3391 crew at 2009 champs at Whitstable if you bring her home for a nostalgic visit. You could set the record straight and dispel these base rumours of instability and wetness. Or perhaps enjoy a cool dip!

Mike, what can I say, it is without doubt the best offer I have EVER had in 25 + years of MR addiction. I will discuss with H2 my crew and having never visited Whitstable 2009 could just be the year. Bye the way photo s taken today at club and I will forward when developed.Let me have your address my e mail is [email protected] and I will post.
Cheers

Does that mean that the campaign for the over 20 year old boats at the 2009 champs will be even more keen than this year? There's life in the old girls yet .....

Will accomodation costs count as personal sponsorship? Either way there will be big pressure to make sure the old boat looks her best in every way!!!