MERLIN ROCKET FORUM

Topic : Blast from the past

I know that a number of the very early Merlins which were originally built with the lead tipped centreboard were modified to the modern style centreboard with bolt pivot but does anyone have any idea at which point the pivoting centreboard was standard ie that's the way the boats were built.  eg No 111 Secret Water is lead tipped as I imagine were all Woottens Merlins.  By the time 252 was built she was built with the pivoting board.  The reason I ask is that I have been contacted by someone who has a ribbed Merlin but it doesn't have the lead board and the pivoted board looks original.  Sadly there has been enough modification to have lost the thwart with the number and the name plate has gone awol too but it would be nice to pin it down as close as possible.  Robert Harris has helped in the enquiries but any further info would be good.


Posted: 13/04/2011 11:35:46
By: Garry R
Garry. The oldest MR year book I have is 1951 and the newest boat recorded in that book is 340 'Wisp'. As you say 252 had a pivoting board so the change was certainly earlier than 1950.
The wording of the Class Measurement and Construction Rules in 1951 is perhaps interesting. The following extract is from Rule 3(b) Centre Board:
'When housed the centre-board is to extend neither above the gunwhale line nor below the keel. It is to be so arranged that it can be lifted out whilst the boat is afloat'.
I suppose a pivoting board could be lifted out whilst the boat was afloat but it would have required quite deep water!
I can remember sailing with and against Don Cooke in 221 'Tiptoes' at Rye and I am sure she had a pivoting board.
I have a good friend who also sailed at Bristol Corinthian YC in the 50s who says he can't recall seeing a boat there with other than a pivoting board. The oldest boats at BCYC recorded in the 1951 book were 27 'Kelpie' and 76 'False Security'. I think if either of them had a dagger type board he would have noticed it.


Posted: 13/04/2011 16:07:08
By: Tony Lane
220,(1fH; charm)has a pivoting board which looks original c.1950

36 (1946)has a drop board and is a 1bW same as your 111(1948); would be interesting to compare the two Wootens merlins and see developments in the two intervening years. Presumably you are blessed with a 22'6" mast? (the extra 2'6" is not a virtue!)

At first glance, the boards look alike but are certainly not dagger boards.


Posted: 13/04/2011 19:44:21
By: John
John
Yes indeed I have a 21'6" mast on Secret Water (Woottens)- built in 1947 according to the measurement certificate but originally it would have been the full and original length - you can see it has been cut down quite easily. She is very similar to Terrapin which I have seen several times as I was restoring Secret Water at the same time as Chris did Terrapin. So really there were no changes in the interim. As I am in the process of moving south (Cheddar area) I don't have access to the yearbook as it has been packed away but feel that for the boat I was talking about she will be an own build but with the look of a Wyche and Coppock boat with a flat floor aft. The deck is certainly not original but is fairly flat rather than curved decks and the knees which are very similar to those of Gannet (252) have been cut to accommodate the new decking and the removal of the side thwarts. Unfortunately the boat was bought from a sailing club in order to cover unpaid membership dues so the owner was not around to provide information as to where he had got her (we believe 10 years previously). She has an early alloy mast as there are one set of diamonds on the mast (I think a little like those on Tim Bury's 1066). The current young owner is going to take a lot more photos and this may help.


Posted: 13/04/2011 22:17:50
By: Garry R
I suspect the leaded centreboards may have changed when the rule for the rig height was changed (1949 I think); the lead did balance to some extend a 25' wooden mast. I'm not that familiar with the 2nd breed of merlins from say jack holt but I think the martines etc never had weighted boards. Mike ligget's Squirrel 235 - a riant like 507 - is standard 'modern' as far as I know. It may be that the true Merlin design by Holt was the only design with the rolling board which is somewhere between a centreboard and a dagger board and of course only works with a weighted board. Certainly the first set of rules specified that the board should be able to be removed when afloat. This rule clearly persisted for a while. I have amonsgt my stock of old boards a couple that have long slot so that, although the board is truely pivoted, it can be lifted out. I quess this was normal for the period as Nation 12s etc with steel plates used this method too.
Works fine till you capsize and invert!!!


Posted: 14/04/2011 14:08:35
By: chris
The other thing of course is that a Rocket, like Gannet, at that stage owes next to nothing to the earlier merlins and their design. and since they had a much lower rig anyway wouldn't have needed a lump of lead, although steel plates with narrower cases could well have been likely I suppose.


Posted: 14/04/2011 14:14:42
By: chris
I can remember boats with pivoting boards that had slots cut out of the front edge of the centreboard to go over the bolt. I guess that was to comply with the rule that Tony quoted. However Nat 12 centreboards were steel whereas Merlin's centreboards by then were wooden without lead so presumably could float. To counter that tendency a radius wire went from the top of the board to the bolt, thus it could pivot and be taken out of the boat while still afloat.

There were were some other oddball rules in the class in it's early days e.g. The committee must have disapproved of spinnaker reaching in the early 50s because at the Cowes Championship in 1953 we were required to sheet the leeward spinnaker sheet to windward of the mast! Somewhere I have a photo to prove that and will put it on the website if I can find it.

On the river we only ever hoisted the spinnaker when were running and it was much easier to rig it like as I've described rather than round the forestay. Perhaps the committee was dominated by sailors from river clubs, certainly all the chairmen during that period were from Thames clubs.


Posted: 15/04/2011 07:27:17
By: Robert Harris
1 - if I recall Uffa Fox' books correctly the centreboard with a slot for the pin was a common feature on many dinghies in the pre war era, so not just a rule thing. I can't help thinking that it must have been easy to disengage pin with slot at stressful moments.

2 - again as I recall sheeting the kite inside the forestay was a common thing prewar - and don't the X class keelboats still require it? So again not a Merlin specific phenomenum.


Posted: 15/04/2011 09:44:16
By: JimC
Not X boats, but the Troys at Fowey sheet their kites inside the jib.
They are great fun to watch, especially when your yacht seems to be the gybe mark.


Posted: 15/04/2011 11:14:08
By: ChrisI
" - if I recall Uffa Fox' books correctly the centreboard with a slot for the pin was a common feature on many dinghies in the pre war era, so not just a rule thing. I can't help thinking that it must have been easy to disengage pin with slot at stressful moments."

the Firely had this arragement too - even with an aluminium plate (instead of the 56 lb galvanised steel one) it was exciting if the dinghy inverted with the plate full down - it was quite common for it to slide off the pin and drop through the slot. Then there was nothing to stand on to right the dinghy.

It also had a habit of dropping back into the slot (if it didn't drop through) which required thin flexible fingers to oull it out again.

IIRC the plates for the centreboard bolt had a space for a wire retaining strop - but I don't remember anyine using it.

Colin (3387)


Posted: 15/04/2011 13:24:05
By: Colin
The 1947 rules say the max weight for the centreboard is not to exceed 50lbs.

With the discusion about new sails going on I also notice in the current rules that varnish is not listed as a permitted finish for wooden hulls Resin, and paint are OK. I wonder when that crept in? So Garry, we are illegal!(perhaps we can argue that 'real' varnish is made from real resin, as from the juice of a tree rather than some poly-something-or-other)


Posted: 15/04/2011 14:38:35
By: chris
I am certain the only boats that had the weighted boards were the original Merlin.  My first Merlin 169 had a wooden board but "slotted" over the pin - I used a compressed rubber hose on leading edge to keep board in position.  "Squirrel" 235 has similar board again with compression hose but I have closed slot so it cannot ride off the pin.
How well I remember those "hankerchief" spinnakers Robert - cotton with 3 holes - almost impossible to get to fill if they got wet which they usually did as most boats leaked (unless you were very careful and managed to get it down on the right side and into the spinnaker drawer!).


Posted: 16/04/2011 19:55:36
By: Mike Liggett
Not relevant to the very old boats, but in 1968-1970 a number of us had weight issues, in as much as needing 10 or 20 lbs of correctors. At that time the centreboard was included in the weight of the boat, and unlike today there was no weight limit on the weight of the board so we simply put the weight in the bottom of the centre-boards, at least the first four boats in the 1970 Championships took advantage of this. I left the class as a competitor in 1970 and have no idea if this continued untill the max weight of the centreboard was introduced. We thought it did help in what was a very blowy first half of the season.


Posted: 17/04/2011 19:54:45
By: David Child

REPLY

To Reply, please join/renew membership.

Owners Association


Developed & Supported by YorkSoft Ltd

Contact

Merlin Rocket Owners Association
Secretary