I bought this Merlin recently to sail with my grandson and have just started some serious restoration. The bow end 200mm and stern 400mm of the keel was rotten. The bow end has been beautifully repaired while the stern end has been cut away and a replacement piece of hardwood sourced .  However there are two long dowel shapes projections I assume from the transom support bracket and around 6 screw ends sticking out again I assume countersunk into the internal keel board.  Does this sound right?  Do you think the transom bracket will have enough support if I cut off the dowels because I don't really want to remove the transom bracket which is glassed in at the corners topside?
 
Before starting this project we erected the mast, attached the boom and raised the sails . This was fine apart not knowing where the second set of pulleys attached.  One obviously clips into the boom but we are missing the A frame that clips into the deck and I assume that's where goes.  Or is it the drum kicker referred to in other posts ?  Does anyone know where I could source a replacement A frame or perhaps has a blueprint so that I could get one made?
 
Any advice welcome?
 
 

 Well the bottom 25mm of the transom and support bracket were both rotten so my question was academic. We have cut out the rotten section of the transom screwed and glued in a replacement piece of mahogany and I have cut out a replacement support bracket from marine plywood.  The next job is repairing a hole in the upper keelboard  which sits beneath the support bracket and replacing the stern 400mm of the actual keel. Hopefully that will be the final carpentry repair
 
 In the meantime I am stripping the hull back to the wood.  Does anyone happen to know the surface area of the hull as it will help me decide how much paint to buy?
 

about 8 to 9 sqm   rough figure 4m long x 2m wide 

 Thanks Miles .  I actually took the measurements and worked it out.  The hull came out at 7 sq meters with another for the transom made 8!  
 
Apart from the stern end of the upper keel board being rotten at least one end of one plank is too so a bit more patching to do.  However it's coming along and I am hopeful the stern end problems will be sorted tomorrow.  That just leaves the fibreglass patch to one side of the dagger board housing to remove and deal with whatever lies beneath.  Having stripped the hull today it looks like the problem is rot between two planks.  As long as it is a minor issue after digging out the brown rot I may resort to either Marine Plastic Padding or a mixture of resin and sawdust to fill the gap with a few strategically placed brass screws to replace the copper nails there at present.
 
I am going to use Hempel's underwater primer on the hull but all the marine paints I have found only consider themselves suitable for areas above the waterline. I was thinking of using one of the colourful oil based variety(my grandson wants it looking bright) and then applying a few coats of top quality clear yacht varnish to protect it.  Would that sound the right option or could you possibly suggest the right type of paint please?
 
Could anyone let me know what the original name of 1929 was please?  It looks to have been built around 1966.
 
 

It seems to me that all paints and varnishes say that they are unsuitable for use below the waterline with the possible exception of antifouling. 
 
Reality is that any reasonable or good quality paint will be fine for use on a dinghy that won't be in the water for much more than a few hours at a time. 
 
 

According to the 1967 Year Book 1929 was called 'Forward Too' and was owned by A E Englander at Upper Thames YC 

 That's most helpful Michael and Tony.  Is it acceptable to rename a Merlin Rocket.  We burnt ourselves so many time stripping the paint and varnish we had in mind to call it `Scorcher'  which also suggests speed!
 
The transom, keel and stern plank rot is now fixed.  Just the fibreglass patch to sort out and we can start repainting. 

This might make you howl with laughter.  There never was an A frame on 1929 -too early a version.  Those clips in the planking turn out to be Andersen Self Balers!!

don't varnish over the paint, it will yellow off in no time,it will be fine wether you use international,hempel skippers etc, best is two pack slightly thinned, doesn't drag like oil based enamel either
 

Having restored a number of Merlins/National 12's (most recently M/R 1939) my preference is for the one pot paints & varnishes.  The vintage boat hulls are not as rigid as modern hulls and the one pots allow for more flexing.  These are also much easier to apply than 2 pot, especially for the novice (and cheaper!) although they do not give the very high gloss (or impact resistance) of the 2 pots. 
It sounds as if the boat has centre main sheeting (although she probably originally had transom sheeting).  The main sheet leads from a block situated just aft of the thwart on the C/B case to the helm.  In some instances a traveller was fitted adjacent to the thwart across the hull. The hoop is a more recent refinement. 

 Thanks Mike -we have already ordered paints of the single pot variety.  We may also give it few top coats of varnish  because the hull colour chosen by the grandson is orange so any yellowing may tone it down a bit.
 
Topside and the mid section of the cockpit planking will be white .
 
It is transom sheeting - it was not knowing what the self balers were than made me think I was missing a hoop!?

 Repaired the cockpit side plank rot today, stripped the varnish from half the cockpit and started filling imperfections in the foredeck.  The fibre glass and resin patch in the cockpit area came off easily with a heat gun and  stripping knife.  If the weather is reasonable tomorrow we can repair the hull side plank rot, sand off and paint the hull with Hempel's primer. 
 
 Is it usual to stick with the dinghy's original name - in this case 'Forward Too' or can it be changed?

Tradition has it that changing a boat's name is bad luck but it is common practice with dinghies. If the boat won anything significant under its original name I would tend to keep with it however much fashions change...

This is making great reading, would be good to see a few photographs.

A few thoughts on name changes you can choose to ignore or consider

1. There are supposedly ceremonies you can perform to prevent the bad luck, most of which involve a lot of champagne being poured over the boat (Google will help you here)
2. From personal experience I can think of a few examples where either enough champagne wasn't used or it didn't work to reverse the bad luck (collisions, mangled rudders, broken masts, blown off trailers)
3. You make your own luck so what does it matter?!
4. I've learned to love the names of the boats I've owned though
5. If you decide to go ahead with the change you'll need to submit the boats certificate with a request for a name change to the RYA so they can verify that there are no other merlin rockets with the same name and make the change official

Good luck!

 Ah Mark,
 
I have already had more than my share of bad luck so the name will remain unchanged. I am not well off enough for champagne and Prosecco probably wouldn't do the trick!
Some photos have already been uploaded onto the Pure Magic - Facebook page or I have the full album on my own Facebook page- feel free to 'poke me' (I think that's the phrase)  if you want a look.  I live near Oxford.
 
Used a few dabs of resin and sawdust on the gappy plank hull side, finished stripping the deck and did some filling to smooth it all over and almost finished stripping the mid section of the cockpit.
 
Painting starts tomorrow!
 

 Paul,
We had a 9b a couple of years ago. You will enjoy sailing her, it's one of the nicest Merlin designs I have owned/sailed. We moved on as I wanted something a little more modern which would still do well on the river but could cope at Salcombe. I hope we will see out at some meetings in the future.
I hope the painting goes well - what colour will she be?
 
Regards, Dave C
 

 Yesterday and today we have applied two coats of Hempel's Underwater Primer to the hull.  Tomorrow (weather permitting) we will turn her over, sand down the deck and apply a sealing coat of the same stuff.  If we have enough left and I think we will then a second coat too!
 
Before that however it's finish stripping the mid eight cockpit planks (over half way already) as far as the mast and hopefully have enough primer left to give it at least one coat if not two. Might have to buy some more! 
 
Once that's done we will turn her back over and apply three coats of Orange Gloss (grandson's choice) to the hull and finish off with gloss white deck and the eight mid planks of the cockpit .  Should look dazzling! You will see us coming for sure with that extra high river mast!
 
If anyone has  a photograph showing the rigging set up of a IXb that would be helpful.  You can email it to [email protected] please. The shrouds, the Boom Kicker, the Cunningham, the jib sheets, the transom traveller and main sheets are straightforward enough but whilst I am pretty sure the sheets either side of the boom are for the spinnaker how you set it up escapes me!?