All_at_Sea
Well-Known Member
Any thoughts....Merlin rocket? Fireball? Flying fifteen?
What dinghy is this.....
- Thread starter All_at_Sea
- Start date
sailorman
Well-Known Member
National 12 ???
certainly not a Fireball or FF
armchairsailor
Well-Known Member
Possilby a National 12 or Merlin - difficult to tell from this angle. Any more pics?
NealB
Well-Known Member
How big is it?
dombuckley
Well-Known Member
I would say almost certainly a Merlin Rocket, given the spinnaker chute at the bow.
boguing
Well-Known Member
On first glance, it looks very like my first dinghy. Merlin 564. My Dad bought it for me in about 1972. Long story. Sailed it once, and eventually met John Oakley (read on).
It turned out to be very rotten, so decks were off before we found that seven planks, keel, hog, and half the transom were too. So i did see it with the decks off, and your picture rang an immediate bell. Having said that, there aren't that many ways to make a deck support structure.
My Dad rebuilt it, but I had grown up into motorbikes and girls, so it was given to the local Sea Scouts. They were very grateful, but, as I recall, rigged it and the transom joint split and it got burnt. Didn't tell my Dad though.
Is it carvel or clinker? How long, and d'you see any signs of an aft deck? Mine did have one, but they didn't for much longer.
It was a Proctor MkVI built by Chippendale, and the late John Oakley won the 1956 nationals in it.
It turned out to be very rotten, so decks were off before we found that seven planks, keel, hog, and half the transom were too. So i did see it with the decks off, and your picture rang an immediate bell. Having said that, there aren't that many ways to make a deck support structure.
My Dad rebuilt it, but I had grown up into motorbikes and girls, so it was given to the local Sea Scouts. They were very grateful, but, as I recall, rigged it and the transom joint split and it got burnt. Didn't tell my Dad though.
Is it carvel or clinker? How long, and d'you see any signs of an aft deck? Mine did have one, but they didn't for much longer.
It was a Proctor MkVI built by Chippendale, and the late John Oakley won the 1956 nationals in it.
Bobc
Well-Known Member
A Merlin from the 70s. It's one of the early wide designs, so somewhere between about 2100 and 2600 sail number.
strudders
Active Member
It does look like a merlin but not an early proctor. Do you have any more pics. I wrote the definitive design guide back in the early nineties and have a list of all merlins up to then. The number engraved will tell us all.