I have been searching and researching
for many years as to the identification of a model yacht, as your web site
was obtained by chance it offers help from your members who may be to identify
the vessel. The yacht was purchased by my Grandfather around 1920 in Australia,
but believe it was originally from UK.
It was rescued by me, and I have stared to restore the vessel. Most of the
original parts etc. are in tact or restorable, the problem is that I cannot
find any material on the exact yacht as I require plans to complete the
rigging/sails. colours, (I can remember that the hull was black and the
bottom green, it also had gold embellishments on the bow).
The hull is 39" long and made
out of a solid piece of timber. All rigging is fully operational and it
sailed. Some blocks have brass runners and all brass items appear to be
hand made. It is a very well made exacting model
The original yacht was contained in
a large packaging case on a slip, with a full wardrobe of all sails and
signal flags ( I can recall this as a young boy). I have put together photos
& my drawings of the yacht in the hope that it will help identification.
I have contact some modelers in Aus without any success.
I can't help much, despite the very fine drawings
that Ray has provided. If all the 'what is it?' queries were as well presented
as this, our lives would be a lot easier. But I don't know what it is. It
doesn't appear to fit any of the obvious recognised classes and Given the
probable date of the design early 20th century? it ought to be to the LSA
Rule of the International Rule. It clearly can't be an IR boat, though I suppose
it might be a rather eccentric LSA Rule boat. Scaling the waterline from Ray's
drawing gives something in the region of 21.5 inches, which might imply a
5-rater with 1395 sq inches of sail which is massively excessive. Even if
the wl was in fact longer and the sail area smaller, I don't think it can
be a 5-r.
Which leaves us with the 'model, not elsewhere specified' of the customs form.
I think it is a boat designed and built just to sail for pleasure. It may
have originated in a published plan, probably from a general crafts magazine,
rather than a source catering to serious model yachtsmen, or it may have been
designed by the builder himself. In either case, we don't have access to the
original and I don't recall seeing anything in print that was quite like this,
which has several aspects, both in the deck fittings and in the hull form
that reflect full size practice rather than model yachtsman's ways of doing
things.
That said, the rig would almost certainly have been a gaff cutter with some
sort of topsail. I have drawn in a possible rig on the drawing attached, but
this may not work out. The rig will have to be balanced over the hull for
the boat to sail. I suggest that Ray makes some sails from bin liners, strengthened
along the stressed edges with sticky tape and tries sailing the boat before
making a decent suit.. If the main is more or less determined by the spars
we have, the headsails can be tinkered with, both in size and position, to
get the boat to balance. I have drawn two headsails, but the jib is very small
and it might be better to use a single foresail tacked to the end of the bowsprit.
Russell Potts
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