Continued from MY 63

24" "Sposa"
Length 24"
Beam 5.5"
Depth 8"

This is the most complete self-built model, and has all the original spars. It is a hollowed uot solid hull. The rudder is a lead-weighted system. The sails are original and were 'tanned' by a fisherman on the South Coast when my uncle went there on holiday as a boy (not really a thing for a sailing yacht I suppose). The 'tanning' is coming off the sails as red powder. My uncle named this one Sposa after the eight-metre yacht owned by Sir Ernest Roney (he owned two eight metre boats if you can believe it)who lived in Wimbledon and was a friend of his father.

The deck is painted/varnished (and the planking is just drawn on) and is fixed onto the hull with a few (rather large) screws. The mast doesn't quite fit into the hole in the deck anymore. Not surprising after seventy years I suppose. The mast has the original metal rings around it for attaching the mainsail. The lead keel is held on with a couple of screws which are a little loose, but the rudder is in worse condition. The main keel seems to be coming away from the main hull and needs fixing. It also has the original stand.

 

Continued on MY65

 

VMYG Response:

These boats all look very alike, though of different sizes. I begin to wonder whether they were designed by the builder, as they have such a family resemblance. With boats as small as this, the loose lead can best be fixed by injecting epoxy adhesive or plastic padding into the crack and fairing it up.