Messages

Depends where you are located, Bret Dingwall or Gery Ledger would be good if you are in the South East.

Alistair,
I think the Proctor Alpha is an excellent mast for a Tigress. Certainly my Cheshire Cat has always gone well with this section. They are fairly bendy above the hounds with good gust reaction (although nothing like as good as the new carbon masts). I have the spreaders fairly high on my rig and you need a very good kicker system but that's probably true of most 12's with hog-stepped masts.
Many years ago at Salcombe I was chatting to Dan Alsop (better known these days in Merlins) about his Tigress and he said that after he broke his Alpha the boat had never gone as well, he recommended I look after my mine!
Regards, Dave

Hi Alistair,
I didn't realise you were at Twickenham. I was a member there 25 year ago!! I am very local and thought that 12's had pretty much died out at TYC in the last couple of years. We were thinking of trying to get some mid-week evening sailing locally this summer and it was looking like the only option was going to be buying another Merlin. How many 12's are regularly sailing at TYC on wednesday evenings?
If you want to pop round sometime and look at my mast, you are welcome. It's a Proctor alpha, very popular in late 70's/early 80's.
Sorry to use the forum for chit chat but your e-mail isn't posted here.
regards,
Dave
 

Hi Alistair,
This boat used to owned by Ben Deverson at Twickenham, he would know what mast the boat had. Sorry I don't have his contact details but if he's not in the book his mum should be!
I would guess that it's almost certain to be a Proctor. The big dinghy chandlers suh as P&B often have mast dimensions listed in their catalogues but the problem is your mast might be discontinued (like the Proctor-alpha on my old boat).
Regards, Dave

Hi Paul,
There's one for sale on the Merlin Rocket web site - www.merlinrocket.co.uk
Regards, Dave

Tony,

I might be worth posting a message on the Merlin Rocket web site, they have a big vintage following and I know several boats have recently been re-decked and restored. Most vintage Merlins were built by the same boat builders as 12's and used the same techniques. They are a helpful bunch and I'm suure they will have some good advice (even if you may get the odd comment like add 2ft to the length!).

Dave

Hi John,

Any idea what you get for the "base price"? more to the point what yiu don't get! All a bit academic for me at the moment as we too busy with the Cadet scene.

Cheers, Dave

Close to the Edge was built by Dave Proctor in 1976. I (Dave Croft) was the first and am still the current owner. The hull was in fact ordered by another 12 sailor who then decided to buy a Paper Dart leaving  Dave Proctor with a Cheshire Cat hull yet to be completed. This was my good fortune!

Close to the Edge is built of 4-planks with each plank being mitre joined for the whole length, this meansno end-grain showing and gave us the opportunity to varnish the hull (a rare thing in the days before cold-moulding). Although the hull is true Cheshire Cat she has some unusal features, in particular the centreboard which is approx 6 inches shorter than max, the centreboard case is a close fit which maximises the room in the boat and reduces the amount of water carried in the case. The deck has less camber than usual on a Cat.

Close to the Edge has been a very sucessful inland boat winning the Thames Area 5 times and having over 50 open meeting wins to her name. She is still failry competive in the right conditions (F2 to 3 on a river or estuary). She was very light when first buit and was just under 80kgs when last weighed.

Attached photo's taken at Tamesis, Salcombe and Ranelagh

David,

Sorry we couldn't oblige with a crew, either of the girls would have loved to sail at the TYC Open but they were racing their Cadets at Grafham in the Zone champs. Strangely we seem to have had less wind on Suday that you got at Twickers!

On the subject of Crews my elder daughte Caroline is looking for a crew for this winter and next season to hopefully do the RYA zone squad and then all the big meetings - if you or anyone knows of a keen 10 to 13 year old please get in touch.

Cheers,

Dave

Sounds exaclty the same problem I had on the Mk11. Maybe you wiould be better off trying to find a second hand mast. There must be lots kicking about the old 12 clubs.

Don't get bogged down. I suggest you concentrate on the height of the top of the mast from the sheer 6100mm or about 20 feet in old money. If your mast is too short this the prime consideration. the res should fall into place once you have established this. Are you still unsure about how to find the sheer line and mark on the mast? Let me know if you are.

Simon,

Yes once you have the sheer on the deck use a straight edge to mark the point on the mast then measure to the lower edge of the top band from that sheer point. It's a good idea to be a few mm inside. If your mast is short then you can do whatever you like to get the height but I would advise against going OTT with packing under the mast heel, use epoxy and some big stainless screws to fix the block. Make sure your top band is as high as it can be as well.
Dave

The sheer is where the hull intersects with the deck. Roughly it's about 50mm in from the gunwale. You can find it more accurately if you get a piece of card and cut a semi-cirle out then  place the edge on the top plank so the the cut-out goes round the gunwale. You can find the intersection with the deck easily by seeing where the top edge meets the deck.
Some years ago I recued an old Procter Mk11. There were no sails with the boat so I put an old suit I had on. The boom was way lower than on my boat and when I measured the top of the mast it was about 150 mm short! I moved the coloured band up as far as possible and I aaded a block of wood under the mast step  all of which got me about half-way there. The point here is that I belive it was common parctice in the class some years ago to have the mast a little short of maximum allowable, seems crazy and this boat was supplied ready to go from a professional builder. Hope this helps

This boat was mine from new in 1973. I bought the hull and had the decks professionally added by Mal's favourite boat builder Bob Beckett who worked from home in Hays. The design is prettty much a wide/smooth China Doll but it never went well. I think the problem was lack or hull stiffness coupled with inept helm! We sailed on the river at the time and the 6ft plus beam didn't help. She had a Holt mast which I picked up in a sale at Holts and brabd new suit of Macnamara's. We did the champs at Pevensey bay and Weymouth the year after then I sold her and bought a 7-plank China Doll. The hull is plain GRP, no foam so she should have lasted, not seen her since the day she was sold in about 1975.

Rod,

My advice for what it's worth is not to buy a very cheap boat that needs a ton of work, you'll soon get demolaised and then you will have trouble selling. A Crusader will cary weight better than say a Baggy. I think the Tiger/ess carries weight better than the Cheshire Cat. My recommendation would be to have a look at 3211, I haven't seen this boat for a long time but she was a quick boat, nicely built and if she's been looked after would be a good introduction to the class.
Dave C