The life of N2679 Dolly Blotter. Design: Paper Dart, designed by: Phil Morrison in 1972
Advertised on eBay June 2014. Needs rescued! Located in Holyhead. eBay ad says will be scrapped if not sold....
Now part of the Willett fleet resident in the dinghy park of Cramond BC after being relayed from Holyhead to Edinburgh by Brian Herring, Angus Beyts (hull) and Marcus Wheel (mast)....thanks guys! Undergoing cosmetic restoration to get her sailing again and hopefully entice others to "sail a Twelve".....
To bring the story of N2679 up to date......Angus Beyts kindly trailed the hull up to me from Brian Herrings workshop last summer. The mast followed some time later thanks Marcus Wheel. Once I had everything in one place it was time to see what was there, or rather what wasnt and the following pics show her being assembled, probably for the first time in a long time, early last Autumn.
At this stage the thwart had been removed for restoration and soaking in teak oil...and apart from a damaged boom, everything appears to be there and there is no reason why N2679 cant be returned to life as a competitive Club racer and a boat for our Cadets to learn in. Just need to do something about that awful paint.....
...and so; having finished my Crusader 88 (3274) my friendly furniture painter is now beautifying N2679 in his spare time and returning her colours back to that of the original gel coat. I'm looking forward to refitting her in a week or so with all the teak nicely revived and getting her back on the water in June 2015.
August 2015 and N2679 is about to be relaunched. What started out as asimple tidy up ended up with a complete restoration, but she's looking good now and hopefully goes as well and will entice more people into the class.
Here with the rig up, sporting the 1979 vintage sails measured by Tim Tomlinson.
And the next few shots show N2679 after sorting the inetrior and all the control lines....nice simple, clean interior!
Side view....
last one....next to go sailing!
And finishing touch with name graphic from www.funkymonkeyboatnames.co.uk
To bring the story of Dolly Blotter up to date...she was relaunched in August 2015 and on her first outing in a light wind club race took line honours helmed by Alex Tulloch. She has subsequently been sailed in a variety of conditions, highlighting a To Do list which which has been steadily sorted out...just leaking tank hatches, bailers and transom flaps to sort now! The pictures below show her being sailed at Cramond Boat Club on 30th August 2015...giving as planned some of our cadets the opportunity to experience N12 sailing!
Hi
Fabulous looking boat - particularly enjoy the minimalist interior!
I am about to start a similar process on N2869 - a grey and white(..ish) dart that I acquired a couple of years ago and has been stored until I finished my Solo (133) - I have a couple of questions for you if that's ok:
1. I see you removed the gunwales - presumably you stripped off the old varnish, revarnished and put them back on - mine are attached by screws throuigh the grp 'lip' leaving some nasty screw-ends sticking out below - is this normal?
2. How did you get the colour back on the gel coat - if a re-paint, what did you use?
Hope you can help
best rgds
simonf
Sorry - it is in fact 2689 that I own...
Just been to look at her at bottom of neighbour's garden and gunwales not as I remember them - screws go through join between deck and hull and end not visible - must have dreamt that!
Still need replacing mind..pics on database
sf
Hi Simon
2689 looks very similar to how 2679 looked when i started her.
Answers...1.The teak gunwhales were just unscrewed from the boat, sanded down and coated with Danish Teak Oil, as was the thwart. 2. The gel coat was too far gone to restore and there were areas of damage to the hull that had to be filled so the whole hull was repainted (in a spray booth) with colours as close to original as possible. Foils were stripped with paint remover, and repainted by hand. Tiller and extension were sanded down and revarnished.
Hope that helps.
Any further questions just shout...or email!
Cheers
Ed
I still remember sitting in David East's house signing a cheque for £500 (approx) on 31 March 1973 - 6 hours pre VAT! Saved me a fortune but the boat was well worth it. I left the boat at my parents in Norwich and picked it up the following Saturday for an open meeting of 50+ 12s at Grafham. Put the boat together for the first time in the Dinghy Park with my crew, Tony Landamore (son of Leslie of Sparklet fame) and set sail. Winds were 6+ all weekend with snow shown in. Not being used to a brand new boat we fell over in the bottom of the boat, started every race last, but this boat was something else - up wind was a dream and once off the wind the rest of the fleet appeared to stop. The other surprise - coming from a Proctor IX - was that the faster you went the more stable the boat became. we were one of the few to stay the right way up. We finished 3rd overall and also took the novices prize. At this time I was sailing at Trent Valley SC and John Royce suggested the name Dolly Blotter and shortly afterwards I suggested Soggy Moggy for his Cheshire Cat.
Later in the year Clive Robinson was going to Whitstable for Burton week and took Dolly Blotter as his boat was not going well. He finished 2nd in the Burton and 2nd for the week!
At this time I had found a very good crew called Rob Peebles who went on to become a very good 12 sailor. In 1976 I moved to Tynemouth SC and sold the boat to Rhyle SC in 1978 after 2 enjoyable seasons sailing at sea.
Ed Willett must be congratulated on his restoration of Dolly Blotter. She looks just like the boat I collected in 1973 and brought back many happy memories. She was a very fast boat and I am please to read that she still is. She originally had X sails and I think that they were one of the best sets that Michael Mac cut - no hard leaches - all drive!
Hi Paul,
Many thanks for the update on Dolly Blotter, really appreciated! Do you have any background on how John chose the name? ( I could guess but better to be informed). I notice also that Rob Peebles won the Midland Junior Trophy in her in 1974. FYI I was sailing her just yesterday and she really is still a delight to sail.
Best Wishes
Ed