SimonCornes

I'm assuming they're in the water when heeled? Ive seen some film but not nearly as much as you so it's just my impression. They can't do much in light airs but you are right about buoyancy, might assist tacking when close hauled but then they have equally buoyancy effect so you could argue some resistance to heeling when tacking/gybing ??

I know what you mean about 'hull' but where do the undersurfaces end and top surfaces begin and I would have thought the intention is to avoid hollows in areas which are 'wetted' and that includes when heeled, having said that my One Metre has a chine running from the bow to maybe 30-40% of the overall hull length and you might argue that the underside of that is a 'hollow' but obviously it isn't! I'm not sure if they look ugly to me but they must be of some benefit otherwise they wouldn't be there and the benefit must outweigh the drag they create? No doubt someone has written reams on this already but I haven't seen anything!

I’ve been watching some film of the Croatian design - VISS - with the odd deck/hull extensions at mid hull and transom points and wonder if they’re legal? It’s a while since I’ve read the rule but wouldn’t they fall foul of the ‘hollows’ restrictions?? I assume they’re legit because the boats have been raced but I wondered what the story was??

Absolutely Graham, that’s why I built and sail a Metric Magik. I’ve seen boats described as Widgets with a flat ply deck and with a raised foredeck and skiff type rear deck, it’s just evolution of the same hull design but thanks for clarifying.

Am I right in believing there was a Mk 2 Widget? I have a vague idea that it might have a Gadget moulded deck - or am I getting it all wrong? 😀

Thank you Mark

So it turns out that it’s a captive nut and being mild steel this had rusted solid with the screw. New fin box top fitted and captive nut well greased before screw fitted and screw well greased to. Top of fin box installed sealing as well as possible the top-bottom join and with the deck using my favourite silicon - Fernox - so that will hopefully be okay. I intend to fill the 3 screw tubes in the top of the moulding with grease and will also cover them with small pieces of insulating tape. Once bitten…….

Shroud wire ordered - and received - from PJ along with some white self adhesive sail cloth! Thank you.

Well I drilled off the screw head and removed the plate but could not remove the remains of the screw for love nor money so I ended up levering off the top half of the fin box - which I had securely sealed with silicon - and although I got the top off I also ended up with a 3cm split in the angle of the white hull where it goes down towards the bottom of the hull. New fin box ordered so I just hope that new silicon will also seal that split otherwise it’s tape and ultimately a new hull! I looked at the screw. It goes into a small plate which had two self tappers securing it onto the underside of the fin box top. The screw I was try to remove has a squared off end and I still can’t get it out!! I really don’t know why I couldn’t loosen or tighten it!!

Thanks John, Thats what I’m thinking. I do have a can of penetrating oil which I could try to crack whatever connection there is between the screw thread and plastic but it might be a case of drill the to off and then try pliers on what remains then a larger conventional self tapper.

Has anyone had trouble with the little screw that holds the mast ‘deck step’ in place in the top of the fin box? Mine seems to have seized and I suspect a bit of rust. The hex hole in the top of the screw is rounding off Allen keys - I’ve tried 2 now - and at this rate the screw might shear off rather than turn. Crazy when you think it’s a self tapper into a plastic tube also it should be really easy to loosen and tighten although it’s a pity the screw head isn’t bigger - it’s smaller than the one in the DF65 !! Any suggestions??

I wonder if it really goes as well as he says?? Hopefully you’ll let us know! My idea of a hard chine hull is a Woodpecker or Rag Time so it will be interesting to see what a Paperclip looks like!!

I see that Frank Russell has also done a hard chine version of Ellipsis - Paperclip Mk 3- this year by the looks of it, the plan for which costs 20 $ Australian and is predominantly made from 1mm ply. His write up suggests that it also goes well but I see that Ellipsis hulls cost 800 $ Australian which is definitely not cheap so I hope you have a cunning plan!!

Yes, I totally agree, stick with wooden foils if thats how it was built. I think I meant in my original comment that when carbon fibre came along it wasn't that expensive as part of the overall cost of building and outfitting a boat but it was a matter of refining the overall class rule. I suppose you can get hold of a fin and ballast for £100 or so and maybe another £15 for a rudder but part of the charm of operating an old boat is to sail it as it was originally built. Lovely 10R by the way!

Yes, if I recall the French objected to the aluminium only masts because carbon was cheaper than aluminium in France. But at least we got carbon foils after the initial foray with laminated timber although carbon foils, if supplied with ballast fitted, are not cheap these days. There must be an awful lot of old IOM's sitting around in sheds and lofts these days and, as with the Ellipsis, they all tend to sail pretty well so thats a pity.

Yes, Martin Roberts mentioned that all his One Metres were named after birds. As you say though, photos of each design seem to be hard to come by. Back in those days I can remember the Alex Austin 'Bubbles' being a popular design but I can't think what it looked like! There seems to be quite a strong desire to get older One Metre designs back onto the water as a cheaper way of finding competitive sailing and indeed that was the original idea of the One Metre class as you know. And now you may have to pay £4,000 for a brand new boat, hardly cheap and cheerful! Even £1,500 for an Alioth is not a cheap way into the sport. My regular racing machine is either a DF65 or 95 as they are certainly priced to be affordable but I'm not sure how durable they are compared to an old One Metre!

Thanks Eric, that is very interesting and may well have helped me to avoid making a mistake!! Simon

Thank you

I am told that I need some multistrand 40lb rigging wire for the shrouds and stays of an old Marblehead with conventional rigging (none-swing). I’ve just been to a big angling store and asked and the stuff they sell, whilst being 40lb, is much finer than I would expect based upon wire I’ve got and it’s brown! Where is the best place for what I want?? Thank you.

That’s the best I’ve got. Any ideas?? That sail number has been reallocated to a 2001 yacht.

T

I’m trying to identify a boat for a mate. I’ve been told it’s an early Toy Abel design. It’s got a glass hull (so not Woodpecker), ply deck , it’s not a skiff type open transom or a vertical flat transom, it slopes forward so it’s oval but flat at deck level. Any ideas? Thank you.

Eric, Ah, that is sad. Thank you for letting me know. Simon

Good morning everyone, Is Keith still amongst us? I ask simply because I've just swapped a Whirlwind winch in my One Metre and the one I took out had been fixed by Keith - 'The Winch Doctor' - , must be 35 years ago and had been working fine until just very recently. I was wondering if 'The Doctor' still had a private practice? Thanks Simon

To be honest Lester I don’t know! When I think about it I’d say I sheeted to a broad reach rather than an uncommanded sheet movement so that would be the second option. I doubt it’s rust because I think everything is either brass or alloy with maybe steel case screws? Probably a worn pot then but I wonder if this is due to using more than 6 volts??