8 replies to this topic

[dreadom]

My wife and I moved up to the mid north coast of NSW shortly after the birth of our daughter. Currently renting a great house only 50 metres from the Nambucca River, so I have been on the look out for a reasonably priced dinghy. I have been looking in the local papers etc. and finally I spotted a an old Flying 11 on EBay. $270 later and we are the proud owners of hull 957.
Now I knew it was an old boat and in need of some TLC, but from the description and pics on EBay, I got the impression it was able to be sailed and just needed some minor repairs to the timber gunnels. I should have twigged when speaking to the previous owner to arrange pick up that we were in for more than we expected.
Me; "Can I come by on Friday and pick up the F11?"
Him; "What's that?"
"The dinghy, from eBay."
"Oh Fuck! That's what it is. Is Friday Chocolate day?"
"Now that's Sunday."

Here is the pics from eBay:








.

[dreadom]

Now don't get me wrong, I am not really complaining. I knew that for $273 I was getting an old old boat that would need some repair, I was hoping to get her out on the water over the Easter weekend. What I actually bought looks like this:









So now we have a much bigger project. The hull needs some re-glassing, then we will replace all of the timber work, then re attach all of the running gear. The mast is in pretty good nick, I will replace the shrouds as they are a little worn and some welding at the exit of the pole up is definitely in order.The dagger board and the rudder just need a little repair to the glass.The spinnaker has a few pin pricks, nothing some sticky back can't fix. The Hood jib is still in very good condition. The main is also in a pretty good state, needs some minor repairs by a sailmaker.

I would appreciate any help, support or guidance. We hope to turn our beaten old F11 into a great little boat for us to play on and in time for our daughter ( and any other kids we may have) to learn to sail in.

[Windward Mark]

For the price, as you said, can't complain. But the pictures on ebay were misleading and I hope you gave the seller the appropriate feedback.

Good luck with the re-build.

[Phil S]

You probably could have bought a Flying 11 at least 20 years newer for less than $1000 if you had looked at their web site. That would have saved a whole lot of work and money and you would have something much more useful.
Its still a good strong class but the boats look a whole lot more modern now. Have a look if you need to upgrade any components. http://www.flying11.yachting.org.au/

[dreadom]

You probably could have bought a Flying 11 at least 20 years newer for less than $1000 if you had looked at their web site. That would have saved a whole lot of work and money and you would have something much more useful.
Its still a good strong class but the boats look a whole lot more modern now. Have a look if you need to upgrade any components. http://www.flying11.yachting.org.au/

Thanks Phil, the EBay ad said that the boat was sailable and just needed minor repairs to the gunnel. Figured I was on a winner for $273 but as the pics show I got a much bigger repair job. So the thoughts were a. Do a cheap patch job, sail it, break it, dump it. Or b. do a proper repair. Appreciate it as a learning adventure. And then sail it. And who knows maybe trade it in? Or sell it for a profit.

[aus2479]

Sell a boat for a profit? Best to lay off the drugs

Incidentally i sailed a boat in the 900's and it looked a lot different, it was old back when I sailed it. Yours looks 10 years older than that but who knows.

Unless u already have the materials and want a hobby I wouldn't waste much money on the boat.

[Merrill Levi]

I had the Marinercraft F11 model prior to this boat, mine had a single stern buoyancy tank, yours has the twin tanks which was to allow for big drain holes to be cut into the transom - looks like your drain is missing it's rubber flap.

my boat was bought second hand in 1973, I think your boat was introduced by Marinercraft around the same time ('73)

The two thwarts on my boat were the same layout as the ebay pics, wide one aft, skinny one fwd. both the same thickness. The aft one was wider to accommodate the mainsheet traveller. With no traveller there is no reason to make it wide again. Both thwarts on my boat were laminated timber to about 3/4 inch (20mm) thick to take the compression loads from the shrouds and also to stabilise the centreboard case (& my fat ass on the gunwhale). These could be replaced with aluminium tube as long as you can secure them to the gunwhale to take both compression & tension loads.

I did have some problems with the timber used by Marinercraft:
- the top of the centreboard case - rots out around the fasteners attaching to the thwarts & these are the only lateral stability for the centreboard case.
- the knee's at the transom/gunwhale joint were cosmetic only, yet anyone helping to lift the boat would try to use these as a lift point. Ended up ditching the cosmetics and put hand size cut-outs in the transom - much more robust & lighter.
- the plywood used to form up the buoyancy tanks was not marine grade. The tanks are glass straight over the ply & the ply is left in the tank so the ply de-lam's and falls apart, which is ok from a structural point of view - just a PITA to get all that shit out through one inspection port.
- mast compression post inside buoyancy tank rotted out - ended up having to add two additional inspection ports either side of the mast step to replace the compression post.

With the way the ebay seller mislead you with the pics, I would be very wary of the the blue flow coat inside the cockpit, particularly as there appears to be a repair around where the centreboard case bonds into the hull. Also check where the hiking straps attach to the hull. The issue on my boat was that the glass in the bottom of the hull was thinner than the sides of the hull, and if I fell into the boat too hard with my heels, would put crazes in the gel coat (on the out side of the hull!) hence the mainsheet ratchet block is mounted on the centreboard case.

I had a ton of fun in my F11 & won alot of races all over NSW, only thing that stopped me was getting deported to a country boarding school with no lakes or dams big enough to sail in! - my only wish for that boat would have been for the gunwhales to be a bit wider (from 70mm to 100mm) where the crew hiked from, I was a big kid for my age and the guwhales dug into the back of my legs big time - so an adult would *really* like wider bits to sit on.

dunno what else I can tell you - PM me if ya like.
ML

[dreadom]

Cheers Merrill. Plenty of good info there.

[Merrill Levi]

In the link that Phil S supplied above, I found the following quote regard Marinercraft boats ...

In 1974 the timber mould was completely rebuilt with the addition of a double skin floor area to add strength to the flat bottom of the boat. (LINK to full story)

So your boat, would be no older than 1974 and what I thought was a repair around where the centreboard case bonds into the hull is in fact the inner skin has been removed to bond CB case to outer skin.

ML