Posted by Roger Wardale on August 25, 2014 at 01:54:23 user RogerW.
In Reply to: Re: Amazon and Scarab's keels/hull bottoms posted by Magnus Smith on August 24, 2014 at 12:29:49:
To try to address the points that Magnus made:
Mavis was believed to have been built by the company that ran the Piel Island ferry near Barrow in Furness. They did a little boatbuilding on the side, probably during the winter months. Clinker 'knockabout' dinghies were never built from plans but by eye using a couple of moulds, and the details varied in different parts of the country.
Nobody in the 1980s had a clear idea of her age, but the feeling was that she was certainly pre-World War One. Examining the boat after the Altounyan fibreglass sheathing had been removed it was clear that Mavis had not been finished to a high standard.
AR began SA at the time he started sailing Swallow in March 1929, when he wrote in his diary,
'Mavis not a patch on Swallow'. Is it likely that he would 'give' Nancy and Peggy a dinghy based on one that he thought was inferior to Swallow?
In 1929 Mavis at least 15 years old, having almost certainly been used by fishermen on the coast.
Amazon new
Mavis painted outside white, interior brick (Roger Altounyan)
Amazon varnished.
Mavis '3ft 6 ins centreplate operated by a metal bracket (latch) with holes similar to window bracket using similar holes to fix a pin on top of casing. It was of course hinged to lie on top of casing' (Roger Altounyan) Later, 1932-3, when the children came to sail Mavis, Oscar Gnosspelius (Squashy Hat) fixed up the present 'miners' wheel' so that they could raise and lower the plate (Taquie Altounyan)
Amazon Probably similar
Mavis three thwarts and stern bench.
Amazon two thwarts and stern bench
Mavis two sails, one white, one brick (smaller, used depending on the conditions).
Amazon one white sail
Both around 13 ft in length.
I believe that Mavis was every bit as unsafe as those who sailed her in the 1990s said. I have a damning report from a Windermere yacht designer who sailed her once and thought the boat was a 'killer'. He was right, though he did not know it, for she did capsize with loss of life when struck by a squall on Coniston. The bow, when the dinghy heeled, produced negative buoyancy. I suspect that the Altounyans used the brown sail most of the time.
My theory is that the moulds were set up carelessly, resulting in the narrow bow, and that in the steady coastal winds, the boat was not such an accident waiting to happen and was probably used with an outboard most of the time, anyway, before being sold.
The interior arrangement and length of Cocky and Scarab correspond and since AR was sailing Cocky at the time he wrote PM, I believe that just as he had put Swallow and Nancy B into a book so he 'gave' the Ds, Cocky.