Ailsa pond yachts

On my last visit to Beale Park I found 3 Ailsa Pond Yachts, 1 x 18 inch and 2 X 21.5 inch long, one of the 21.5 inch models had a mast, sails and a stand, more Christmas presents !!

Here are the 3 new models, they are in reasonable condition, I will put some varnish on the decks, they look a bit old, I think water will get under the varnish, the hulls look OK for old models, maybe give the keels a touch up.

This is the 18 inch model, I removed the deck fittings, sanded the deck and applied two coats of gloss varnish, the keel needs the paint to be painted, there is some paint been applied and needs tidying. Then refit the deck gear, make the mast, booms and bowsprit, then the sails.

Here are the two 21.5 inch, length over the deck, models. I think they are great, these boats sail really well, with some nice sails. Some more pictures below showing deck detail, also a nice stand on the boat with the rig, think I will make some more for the rest of the Ailsa models.

19 Jan 23 - The small one of the 3 models finished, pictures below.

This is the small one of the 3 models, I sanded and applied 3 coats of gloss varnish, and made up and varnished a set of new spars.

I made up a new set of sails out of Rip Stop spinnaker cloth. I am putting these models together for my grandchildren to use, they are from 2 years old to 12 years old, so the older ones want them to sail well which is why they have much more modern sail plans, these models sail really well with modern rigs.

A couple of pictures of the small model sailing, I will do some videos of her sailing when the weather gets better. These pictures of her sailing on the river Hamble.

Work is progressing with the larger models, I will put some pictures on of work so far. One thing I have been thinking for some time is fitting a wind vane system to the two larger ones. I have come up with a way that hopefully works, without hurting the model, in truth its one hole that can be altered back if it does not work, or you want to go back to original. The point of these models was always for kids to sail, and hopefully learn from. We now live in different times and personally I don't have a problem with updating them so they sail better, but I do try to keep them looking like Ailsa's. But this may be too much for some, these boats will be sailing at some VMYG meetings.

22 Jan 22 - As I said above I have had an idea in my mind about fitting a self steering wind vane to some of the models. This comes from a couple of models I built in the 1980s for my two sons, they were 300mm long, hade swing rigs on them and I fitted self steering systems made from Lego. We used to take them sailing on our 'Scampi 25' 1/4 ton yacht, they sat in netting over the kids bunks in the fwd cabin, they sailed beautifully, the boys spent ages chasing them in the tender. So Lego !!

Pictures of the Lego coming to shape, gearing still not decided, but a couple of options here. Also first idea for a rudder, Ailsa's don't have a rudder, so this system needs a rudder.

I cut out a balsa feather for the win vane, made a shaft to hold the feather out of 2mm stainless, bent it to shaft and epoxied it into the plastic, to fit it to the Lego shaft I drilled a hole in the Lego shaft and pressed in the stainless.

Once you start, Lego gets to you, here it is used to hold feather while epoxy kicks!!

Here is the first trial assembly, I glassed over the epoxy to make the feather stronger. I began to think this will work so I fitted a single deck fitting to locate the system, and make it removable.

There were things I did not like, with the old boats the boys had to reset the angle of the vane to sail on a different tack, I did not want that on this boat, more Lego!

First and second ideas, not pretty, how to fit the vane ?

Fun playing with Lego again, but who wants this on the back of the boat, no one, also notice the rubber has changed to carbon, I had an old Helicopter blade, the balsa was to thick, by the time it was shaped it was to weak, I machined down a carbon rod to fit in the Lego, drilled a hole into the new carbon rudder blade, and filed out a Lego gear to fit the shaft, It then occurred to me that rather than make the stainless feather shaft be pressed into the Lego shaft, I should open up the hole so the feather rotates in the shaft. Then make up a thin ply web frame to take a couple of control lines, more thinking.

Here is the final system, still work to do. The two control lines go to a slider on a stainless pin going forward, this also acts a balance weight, here the system has a couple of bowsies fitted, but the adjustment is the slider on the stainless pin, the final system will not have any bowsies.

When the boat tacks the system goes from STBD tack above to PORT tack below automatically, the same as a modern system. So now just finishing to do, Loctite the Lego bits together, paint the feather, make the sails and rig the boat.

We recently were given an old TP52 spinnaker ay work, the idea being to use it to cover boats in our workshop, it is made out of super thin lightweight cloth, see below, I think it was called Cuban Fiber, very popular at the time, and very expensive.

I have tried various different types of sail material, as you will see on the toy boats page, most have worked OK, the modern materials that look like the old Egyptian Cotton materials don't last 5 mins, once wet they are a waste of time. So I am always interested in different materials, especialy when its free, lets see how this goes.

I measured out the new rig and made some card templates ready to cut out new sails. Above just checking sizes. Below laid out on bench.

The material has a slightly rumpled finish, I got my wife to have a go it ironing them, it helped but I will try harder for the next suit. Here sails laid on templates.

Sails ready for finishing, heat up small rods to melt for halyards and sheets. Since this picture taken the boat was rigged today and when tried outside the rumples not a problem at all, sails look really nice, and fast!

Mainsail head swivel, it rotates in the top of the mast.

Sails offered up to boat, all I can say is they are not as bad as they look here !!

A couple of pictures taken earlier today, 22 Jan, outside, I am hoping to get some pictures of her sailing on Tuesday, weather permitting.

A picture of the new deck layout below.

The main and jib sheets operate through a single slider, you can alter the main and jib sheet by sliding on the main and jib booms. Vane now red, control lines still to be fitted.

Took her out on a sea trial on the River Hamble yesterday, very light winds and a fair bit of tide, but she sailed very well, see link below for 'Classic pond yachts' you tube site and a video, will get more when we get some wind, and sunshine!

10 April 23 - Took the Ailsa out for a sail a couple of days ago, she sailed really well the self steering system and the rig and sails all worked really well in a stronger breeze.

Really impressed with how well she sailed, there was enough breeze to heel her over, and waves, she was brilliant!!

I would have struggled to steer her down wind any better, very impressive. Want to try her over at Gosport to see if the break back system works, I am hoping that with the adjuster lines are eased, we can just tack her on the bank without adjusting anything.

Here is a good view of the vane, rudder and assembly. The whole thing can be removed by lifting the Lego part that fits into the deck.

This picture shows' the quadrant glued to the bottom of the vane. The piece of stainless rod is partly a balance arm, but the important thing is the plastic bowsey with a tight fit which slides along its length, there are two holes for two lines which will go to the vane quadrant.

Here is a view from above showing how it works, the lines are not fitted yet, but in this position the Stbd side line would be tight and allow the vane to steer the boat on port tack, if the boat tacks the vane with go over until the Port line goes tight, and she will sail on Stbd tack. Thats the plan anyway!!

Here is the system removed, it does have the control lines fitted. Initial trials have been very good, the videos above show that, yet to try the tacking system. Its just to hard to do on my own in a launch with a camera!!