Classic Pond Yachts
My understanding is that commercially supplied pond yachts are known as 'Toy Yachts' and the word Toy is not derogatory!! which is as it should be, my love of model yachts started as a lad in the 1960s when my Dad built me a model yacht from a Marinecraft kit, it was an Iona design, looked stunning and sailed like a witch, my Dad fitted a simple vane gear, and I sailed it in a hole in the mud at Emsworth yacht basin, toy yachts are the key to getting youngsters interested in model yachting.
Sadly Iona disappeared in one of our house moves, my Iona had varnished terylene sails, a brilliant boat, I loved her, looking back, I learnt the lesson that you have to get them young! When my boys were young I built them a pair of sailing models out of solid foam, sail battens with fishing weights for keels, doweling mast with a swing rig and windvanes made out of Lego gears. These boat sailed very well, my Parents lived on the Isle of Wight and we used to sail over to see them, they Lived in Island Harbour, which in those days had a big lagoon above the moorings (now built on and ruined for sailing), they sailed their models around the lagoon from their Mirror dinghy, they are both now keen sailors. When I found I had retired I started looking for small models to restore for the grandchildren.
I did not realise at the time just how good a buy this was, but I bought the lot of four boats in the picture, a Clyde Model Dockyard (Ailsa) model, a small star, a Bowman Gull, and the Star yacht with no deck and the keel removed, all for £28 !! These are now all sailing, the two Star yachts were presents, the Clyde and the bowman we get out and take the grandchildren either to Gosport, or sail them on the river Hamble.
This is the small red star, which was restored as a birthday present, I am afraid I am not impressed by the sailing performance of the Star yachts, no offence!!, so fitted a more efficient rig, and she sails! in the pictures she is sailing in around 15kn of breeze in the middle of the river Hamble, most Star Yachts I have seen in such conditions lay down get their sails wet and stay there, these sails were an experiment, they are made with Tyvek material.
This is the model with no deck and the keel separate, fully restored as a Christmas present for a Nephew, ripstop sails, waiting to hear reports on how she sails. I drill a hole in the deck with a few degrees of rake, so the masts don't need rigging, fit jib booms and away they go.
This is the Bowman model, I will fit a bigger jib as she has a tendency to luff, but sails well, she was the boat in best condition so I did not paint her, just left as she was, the mast was too short, so I used the mast to make the booms, and made new mast.
This is the Clyde Model Dockyard model, these were built by Ailsa, and this is the post war alloy hull model. I am really impressed with this boat, the hull is light she has a ballast keel and sails beautifully, the sails are made out of Tyvek, which seems to work, the Ripstop type nylon sails on the bowman are lighter but this boat flies. Sadly the deck was to far gone to keep varnished.
The above four boats cost £28 and a drive to darkest Wiltshire, part of the fun is the drive to collect your latest purchase, and see just what you have really bought!
And this is why we do it, we spent hours at Gosport Lake and they did not want to come home, the red boat in the background is an RG65 hull with a Micro Magic rig and a Lego gear windvane system, my youngest son made it for his Nephew's Christmas present a couple of years ago.
This is another small Ailsa I bought with some other boats at Beale Park, the above pictures are before and after, another Christmas Present ! this is his second model for his window sill, He is now walking around the house telling his Mum and Dad 'I love model boats' he is 2 years old!
The two small Star yachts were bought on EBAY by my son, this was part of the pre Christmas production line! Above right post Christmas!
I bought this at an online auction in Blackpool, I learnt a valuable lesson here, I only paid £30 for the boat including auction costs, but it cost me £50 to have it sent down South, always get a quote before bidding, if it is to far to drive!!
I was unsure what I had bought, other than a straight line pond yacht, and still don't know where it came from, but I have seen two or three identical model come up for sale since, one had a snake emblem on the bow which seemed familiar? It is clearly a model that was commercially available, so a 'Toy' boat. But she is a lovely looking model, She had a suit of red cotton sails in reasonable condition, and a boom, I had to do some repair work on the keel, and then paint the bottom to hide the repair otherwise she is as I bought her, just cleaned and polished the varnish, made new spars, and made a stand. Next I have to rig the boat and she can go sailing, but she looks great with her sails on deck on the windowsill.
Another EBAY find, this time a Clyde Craft model yacht, just the hull and deck, with the keel loose, I could see something on the back of the boat, but could not make out what it was, I paid £9.50 for her, and drove to Weymouth to see what I had got, and it was a Clyde Craft model this boat has its own page - Clyde Craft Model Yacht.
The pictures above are of the boat as I bought her in Weymouth.
The pictures above are after deck repaired, keel and skeg fitted, and painted, more pictures on her page. The picture on the left is a picture of a sister ship I am using to get the rig dimensions.
10 Feb 21 update - All the big toy shops sold model yachts, they were built by different people to be sold in their shops. Gamages sold a range of model yachts, they had a scribed line detail on the deck hatches, so easy to spot, a couple of models here. Below are a couple of Gaff rigged sloops.
The pictures above show a really pretty Gaff rigged model from Gamages, another find from EBAY, I stopped in Alton on my way back from Essex to pick up Dolly to get this one. All I am going to do to her is make some new Cambric sails, although my wife likes the suit she has! Also these boats used a weighted rudder to help steer down wind, which has gone missing. The pictures above show the scribed line detail on the hatch, two parallel lines fore and aft and two port and Stbd. Pictures below of a larger model by Gamages, also with the scribed lines.
Another Gamages gaff sloop, I bought this one at Beale Park, I could not resist its charm, the keel and skeg are a sort of caricature of the racing boats of the time, again she has the scribed line detail on the hatch. I am unsure if she would have had an opening hatch originally, if it is an addition it has been well done, a couple of pictures inside below, the mast heel fits where it touches!
Auction house labels found inside the boat, looks like she was auctioned at some stage in London, I have contacted the auction house to see if they have any further information, I will keep these with the boat, just have to remember to take them out when she goes sailing!
10 Nov 21 - Some new boats , two new pages, links and pictures below -
An EBAY buy , my son got this for very little money, now ready to go sailing. She seems to have a GRP hull, weighted rudder, he has fitted a gaff rig, looks great, the sanding of the hull done by his eldest son who is nearly 3 !!
Three Ailsa pond yachts from Beale Park, great models on 18 inch model and two 21.5 inch models, see new page.