Star look-alike
Hello, this is a Star look alike for sure, but I don’t know if it’s a commercial boat, amateur built, and/or part of a rating or series. The proportions are not to scale. The boat is about 32” long, beam 7 ½ “. The rigging and spars are missing except for the main boom, about 15 ¾ “ long. The fin is sheet metal, lead bulb. Deck seems to be scribed wood. The hull is hollow but I am not sure how built, the sides seems pretty thick, at least ¼ “. Found it on EBay a few weeks ago. I have not cleaned it, the paint is really thick and there is no visible marking.
Can anybody help me identify this boat? - PB
VMYG preliminary identification
It wasn't made by the Star Productions
of Birkenhead. It is a scale reproduction of the full size 'Star' one design
keelboat. The slab sides and planked round bottom are a giveaway and the skeg
and rudder form is also characteristic. The original design dates back to
1911 and there have been a series of alterations over the years, mainly to
the rig, though possibly the skeg and rudder have also undergone changes.
I have attached a small cut of the sail plan and underwater profile.
If the model really does have 1/4 inch sides it is going to be seriously embarrassed
by excessive structure weight and has probably been made by carving, so the
bottom will be of similar thickness. What does it weigh? How high does it
float? if on the correct wl, ballast ratio will be low. If weighted to sail
effectively it will be very low in the water. When Daniels designed a 36 inch
version called 'Star Junior' in 1929 or so, he amended the appendages to something
more like the conventional model yacht style of the day and designed it to
be built up on frames using 1/8 mahogany for the sides and planking the bottom
in the conventional way. The same technique was used for his 10-rater version
'Stella' in 1936.
More information from ID: I first thought PB's Star was a DUMAS 30" Star kit. This has a beam of 7 5/8" and mahogany planking over plywood frames. Unfortunately that has a deeper keel than PB's (about twice the depth of the scale keel). It also has a taller non-scale rig, with a 44" mast . It's kit #1121 at www.dumasproducts.com. The photographs could be of help in re -rigging the model, which may be a copy of the kit boat, given the close dimensions?
PB offered the
following additional info: "I can now give you additional details on
the Star look-alike. Weight is 4.1 kg, I'd think the ballast is at least 70%
of it. Even an 8mm thick solid hull 80 cm long cannot be much more than 1
kg if that. The boat does float lower than the painted waterline, or more
accurately the trim is different, lower by about 1.5 cm at the stern and higher
by the same amount at the bow. I suppose adding the sails and rigging would
somewhat balance that, though they'd be around 150 grs max. The maximum draft
is about 19cm. Overall it looks like a nice and sailable model."
Russell then added:
"At that weight and ballast ratio, she should be a practical model, though
the sail area will need to be smaller than scale reduction would indicate,
especially as the hull has an open cockpit. It will have to heel quite a way
for water to get in, but if it does she may just fill up and sail under. I
shall be very interested to hear how you get on when you have sails on her."
| top | back |