Cape Cod Marlin 23' refit

[eliotrcutler]

Hi . . . I have a question for Marlin owners and restorers. I have nearly completed the restoration of a Marlin that has been in my family since 1960, but I remain stymied by the pronounced weather helm and wonder whether some adjustments in the rigging might address that problem. Any ideas?

[tonygogo]

Hi, I just bought a '61 Marlin and would like to know if you have solved the weather helm question...thanks John Ehlers jesurvey@optonline.net

[rjohnson]

There used to be a Cutter-rigged Marlin daysailer in Wareham on the mooring next to ours when we had our CAL 21. I think she was a 1960 model, when the owner bought her she had one of those ugly lifting outboard brackets that placed the raised outboard up to the point that it looked ot be floating in mid-air. That bracket on "Starry Night" looks good in comparison. Later they installed an outboard well at the aft end of the cockpit, offset to one side to clear the keel and rudder.
She left Wareham about a year or so before we sold our CAL, I think CCSB brokered her sale, her name was "TANGLE" in those days. Now, with a new name she is for sale again, I think she is up in Maine, although CCSB has her listed again, $8,000.

The last new MARLIN to leave CCSB was in 2007 I believe, and I think her owner's wallet was probably about $100K lighter when he left Wareham! Home port is out West, Colorado if I recall?
The next new MARLIN will be more of a competition to the Bridges Point 24, CCSB has designed a new deck mold that is more tradional, looking more like a Herreshoff MARLIN, rather than the "upside down bathtub" design of the fiberglass MARLIN Cruiser.
Someone mentioned the ungelcoated areas of the deck on old MARLINs, CCSB did that on a lot of their cabin boats in the 1950-60s, it served as a sort-of "skylight" letting light in through the laminate without making holes for ports. I think I would have varnished those areas if I wanted to preserve the translusency. Painted over it if installing deadlights.