Restoring a Moth

[STEPHEN MILLER]

My son is restoring a 40 year old moth, it has a single piece un stayed timber mast that has never been used as previous owner loaned it out and it went under a jetty, not bad it cost us $50 the lot. We would like some info there were 2 cleats halfway along length out at gunwale that we dont know what they were for if anyone knows it would be a great help.
It is a slow process as most of his spare time last year we spent repainting after first removing Wattyl Solaguard [it goes as brittle as anything it saltwater conditions],has been repainted with single pack polyurethane and then redoing all the sheets, halyards etc back to the cockpit of our 9.5m ply and Dynelsheet sailer cruiser and this year he started work and has a apprentiship as a shipwright with Northbank marine building GRP stinkboats
Moth and cruiser picture for your interest

[Gumby]

I used to sail Moths 30 years ago. Made the State team in fact and sailed nationals over in SA at Largs 1974 from memory). My first Moth was a beautifully built boat but as they got lighter and wider, it became obsolete. It had a spruce mast which probably ended up on a bonfire somewhere. I think those cleats are maybe for a cunningham eye control(downhaul) or loose foot control. I can't remember exactly what controls we had back then.

Yours looks like a skiff type, which although has been all the rage in the last 20 years, it was certainly rare in Australia 40 years ago. I don't think they started to appear until the mid-late 70's and didn't really catch on until later. They were nearly all scows in those days,the only skiff moths were in Eurpoe. :confused:

[bitingmidge]

Hey Gumby, have you seen the current batch??

10" beam and foils!!

Really look a bit special, and seem to be a bit tricky to keep upright, but when they go.......

Cheers,

P

[Gumby]

Yes BM , I have. In fact I have sailed against Jim French who built most of the good ones. They really are a handful. One of the scows I had was about 6ft wide with large timber wings. Then we went to aluminium wings and from that point the hulls started to get narrower each year. In fact a mate of mine won the world title many years ago. They were great boats, particularly in a blow where you could plane upwind! I wouldn't fancy one now though, I'd be swimming a lot

[STEPHEN MILLER]

Gumby
Your right got years mixed up it was built at Glenelg in the early seventies so is around 30 years old
Thanks for info looking at it they were probably for foot straps previous owner had foot straps tensioned with shock cord so looking at thats all they could be for

[Gumby]

That could be it. I can't see where they go on the photo but adjustable straps is definitely another possibility I'd forgotten. We didn't need them adjustable on the scow design but quite probable on a skiff.