Carbon fantastic

Steve Neal proves he can get even more carbon into a Merlin Rocket than you ever thought possible

Things had just settled down in the Merlin class after the techno overkill of Glen Truswell and Tim Holden's ultimate mast and rig control boat, After Hours. It seemed that with the introduction of the new 'Easy Roller' boat from the Jenkins/Driver team at the beginning of the 2001 season and the continuing success of the Guy Winder boats, the class was moving to a period of consolidation.

Not so - Steve Neil has produced a new Merlin Rocket that has once again moved the goal posts. The design and hull are from Laurie Smart and is close to his proven 'Make It So' design. The only wood in the boat is the transom, centreboard case and planking - all the rest is carbon.

Steve has been much involved in the latest, cutting-edge A-Rater production and decided that he needed a boat to prove a patent on, and where better than the Merlin Rocket - a development class and a nice crowd to boot.

The forward section of the boat is developed purely from his new theory. Steve has never tried this before on any boats but came up with the idea when thinking about the laminate schedule for Hywel Porkins' carbon A-Rater. He thought that he had hit upon something big and so submitted his Patent application.

Steve hopes that if this works, then he will work at establishing it in standard yacht architecture (and planes, racing cars).

In brief, the Patent describes how Steve is using individual toes of carbon instead of a woven or stitched matt form, laying each individual fibre in the orientation to applied loads and dispersing them into the hull.


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