Laser from 1970....?

HelgeS

Member
I have got a laser hull for free. No number under the bow bugel. But number under the cockpit. It is glued with hard polyester. Not the red stuff from Irish production. The foam is 10mm closed cell. Amazing. I have cut it open, just to see that I have to close it again. Anyone have any idea of production? Is it an australian one ? History tells it to be from the seventies.
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No number under the bow bugel. But number under the cockpit.
The numbers written inside the hull are most likely related to the building process, not identification.
Anything on the transom? I see there's nothing between the rudder fittings, anything in the starboard corner?
I assume there are no stickers or plaques on the aft wall of the cockpit, and no sail exists.

Anyone have any idea of production? Is it an australian one ? History tells it to be from the seventies.
No data, no science... just speculation. The colour is weird, but that looks like it's been painted on. If so, what's the original colour underneath?
What are the fittings like (photos please!) - rudder fittings, grabrails, ratchet block, sheet cleats? (The cleats are some special model and could be a lead.)
Australian boats had the sail number on the transom on the centreline, as I believe did NZL and Brazilian boats.
Can you tell more about the "history"?

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I think the numbers are weights....66.5 + 55.5 = 119 lbs, which is about right for a Laser hull.

I know both the UK and Australian factories used to weigh the top and bottom halves of the hull and then put them to best achieve target hull weight. However, the Aussie hulls I have seen had the weights written in a different place.

Also, I believe the light green colour seen in the photo of the gunwhale cross section is more normal from the UK factory - not sure I ever saw one from Australia in that colour, but that doesn't mean they didn't produce them.

However,UK boats of that vintage would have had the number under the bow eye - so that is a mystery. Could you take a photo of the bow eye to see if perhaps it has been painted over?
 
I think the numbers are weights....66.5 + 55.5 = 119 lbs, which is about right for a Laser hull.
Wouldn't that be a bit light? But if those really are lbs instead of kg, then that itself should leave out a few possible builders. It's a bit messy though, as many Laser-building countries went metric around the same time when this boat was (presumably) built.
the light green colour seen in the photo of the gunwhale cross section
Good catch :D You can't unsee it anymore now... it's definitely a very "70ish" shade, at least from the European and North American builders. (I believe South Africans had that, too; not sure about the others.)

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Yes, possibly it would be a little light....but then with fittings, that might bring it up to around 126 lbs to130 lbs which I thought from memory was the target hull weight.

(Apologies for my absent minded typing in my previous post - it should of course have been 163.5 + 55.5 =119 )

I will try and have a look through my archives in the next few days for similar photos of hull weights..........
 
Bust days. But I am working om the subject. The. Mainsheet cleat opens both cams in union. They Are linked underneath. The rudder fittings at wider.
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Ok, the sheet cleats are a rare and ancient model! But as they were made by Holt Allen, they don't give much of a geographical clue. (Except the closer to England, the more likely.)

The stainless rudder fitting is another very 1970ish piece of equipment. Not sure if all builders changed to plastic at the same time, but assuming they did, then this boat wasn't built later than 1976. I didn't quite grasp how different their mounting patterns were before seeing that comparison picture, thanks for posting!

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Ok, Performance Sailcraft (England), 1972 to '76...
The sail number IS there between those two screwholes in the bow... under whatever that white stuff is :)

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Dig deeper :)
It's almost as if someone has intentionally covered the number... is the extra material hard or elastic?

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I think, looking at the spacing of the filling material, it seems as though the bow eye has been re-sited, and the new hole is over where the number was.

If that is the case, then you may never be able to recover the number.

However, based on the fact that my 48000 Laser (UK made by Performance Sailcraft) had black plastic rudder gudgeons, I would guess yours is a little older than that - probably a 74 to 76 .

She has cleaned up well though.

What are your plans for her?
 
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I ser that the bonding is the same as on the movie: Ian Bruce. Polyester/glass kombo. Not the red 3M glue that opens up.
 
Bow eye is moved, number is lost under hard epoxy.

That is a shame, but regardless of that good luck with the rest of the restoration - it is very interesting to see your photos and hopefully you will post more as your work progresses and then have lots of fun sailing her when she is finished.
 
Bow eye is moved, number is lost under hard epoxy.
Well, the aft screwhole probably goes right through the middle of the number, but otherwise it's still there. You want to get rid of most of that hard epoxy anyway. If that material is even slightly differently coloured than the underlying gelcoat, the (partial) number should show up at some point when you sand the area. It's embossed, not printed, after all. I'd be curious to see just the first couple of digits, to date the boat to a year or two!

What I'd do to that boat after that is whole another discussion. Do you have access to cheap but working rig and foils?

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Thought of having two hulls on different places and one rig, but suddenly I have 3hulls and 2rigs....
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And Even more to go...

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And more....
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The boat in the foreground is mine, a scampi 30. Working fine. For sale. In the background, the big project. 29' motorsailer.
 
Ok, so you have TWO working vintage Lasers already! Not going to comment on the rest of your personal fleet :confused: (Yes, I took a look at your blog!)

That makes it even clearer what I'd do with the boat that is the topic of this thread: keep the fittings and dispose of the rest. If it's not identifiable, it's essentially trash. If it included a usable rig & foils, it might make a passable recreational craft, but if not then not.

If you get a boat (or anything originally valuable really) for free, it means that the previous owners considered it worthless, quite literally... or even having a negative value. And more often than not they are absolutely right :(

What are the numbers of those other two? Is one the "racing" and the other the "training" boat? :D

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The two are from 79 and 1980. They both suffer from loose cockpit, no bonding. Do I have to open them, remove plywood and reglue. I will sell the beige (1980) and keep the unumbered for training. The green one will be for serious ILCA business.
 
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The backing plywood under the deck between keel and mast. One layer csm and wet plywood is not a winning team.

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There is a plywood backing plate under the deck which is very wet.
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Very messy bottom of maststep. Sombody tried to make a fix.
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Strange hole in the wall, bottom. Maststep plywood is wet. We see the thin green gelcoat outer layer. there is a small hole in it.
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Cut the maststep to try to make a fusion later with no hatch.
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