N1483 My Little Margie

[National 12 Webmaster]

The life of N1483 My Little Margie. Design: Mark 4A, designed by: Ian Proctor in 1955

[Ian Purkis]

In 2007, I recovered"My Little Margie" from a garden in Easingwold, North Yorkshire where she'd laid from approximately 25 years. The owner had recently died and his widow just wanted the boat gone. The boat looked in dreadful condition and initially it was thought only to salvage a few fittings. However she'd been sitting on the remains of a trailer with bailers open and an intact cover resting on the decks. The wooden mast had been lying in the flowerbed next to the boat and when we tried to pick it up, it broke under its own weight, completely rotten. Getting her home, Margaret started rubbing a small area of the planks with sandpaper and some rather good timber started to appear. I then had a restoration project on my hands! I soon realised she was a Chippendale built N12 and the detail woodwork was of high quality using best materials. Rather than strip her back to bare hull, I decided to retain as much of the original as possible retaining the stern deck and structure, despite it being arguably unnecessary weight.

Decks off and the foredeck beams replaced, things started looking up. Many hours of rubbing down the hull and almost all of it was still sound. New Robbins "Elite" ply decks carefully nailed to the original spacing maintained her authenticity.