Picked this up for $2.50 in a junk shop. It was pretty beat-up, there was no bowsprit, the one on there is a temporary one just to approximate what used to be there...maybe. Still, the overall workmanship and shaping of it appealed to me somehow. She does float, though I can't see how well she self-steers in my tiny backyard pool. One shot shows a little logo on the top of the mainsail, anybody know anything about this particular model, or have sugestions on how to restore and trim it?

It looks alot like a "Star" boat, except for the insignia on the mainsail.
Here's one now for sale on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Star-Yacht-Birke...QQcmdZViewItem

Holy Moley, I think that's it! That nice green one on Ebay is already bid up to $79 with 3 days to go! Mine's not nearly so well-preserved; the paint is chipped all along the rail, some of the brass is bent, bowsprit is gone. I think it could be restored to near-new condition though. Mine has no decals like the one in the Ebay pictures. I wonder if it's a foreign copy? if it is, the resemblance is remarkable! I'll try to get a close-up scan of the sail logo to put up here later today.

I just bought it because it looked pretty and sturdy, I was just going to fix it up and let my kids toss it in the park pond to watch it go where it wanted to. It has no rudder, but I imagine with the shape and aft proportions of of the keel, and the weather helm from the jibs, if you set the sails just right, it would tend to self-steer a tacking course or a jibing one. Anybody got a link to instructions for how to set up these kinds of free-sailers?

Close-up of the logo on my sail. Is this the real deal or a Chinese knockoff?

I'd be suspicious; I've never encountered that logo before.

Cheers,

Earl

I was put off responding earlier by gthe fact that I never conceived that Star yachts were ever exported.

Having got over that hisappredelusion, yes it is almost cerrtainly a Star. They were the universal good quality toy model yachts of my childhood. I, my brothers and friends had a fair number of them of different sizes. I look back through the mists of 45 years, but at the time they seemed to sail quite well. They certainly gave us a lot of fun.

If it is a copy, it looks like quite a good one. However, I would be very suspicious of the main. As far as I know all Stars for the UK market had a star emplem - I think withy the model number inside.

Hope this helps,

Angus

Lookingg at the onwe Bill found on e-bay, the rigging of that looks verry much as I rember. The jibs are sheetedc UP the srouds on bowsies.

Have fun. I'm not sure I can remember much more, but feel free to try me.

Thanks Angus, I just found a British website devoted to these boats and have inquiries pending there. I told them, if it turns out to be a cheap forgery, it's almost a relief, as I was just going to fix it up and hand it to the kids to play with in the local pond while I sail my Fairwind RC sailboat. If it turns out to be at all valuable, I'll be too afraid of losing it, or too preoccupied with selling it, to enjoy it:-)

Update: the experts at the British site concur it is a Chinese copy and not a True Birkenhead Star Yacht. It apparently is a Bosun Boats knockoff of the Star Yacht, and a fairly close copy, except for the sails and logo. As far as I can tell by testing in my kiddy pool, she handles pretty well even so. The site had downloadabl PDF's of the original sailign instrution sheet, so I can rig hr properly.

So I'll fix her up and let the kids free-sail her in the same trout pond where I do my RC sailing. We'll either use my RC sailboat to shepherd it back, or the old Popeil Pocket fisherman with a tennis ball covered in treble hooks. Prepare to repel borders, YAR!!! I'll also add a screw eye tot he top of the mast, and then we can use a long sturdy stick with a hook on the end to launch and recover her on the steep banks of the pond.

BTW,the lovely Brisitsh site is at:

http://www.vmyg.org.uk/pages/resourc..._boat/star.htm