Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

As this section has "Pond Yachts" in its title, I take the liberty to post a few photos of my (astonishingly fast growing  ) collection of pond yachts - even though they are definitely not steam driven...

First a family photo of my Greiner yachts (Alexander Greiner, Steinach, Thüringen):

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From left to right:
Greiner Model 378 in the 32cm version (probably built in DDR/GDR times, around 1970). I restored it - when it lost its two yellow lines, which I regret, as they were the hallmark of the second largest version. Here a photo of its original state.

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IN the middle: Greiner Model 817, rare, 1933-1940, missing its jib, wooden keel with movable rudder (no tiller!). With a jury rig, because it looks so dismal with the mast down and the original rigging hanging limply overboard...

Greiner Model 252, 47 cm version, with the (G) hallmark, and the specific keel of the post 1960 production.

And a photo of my Scottish Ailsa yacht, in need of TLC:
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There is also the hull of a battered Bowman "Admiral" waiting for restoration in the basement...

Regards
Thomas

Hi Thomas,

It is getting to be a bit of a collection you are bound to get hooked!

Take care Tony.

Thank you - but hooked I am already, for sure...

Hello Arnold,

your Dragon is slightly bigger then my pond fleet

To fight my addiction I am about to go sailing today

This is a great collection! I'm glad I came across this post. I just came into possession of I think a 378 in need of some TLC... Any chance you would be willing to share some detailed pictures of the rigging so That I might get it fixed as accurately as possible. My grandmother-in-law gave it to me with the goal of getting it back onto the water with my daughter, niece, and nephew.  Thanks in advance! [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Well, Dross, here we are with the information I could scrape together:
I tend to agree (I choose my words carefully as I am not really that experienced...) that this is a pond yacht produced by Alexander Greiner, Steinach, Thuringia. The company was founded already in the 19th century and by 1925 this was a well-known producer of pond yachts and wooden toy boats, that exported their products to many countries, including Britain and the US.

This looks like a Model 378, it should be about 32cm long (but the length varies slightly). It is complete with all original fittings, just the boom for the jib is missing (but the brass clamp seems to be there - important, as it fixes the forestay. So, if you drew a small security pin and lifted the bowsprit from the clamp, you could fold away mast and rigging for your hike to the next pond...).

The broken mast and the booms can easily be replaced, the boom for the mainsail is fixed by a small wire hook to a ring at the mast. If I see this correctly, this small pin is still hanging from the ring...!! The red tip of the mast seems to have been a AG or AGE (Alexander Greiner Export) hallmark. But the real hallmark (a golden "G" on a red shield) is also visible on the bow, if I am not mistaken.

Rigging, well... A problem, as most of the surviving boats were re-rigged in their lives (perhaps several times) or show improvised jury-rigs.
In the photo of my 378 above showing the un-restored state, you see that the jib is directly attached to the boom and the mast and thus serves as the forestay, a simple solution that seems to be the original one. But I feel that the jib cannot be adjusted well, so I have rigged a real forestay. Please excuse the coarse red lines, I haven't found the time yet to replace them by more appropriate ones...
I see that your boat has still one of the original red "bowsies" (I love that word) attached to the port side shroud! Ingenious little things that help to tighten the rigging easily.

If you need practical advice for the restoration of such boats, I recommend
https://www.birkenheadstaryachts.co.uk
, especially the self-help section.
You will realize that Star Yachts and Greiner yachts bear some resemblance, I don't know, if Greiner perhaps produced hulls for Star of Birkenhead (Triang sold Kellner yachts from Leipzig und their own name...). Well, there were quite similar boats made by other East-German makers, e.g. Emil Bayern from Hämmern, Thuringia. And now I must stop before I get carried away...

I add a (bad) copy of a photo from "Deutsche Spielschiffe / Toy Boats of Germany", by Claude Bernard and Karl Greiner (!), catalogue edition, Weltbuch-Verlag 2021. C. Bernard seems to be the top expert in this field.
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You are welcome, Charlie.
Not steam related, but also highly addictive.
Let me introduce my latest acquisitions, if you don't mind:
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This is a rare Seifert "Sturmvogel", probably early 1950s. Well, there are many "Sturmvogel" boats hiding in German childrens' rooms, but most of them will be Seifert and later Günther boats with plastic hulls. This a very early edition with an all wooden hull, wooden keel and wooden rudder. The Seifert (Günther) hallmark, a seagull in flight, is still visible in the main-sail.

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And here another Greiner 252, a smaller version, with a very elegant keel, waiting for further restoration...