Merrimans hanks

Merrimans hanks

My friend Juha asked me some time ago over a glass of whisky onboard Anny von Hamburg if I could find these merrimans hanks somewhere on my travels and I was like merrimans what..? He went and dug out one for me as a sample and I thought this will be an easy thing to do and said, "sure, how many do you need?" He said he could use about 50 pieces as they get lost, break and wear out. 

Merrimans catalogue from 1928

The Merriman hank is a specialized piece of marine hardware used on traditional sailing vessels. Manufactured by the American Merriman Brothers company, founded in 1898 by two famous metallurgists who created yacht hardware through the mid-20th century. These are rugged, hanks typically made of cast bronze (brass doesn't last) and the originals have a trident hallmark.  Their production was moved to Hingham, Massachusetts and then became a corporate subsidiary in 1963. Officially they ceased all operations in 1967.

Merrimans ad from the 1927 Yachting magazine

(credit: archive.org)

Merriman hallmark

I've seen more of the piston hank on the market than the scissor hank Anny von Hamburg has and the forums have that the piston hank is more susceptible to be jammed by salt than the scissor hank. Why they are not anymore popular, I don't know, perhaps due to manufacturing cost. Almost impossible to find any info on them apart from two Danish shipchandlers that sell a brass variant for 100EUR/pc.

Herm. Sprenger scissor hank nr.: 3602508033

(credit: havhokeren.dk)

They're essential for maintaining sail shape, they keep the sail perfectly aligned with the forestay. This ensures the sail maintains its aerodynamic curve to catch the wind efficiently. They provide control, when the sail is lowered the hanks prevent the sail from blowing about or falling in the sea, sail furls directly on the deck. Then they enable fast sail change, traditional and racing vessels often change headsails to adapt to changing wind speeds. Hanks are designed to snap open and closed quickly, allowing a crew to swap a large sail for a smaller storm jib in a jiffy. They are used at regular intervals along the luff (leading edge) of a headsail (like a jib) to securely snap and clip the sail onto the boat's forestay wire.

Swedish 74mm piston hank

(credit: Ebay)

To begin with I looked through online outlets and came really nowhere. I did find some equivalent hanks on some German or Danish sail accessory websites but they were also extremely costly. Then I checked the Chinese websites but got nowhere there either. From time to time I scoured the internet for these but the closest I got was a used one on Ebay costing also an arm and a leg with a picture that did not promise much on the condition. 

Opened scissor hank

I then thought that maybe I could get it manufactured in SE Asia, all things are made there these days anyway. I first queried in the Philippines but got nowhere there, the replies I got were not at all promising and very vague so I decided against going in that merry-go-round risking getting substandard trinkets. Some time later I asked my Malaysian friend to ask his Chinese suppliers in Ipoh if they'd be able to manufacture these but the amount of 50 pieces seems to have been too small to elicit any interest.

Anny von Hamburg Merrimans hank, from bronze

I returned once again from SE Asia and was in Europe and made yet again another effort in UK and sent queries to all sailing ship accessory dealers I could find and also asked if these could be manufactured. I even involved a shipyard contact I had gotten and got reply from their resident rigging boffin that these hanks where in the German Toplicht and Hermann Sprenger catalogues for sale back in the early 2000's. I messaged them and all I got as reply was "ach ja, these we do not haf" and that was it. 

Stainless steel Merrimans hank

Well, I had a yet another thought and in May I started googling Far Eastern metal factories asking if they could manufacture these hanks. It was actually quite surprising how fast I got a positive reply and the process started from pictures to some additional measures and a demo video of the hank to getting the price quote. The only thing was that they did not work with bronze and offered to make them from stainless steel. 

Opened, stainless and bronze

Beggars can't be choosers, the benefit of bronze alloy is that it doesn't rust and is a soft metal so it doesn't break off easily under stress but looked like a difficult metal to get these days. Stainless steel also rusts very little and with some maintenance would probably last as long as bronze, they don't give you much notice though when they're about break so that is the only thing that one would have to live with. 

Back side, bronze and stainless

I had to pay extra for creating the 3-D model for the casting mould to measure and I confirmed the order in June and paid up. I was wondering why I hadn't tried out this option much earlier. In a week or so I had a detailed drawing of the hank in my mailbox. After studying it being the same dimensions we had agreed on, I approved and so the process went to the manufacturing phase. 

Front side, stainless and bronze

Then another few weeks went by and in July the hanks had been made, I got sent a picture and video of the hank. Looked like the perfect copy so I told the manufacturer to pop them in a box and send over. Then a week later they had arrived Finland, the rating from Capt Juha Pokka was that the reproduction was almost 1:1, the spring was a bit weak but he was able to sort that out himself and at same time it also resolved a couple of other points. All in all a pretty good result considering the supplier only worked based on pictures and some measures taken by us. Hope they will work out for Anny von Hamburg, time will tell...

New hanks installed on the sail!