[1] The CS 36 Merlin is a small recreational keelboat, built predominantly of vacuum bag moulded fibreglass or Kevlar with a balsa wood core above the waterline.

It has a masthead sloop rig, an internally-mounted spade-type rudder and a fixed fin keel.

[1][6] The boat is fitted with a Swedish Volvo Penta diesel engine of 25 hp (19 kW) as standard equipment.

[1] The boat was available with a long list of options, including a Kevlar or fibreglass hull, a swim platform or conventional transom; a 25 hp (19 kW), 28 hp (21 kW) diesel engine or a 43 hp (32 kW) turbocharged engine, a tall mast or regular mast and by the time production ended in 1990 there were four keel configurations: shoal, wing, deep and performance bulb.

As a result of the long options list, no two boats outside the charter fleets were built in the same configuration.