Camping Dinghies

[Sandgrounder]

For reasons too complicated and tedious to go into I am pondering taking up dinghy camping. By which I mean sleeping on board an open or half decked boat, not camping ashore. I have never been too keen on the Drascombe range so for me the two prime candidates seem to be the Crabber 17 or the Dockrell 17.

The reports I have read seem to focus on their appearance and how beautifully they are made rather than on practicalities such as how they sail and their capacity to accommodate gear in a dry state and so on. Has any one here any experience of them, or other similar boats (if there are any others) that will help to choose.

 

[Seajet]

One very important factor is how much the thing weighs, to pull up slippery slipways on a trolley - how will you operate the boat, if keeping on a mooring you would have almost all the hassle of a cruiser without the advantages.

 

[TQA]

Wealth of info here http://www.dinghycruising.org.uk/

 

[Sandgrounder]

Clearly with either of the boats I've identified, which weigh 1000 to 1200lbs, I would need to launch and recover using a car. A mooring may be the answer because the boat would still be a whole lot simpler than even a modest keel boat. Good point though

 

[SimonD]

What you need is a North Quay 17. Details here: http://www.northquaymarine.co.uk/Dayboats.html

As it just so happens, mine will be on the market soon. She comes with berth cushions, sprayhood and camping tent to cover the whole cockpit area. She even has a porta potti in a compartment under the forward berths. Apart from being a lovely looking boat (and that's not just my biased opinion) she is easy to trail and launch - cedar strip construction means the trailer weight is only about 500kg.

 

[DownWest]

Friend here built a 15ft gaff cutter from Wisstocks designs. Couple of years ago he started camp cruising ( and writes up his trips for the Dinghy Cruising Ass.) Used a full tent over the cockpit and enjoyed some trips. After looking at another of Wisstock's designs, he built a cabin to avoid the hassle of damp kit and flapping canvas. The idea of a snug (if small) dry area to retire to was too attractive.
I will dig up the designs.

The original boat http://www.whisstock.com/popup.php?pop_id=home_055
And the 6" longer one he used as inspiration. To avoid complication, he stopped the cabin behind the mast, but had the leg room under the fordeck. It is tight, but enough for two. http://www.whisstock.com/popup.php?pop_id=2.06.1

 

[Lakesailor]

I know a bloke who was selling a 20ft half-decker...

 

[ProDave]

Clearly with either of the boats I've identified, which weigh 1000 to 1200lbs, I would need to launch and recover using a car. A mooring may be the answer because the boat would still be a whole lot simpler than even a modest keel boat. Good point though

If you have such a heavy boat, and need to keep it on a mooring, I just can't understand why you would not want a small cruiser.

I have comfy seats / beds, a dry cabin, a porta potti, and even a place to put a camping stove.

Why limit yourself to "roughing it"?

Plenty of small 17-20ft cruisers that will do that job.

 

[Fittster]

Get an Astus 20.2 trimaran. The come in at 400Kgs and are going to be a hell of a lot quicker than anything else in this thread.

Quite fancy getting one myself but I'd prefer to hear the feedback from a guinea pig first!

 

[DownWest]

Get an Astus 20.2 trimaran. The come in at 400Kgs and are going to be a hell of a lot quicker than anything else in this thread.

Quite fancy getting one myself but I'd prefer to hear the feedback from a guinea pig first!

A trimaran?? This is not about speed, more quality of life....

I can understand your need for a guinea pig.

Someone here camp cruised an inflatable small catamaran around the Baltic Isles. Had fun.

 

[Sandgrounder]

***

I know a bloke who was selling a 20ft half-decker...
Well indeed Lakey; or should I say Mr Noddy car? Things change and anyway that one drew too much. I had had it for 13 years

 

[Sandgrounder]

Well indeed Lakey, or should I call you Team Noddy principal? Things change and that one drew too much anyway. I did have it for 13 years.

I know a bloke who was selling a 20ft half-decker...

 

[Sandgrounder]

I don't like the feeling of confinement in small cabins. If I didn't mind that I'd have a Shrimper or similar.

If you have such a heavy boat, and need to keep it on a mooring, I just can't understand why you would not want a small cruiser.

I have comfy seats / beds, a dry cabin, a porta potti, and even a place to put a camping stove.

Why limit yourself to "roughing it"?

Plenty of small 17-20ft cruisers that will do that job.

 

[Sandgrounder]

Sounds good

Friend here built a 15ft gaff cutter from Wisstocks designs. Couple of years ago he started camp cruising ( and writes up his trips for the Dinghy Cruising Ass.) Used a full tent over the cockpit and enjoyed some trips. After looking at another of Wisstock's designs, he built a cabin to avoid the hassle of damp kit and flapping canvas. The idea of a snug (if small) dry area to retire to was too attractive.
I will dig up the designs.

The original boat http://www.whisstock.com/popup.php?pop_id=home_055
And the 6" longer one he used as inspiration. To avoid complication, he stopped the cabin behind the mast, but had the leg room under the fordeck. It is tight, but enough for two. http://www.whisstock.com/popup.php?pop_id=2.06.1

 

[Sandgrounder]

As intimated in the OP I want to know how they perform. This looks lovely but how does it work as a machine to sail and as a machine to camp in?

What you need is a North Quay 17. Details here: http://www.northquaymarine.co.uk/Dayboats.html

As it just so happens, mine will be on the market soon. She comes with berth cushions, sprayhood and camping tent to cover the whole cockpit area. She even has a porta potti in a compartment under the forward berths. Apart from being a lovely looking boat (and that's not just my biased opinion) she is easy to trail and launch - cedar strip construction means the trailer weight is only about 500kg.

 

[dancrane]

For reasons too complicated and tedious to go into I am pondering taking up dinghy camping.

Pardon my nosiness, but I'd be interested to know what led you to dinghy-cruising. For me, the prospect is a far more interesting and exciting mode of use than dinghy racing, and an affordable opening into cruising, where ambition seems to be the only limit.

Certainly I'd keep a yacht afloat if I could afford it; but I found that even the humblest (in fair condition) are costlier to buy and to store than an old dinghy of similar proportions, and mini-cruisers' performance is typically so uninspiring that I was happier compromising comfort and enjoying the sprightly character and ease of moving a dinghy ashore.

The fact that I'm still barely afloat relates only to the run-down condition my boat was in, and my sloth in working on her.

Biggish dinghies like Wayfarers have plenty of stowage if one is prepared to minimise kit and accept the tenting approach; perhaps an even bigger, lighter boat like mine may prove to be disastrously unsuitable for sedate cruising...I know I'll be acutely restricted by weather, but I reckon there'll be lots of fun in the eccentricity of cruising in a classic racer.

But...I'd think most of the lightweight-appeal of cruising in a dinghy, and its ease of mobility ashore, is at risk if the boat is almost as heavy as similar-sized ballasted cruisers.

 

[diapason]

Wayfarer or Wanderer seems an excellent option. Frank and Margaret Dye dinghy cruised all over the world in theirs.

 

[Sandgrounder]

Pardon my nosiness, but I'd be interested to know what led you to dinghy-cruising. For me, the prospect is a far more interesting and exciting mode of use than dinghy racing, and an affordable opening into cruising, where ambition seems to be the only limit.

Certainly I'd keep a yacht afloat if I could afford it; but I found that even the humblest (in fair condition) are costlier to buy and to store than an old dinghy of similar proportions, and mini-cruisers' performance is typically so uninspiring that I was happier compromising comfort and enjoying the sprightly character and ease of moving a dinghy ashore.

The fact that I'm still barely afloat relates only to the run-down condition my boat was in, and my sloth in working on her.

Biggish dinghies like Wayfarers have plenty of stowage if one is prepared to minimise kit and accept the tenting approach; perhaps an even bigger, lighter boat like mine may prove to be disastrously unsuitable for sedate cruising...I know I'll be acutely restricted by weather, but I reckon there'll be lots of fun in the eccentricity of cruising in a classic racer.

But...I'd think most of the lightweight-appeal of cruising in a dinghy, and its ease of mobility ashore, is at risk if the boat is almost as heavy as similar-sized ballasted cruisers.

Dan,

I have a history as a frustrated dinghy cruiser: -
In my late teens I tried cruising a Heron because that was what was available but it was uncomfortable even for a teenager. Then I reverted to racing Fireballs, 505s and Larks as well as a little big boat cruising. All the time dreaming of cruising an old Dragon - never happened!
Then I had a Liverpool Bay Falcon, an 18Ft racer a bit like a big, very heavy, 505 but without a trapeze. Never got around to camping but sailed it extensively over 4 or 5 years. I never found the extra weight to be a problem.
Next was a horrible unbalanced little 16 footer called an American 16. Pottered but never camped
Then I had the keelboat Lakey was referring to which I had for 13 years and sailed on Windermere. I spent a couple of nights aboard but never in comfort. It would have been better had I been able to sleep below the foredeck but I found it too claustrophobic. This has gone to another forumite so we'll see how he gets on.

I have a 27 footer on Windermere and frankly I am beginning to think there is too much to do which prevents you sailing a bigger boat. The extra care and maintenance eytc might be worth it were I passagemaking, even very short passages, at sea but on a 10 mile lake I am not convinced. So the obvious answer seems to be a purpose built cruising dinghy which would be reasonably comfortable. Maybe I should move the bigger boat to the sea but boat transport is very pricey.
Does this answer your question?

 

[mrming]

If you were to go down the mooring route, the dayboat version of the Hawk 20 has a good reputation, big cockpit and draws just 9" with the plate up.

 

[Lakesailor]

I have a 27 footer on Windermere and frankly I am beginning to think there is too much to do which prevents you sailing a bigger boat.

I tend to agree. I have not had a boat bigger than 20 ft. Once you get onto inboards, toilets, electrics, gas etc it all becomes a second home.
Apart from the fact I find smaller boats start my back going ouch, ouch I would love a Norfolk Gypsy, Winklebrig or a Post Boat. (price permitting).