A cruising FINN sailing dinghy

There was a guy at Draycote who had a cruising Finn, he'd basically converted it into a half-decker and put a Mirror rig on it. Looked OK and sailed it with the kids.

When I did the Mark Foy 18' skiff Trophy in 2009, one of the French teams on a bit of a budget basically set up tarpaulins on their 18, and slept with one under each rack and one on the hull. Fair play to them too. (Obviously the boat was ashore!)
 
I think the biggest problem cruising in a Finn is likely to be reefing it. With a traditional reef (i.e. reduce the sail by lowering the head and rolling up the excess at the bottom), the unstayed mast is probably going to bend the wrong way - i.e. making the sail very full in the middle.

Anyone tried it? May be it can be blocked at deck level to stop it moving aft and reducing the bend that way (although the standard set up only controls the movement forward and does not control the aft movement at all).

Could you roll the sail up around the mast (as the Lasers do)?
 
Iain C said:
The French team on a budget basically set up tarpaulins on their 18ft skiff, and slept one under each rack and one on the hull. Fair play to them too. (Obviously the boat was ashore!)
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Perhaps one of Mr Chapman's inflatable rollers could have been strapped below each rack, to give nocturnal stability? Then they could sleep afloat, on top of the racks...:rolleyes:

...I've considered strapping them below the Osprey's gunwales for additional stability when anchored. It only sounds odd because it's not common practice, but once the owner chooses to cruise, he can enjoy employing all the cruiser's relaxed ingenuity and individuality which most dinghy-class racing rules forbid.
 
I've often thought about inflatable tubes / rollers strapped beside a monohull cruising dinghy, of course it would be multiple pains, inflating, deflating, rigging, stowing - but worth considering as dual role, stability and handling on the slip / beach.

Re cruising Finns, don't they have low booms and sticky uppy protruding centreboards violating one's camping airspace ?

I can think of about 100 good boats I'd sooner choose to cruise.
 
Seajet said:
I've often thought about inflatable tubes / rollers strapped beside a monohull cruising dinghy, of course it would be multiple pains, inflating, deflating, rigging, stowing - but worth considering as dual role, stability and handling on the slip / beach.

Re cruising Finns, don't they have low booms and sticky uppy protruding centreboards violating one's camping airspace ?

I can think of about 100 good boats I'd sooner choose to cruise.
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The inflatable rollers could also be used as buoyancy bags. Or even stowed partially inflated inside a buoyancy tank.

Remember those? I had those in an Enterprise before built in buoyancy tanks were invented.
 
Seajet said:
I can think of about 100 good boats I'd sooner choose to cruise.
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Yeah, okay. Not ultimately ideal, although there are likewise a great many dinghies whose cockpit space looks much less ideal for snoozing in. What about the Mirror, with its short little cockpit recess, requiring cruisers (of whom there are several) to place planks at seat-level? The Finn ought to allow the singlehander a fairly comfortable floor space...

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...probably necessary to unhook the toe-straps from the thwart, and lie with a foot either side of the centreboard. :rolleyes:
 
michaelchapman,

my first dinghy was a Caricraft 10, which had a triangular buoyancy bag in the bows and tubular ones under each side thwart.

This introduced me aged 8 to the importance of checks, when the forward bag split on capsize, if it wasn't for Hayling Island SC's rescue boat I'd still be there.

Then again I later shared a dodgy old International 14 with a chum, we thought we'd better do a capsize test so were intrigued by all the bubbles from the rigid ' buoyancy ' tanks as the bloody thing sank under us...

I don't think there's any magic answer to handling a cruising dinghy on a beach, even if one had fold-down wheels there would still be the weight problem.

I wonder if a land anchor - ( real plough anchor or spike ? ) to drive in up the beach, or a long line to something on shore, and a jockey winch or similar might be an idea ?

Trouble is, one can carry all sorts of ' might come in handy ' kit, and one ends up with - a yacht !
 
One of the older Finns, with a more open interior would offer more stowage and perhaps more room for sleeping ...

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One of my old boats as it happens.:encouragement:

An older one than this might be better still.
 
michaelchapman said:
I think the biggest problem cruising in a Finn is likely to be reefing it...Could you roll the sail up around the mast (as the Lasers do)?
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Or...might an unreefed Laser sail fit, well enough for cruising purposes? The full Laser sail is only about 70% of the Finn's...and how about a girlie Radial sail or 4.7 for high winds? (I'll now run for cover from abuse of racing Finn sailors... :rolleyes:)

The idea of the Finn's low boom would certainly represent a pain to me - especially for busy coastal cruising where there's often plenty to keep an eye on to leeward...

...a while back I read of Contender and Flying Dutchman crews cutting a narrow triangular slab out of the foot of their mainsails so the seriously raked mast didn't bring the boom too low. Obviously that's not in keeping with racing requirements but it might improve a cruising Finn helm's comfort & convenience.
 
Where are you going to keep all these spare mainsails?
How are you going to change from one to the other at sea?
 
Yeah, it would have to be a matter of choosing one for the day and leave the others rolled-up somewhere. No good at all during changeable weather.

I have a foredeck locker where I could leave roughly-folded sails, though I'd much rather not treat them that way.

I suppose an OK-class sail is 20% the size of the Finn's, if one can foresee breezy weather and store the original sail. Mr Chapman's rolling-round-the-mast idea sounds a better bet, if a length of foam could take up the foot's bagginess?
 
The Finn does not have a loose footed main like the Laser. I think it would be tricky to say the least trying to reef by wrapping the sail around the mast while afloat And then feeding the foot back into the boom. I doubt that a loose footed main would work on a Finn.
 
Kermit said:
The Finn does not have a loose footed main like the Laser. I think it would be tricky to say the least trying to reef by wrapping the sail around the mast while afloat And then feeding the foot back into the boom. I doubt that a loose footed main would work on a Finn.
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Good point. Also the boom looks to be excrutiatingly low.
 
Perhaps I ought to comment, as one who's actually cruised in a Finn! The answer to reduced sail area is to get an old Ok sail, and yes it can be changed at sea, I've done it out off the Maplin sands. The boat is well balanced, the sail sets reasonably well and sails a lot more comfortably than keeping full sail up in strong winds.
You can sleep on a mooring or ashore, I've slept under the cover afloat and in a tent ashore, both work well. There's plenty of room to carry all your gear, a cover and a tent so that both options are available.
As for pulling the boat ashore boat rollers work well, plastic gutters are also an option that should work but not one I've tried.
There's plenty of room under the boom when sailing, the boom goes up when you let the mainsheet out and the cockpit is deep. If the booms as low as non sailors of Finns think then I wonder what they think all those big blokes do!
 
PeterV said:
The answer to reduced sail area is to get an old OK sail, and yes it can be changed at sea, I've done it...The boat is well balanced, the sail sets reasonably well and sails a lot more comfortably than keeping full sail up in strong winds...You can sleep on a mooring or ashore, I've slept under the cover afloat...There's plenty of room to carry all your gear...
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I feel justified! :encouragement:
 
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