Camping Dinghies

Well I toyed around with the idea of a dinghy for cruising, but eventually plumped for a Jeanneau Sun 2000, which has dinghy like running costs (mooring £380 a year including secure tender storage), insurance the same as a dinghy and it sails like a big dinghy. Just a hell of a lot more practical, comfortable and less hassle because you can leave stuff on it - don't need to bring all you camping stuff along every time.

How do I know? Because I also bought the dinghy I was considering for cruising - an Albacore. Everytime I think of doing a trip in the Albacore and plan everything I must take etc, I end up realising it is much easier to just take the Jeanneau out from it's mooring. I now generally race the Albacore on Wednesday evenings....
 
Sandgrounder said:
... for me the two prime candidates seem to be the Crabber 17 ...
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A friend of mine had a Crabber 17 for a while, and kept her on a swinging mooring in St Just, near Falmouth, for a couple of years, camping on board when he used her. I believe it all worked pretty well. They have quite a clever system of berths under the foredeck and a zip-on back to the sprayhood which gives a surprisingly big "cabin" for the size of boat. I only sailed with him in it once, on Ullswater, where it seemed perfectly adequate ... that's not damning with fair praise, just that I didn't really get enough time in it for a detailed reaction.

Overall, though, if I was looking for a boat in that general size range, and didn't already have a Hunter 490, the Crabber 17 would be very high on my list. The only downside is the stupidly high prices they fetch. You can get at least two Drascombe Longboat Cruisers (I know they are not your taste) for the cost of a CC17.
 
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DownWest said:
Someone here camp cruised an inflatable small catamaran around the Baltic Isles. Had fun.
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Er, that would be me..... and Milady. Around the Scottish Inner Isles, Lofotens, and around Corsica, too.


CatapultIsland-2.jpg



"Read all about it!" http://www.bluemoment.com/swedencruise.html and http://www.catapultcats.com/index.for.cruise.html
 
Sandgrounder said:
...Does this answer your question?
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Yup. Sounds like you already know all the ups and downs of dinghies versus heavier/bigger boats.

Not sure what to suggest, if your cruising-range is limited by...beaches on all sides! Maybe use the 27-footer to sleep aboard, and a foiling Moth as an exciting tender? ;)

That Shilling is a very pretty boat, but scarcely a dinghy with the cabin roof. The half-tonne displacement isn't dinghy-like either. Great for the lake though, I'm sure.

Anybody read the May Yachting Monthly article about the chap with a nice old wooden 17-footer, over near Maldon? Cosy little cabin, but no way could she be called a dinghy.
 
Lakesailor said:
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.
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Yes - but a second home which you can take to France or the Channel Islands or Cornwall.

If you can't do those things (or an alternative for other parts of the country, like the Netherlands or the Scottish islands) then you may have a point. I can't imagine why anyone would keep a yacht on a lake.

Pete
 
Do you mean the legendary Shoal Waters formerly owned by Charles Stock? If so then a wonderful boat although I would have preferred it in its open form as a Fairy Falcon. It has been too much reading of Charles Stock and others, combined with my concerns about large boats on lakes, which has caused me to consider dinghy cruising once again. I hope I can do it better this time than in the previous attempts!
 
prv said:
Yes - but a second home which you can take to France or the Channel Islands or Cornwall.

If you can't do those things (or an alternative for other parts of the country, like the Netherlands or the Scottish islands) then you may have a point. I can't imagine why anyone would keep a yacht on a lake.

Pete
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Pete,

I can understand your puzzlement but when I put a boat on Windermere it was a 19 footer with a 4ft keel. Had I put it on the Mersey there would have been few opportunities when the tine would let me sail. It would have taken 1 1/2 hours from my office to the boat.
Whereas on Windermere, also 1 1/2 hours drive I can sail whenever I please. I bought the larger boat there because it is where I sail and have friends but as you will see I am beginning to question the decision. The other side of it is that decent sea sailing is at least 4 hours drive away and that would seriously curtail my opportunities to get out in the boat.
 
Sandgrounder said:
JD, thanks for this it is exactly the sort of information I was looking for and confirms what I had thought. Probably the right boat for me but agree about silly prices.
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My pleasure. Could I suggest you look at the Hunter 490? The cabin is small, but roomier than sleeping under a foredeck and with perspex washboards I don't find it at all claustrophobic although I am a large person The cockpit is a good size, performance is excellent and the handling is delightful - Oliver Lee knew what he was doing. It sails like a big dinghy, basically, but with a lifting plate-and-bulb keel which keeps things at a generally civilised angle. Pickable-up from £1k - £2k.

hunter490.jpg
 
Sandgrounder said:
Pete,

I can understand your puzzlement but when I put a boat on Windermere it was a 19 footer with a 4ft keel. Had I put it on the Mersey there would have been few opportunities when the tine would let me sail. It would have taken 1 1/2 hours from my office to the boat.
Whereas on Windermere, also 1 1/2 hours drive I can sail whenever I please. I bought the larger boat there because it is where I sail and have friends but as you will see I am beginning to question the decision. The other side of it is that decent sea sailing is at least 4 hours drive away and that would seriously curtail my opportunities to get out in the boat.
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It takes me 1.25 hours to get to my small cruiser on the South Coast, then the time in the tender and rigging the boat etc; never been a snag in 36 years except nowadays I have to think about petrol costs, going through the mental checklist, thinking ' Christ I hope I haven't left anything behind when I get halfway ! '
 
Sandgrounder said:
Do you mean the legendary Shoal Waters formerly owned by Charles Stock? ...caused me to consider dinghy cruising once again. I hope I can do it better this time than in previous attempts!
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That's the boat. I hadn't realised she was legendary. Deservedly though. The 'minimum boat' idea is very appealing when it allows a degree of comfort/shelter on board a vessel that's smaller overall than quite a few flighty open racing boats. Like mine. :(

On the other hand, what these little yachts offer, comes at quite a price in terms of weight...they really can't be hauled up a beach without the trailer being ready on the spot.

I don't wish to be divisive, but these very pleasant little cruisers definitely aren't dinghies. My plans include boom tent and a probably-damp sleeping bag...that's dinghy cruising!
 
JumbleDuck said:
My pleasure. Could I suggest you look at the Hunter 490? The cabin is small, but roomier than sleeping under a foredeck and with perspex washboards I don't find it at all claustrophobic although I am a large person The cockpit is a good size, performance is excellent and the handling is delightful - Oliver Lee knew what he was doing. It sails like a big dinghy, basically, but with a lifting plate-and-bulb keel which keeps things at a generally civilised angle. Pickable-up from £1k - £2k.

hunter490.jpg
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I'd second that, once met a chap who'd perectly happily sailed a Hunter 490 from SW England to Guernsey then carried on to explore Brittany.

The Hunter 19 and Europa are also well worth a look.
 
Seajet said:
It takes me 1.25 hours to get to my small cruiser on the South Coast, then the time in the tender and rigging the boat etc; never been a snag in 36 years except nowadays I have to think about petrol costs, going through the mental checklist, thinking ' Christ I hope I haven't left anything behind when I get halfway ! '
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Seajet, I think you misunderstand me; I think 1.5 hrs travel (in the car) is fine. 4+ Hrs however, is getting a bit much for regular (bi-weekly) sailing.
 
JumbleDuck said:
My pleasure. Could I suggest you look at the Hunter 490? The cabin is small, but roomier than sleeping under a foredeck and with perspex washboards I don't find it at all claustrophobic although I am a large person The cockpit is a good size, performance is excellent and the handling is delightful - Oliver Lee knew what he was doing. It sails like a big dinghy, basically, but with a lifting plate-and-bulb keel which keeps things at a generally civilised angle. Pickable-up from £1k - £2k.

hunter490.jpg
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Now that sounds interesting to a long time admirer of Oliver Lee; I shall have to have a look.
 
I have sailed a 14.5 foot Lune Pilot and a 17 Foot Lune Whammel, which must be alternatives for you to consider. No centreboard, which frees up quite a bit of space, and the price you pay in draft is not that big. Windward performance is of course woeful compared to many other designs, but probably no worse than Drascombes, and in other respects a much easier boat to love. Of course windward performance is only really a problem if you are sailing in company... otherwise you just relax and sail to the limitations of your boat, wind direction and weather. Too heavy to haul up a beach single handed, but then so are all the other boats you are thinking about.
 
For a well thought out boat in the class that you are looking at you should also consider the Bay Raider 17. Never sailed one but they always seem to get good reviews. Has the advantage of being self draining and using water ballast which reduces weight when ashore: http://www.swallowboats.com/bayraider-17
 
Lakesailor said:
The "open" Shilling...has a boom tent.
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I saw that the option was available...though for his purpose, isn't the 'lidded' Shilling most suitable? Isn't small size the appeal of designs that have been called dinghies, here?

Self-righting and at over half a tonne, she's a day-boat if she needs a tent for overnighting, a cruiser if she has a lid. Enviably pretty but not a dinghy, however uncomfortable!
 
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