Camping Dinghies

dancrane said:
I didn't know till today, that Drascombes are still being built.....
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by two different companies. Churchhouse Bats have rights to the designs and the name, so they make "Drascombe Luggers" and so on while Honnor Marine now only have rights to the designs, so they make "Devon Luggers" and so on. While a Drascombe Lugger is £13,975, a Devon Lugger is only £11,495 ... I can't see much difference in the basic specs, but may have missed something.

I'd love a Drascombe (or Devon!) for playing around the Solway. Dammit, those five grand longboat cruisers are tempting.
 
JumbleDuck said:
by two different companies. Churchhouse Bats have rights to the designs and the name, so they make "Drascombe Luggers" and so on while Honnor Marine now only have rights to the designs, so they make "Devon Luggers" and so on. While a Drascombe Lugger is £13,975, a Devon Lugger is only £11,495 ... I can't see much difference in the basic specs, but may have missed something.

I'd love a Drascombe (or Devon!) for playing around the Solway. Dammit, those five grand longboat cruisers are tempting.
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Whereabouts on the Solway do you play in boats?
 
dancrane said:
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.
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Dan,

There are 3 or 4 pages about Shoal Waters in this month's (?July) PBO. It's an article by Tony Swift (the owner) about why he likes minimum boating.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Not at all at the moment, though I live 15 minutes from the Galloway coast. I used to have a fin keeled Westerly at Kirkcudbright - probably the worst possible boat for the area. Nowadays I play on Loch Ken (fresh water) and the Clyde.
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I had friends who kept a boat at Kipford and I kept a dinghy, and a House in Garlieston (on Wigtown Bay) for a few years. As for the Clyde, I chartered a few times from Rhu. If I could have a boat there I would, like a shot.......maybe in a year or two.
 
Although the OP will probably not be interested in this one but another vote for the Jeanneau Sun 2000. Here in Portugal, there is one on the next berth. We (five of us) take her out a couple of times a week.

Sails like a witch, very simple, huge cockpit, huge interior (four full size berths), no holes in the hull, plenty of storage, easy to rig, cheap to berth but also takes the ground, no inboard - just a 4hp Yamaha which has never failed him; and trailerable.

OK, not aesthetically awesome but.....

Cost £14k (with extras) new eight years ago. Probably worth more today as they are out of production.

The owner is an ocean sailor - and a retired accountant. Nuff said!
 
Sandgrounder said:
I had friends who kept a boat at Kipford and I kept a dinghy, and a House in Garlieston (on Wigtown Bay) for a few years. As for the Clyde, I chartered a few times from Rhu. If I could have a boat there I would, like a shot.......maybe in a year or two.
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Friends of mine live at Garlieston. Their sons have just saved up pocket money and bought a tatty but serviceable old Optimist to use in the bay there. Although the Clyde is busy (stop groaning, you Solent sailors) it's still a great place for shorter trips, and the wild hairy stuff is only a day going through the canal or round the mull away.

This year's cruise starts six weeks today!
 
OK I'll chuck my tuppence worth in.

We dinghy cruised with our GP14 for nearly 10 years, we didn't sleep on board, we camped ashore, although we knew people who did. Probably too small for what you want to do but an excellent seaworthy boat very solidly built. We looked at moving up to a larger open boat when the kids came along, although in the end we decided to buy a small cruiser as a decent Leisure 23 secondhand was the same price as a new GP14... However we did spend a lot of time considering something in the 16-18ft range that would do the sort of thing you're thinking of. If I recall the list we looked at was:

- Devon Dayboat/Yawl (with/without cuddy): a friend had one in Newton Ferrers and we sailed her a few times, nice, solid and faster than Drascombes :)
- Wayfarer (already mentioned)
- YW Dayboat (steel plate but maybe a bit too small)
- Nimrod
- Cornish Coble
- Falmouth Bass Boat
- Leisure 17 and 20 (which eventually led us to the 23SL which we bought)

Of the the open boats I really fell in love with the Coble and Bass Boat. I think the Coble is gorgeous, and the loose-footed main is great with kids. They made about 400 I think, they're no longer in production but they come up second hand occasionally. They do still offer a cockpit tent for the Coble. The Bass boat is also lovely, tons of room, lots of storage and very solid.

Of the newer boats the Laser 16 might be worth checking out too although I've never sailed one. Can't beat the Coble and her ilk in the looks department though.

Cheers

Neil
 
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