Classic GRP replica info wanted

[jmp]

Can anyone inform me if there are any GRP classic replica pilot cutter/smack type yachts 25 to 30 ft,with lifting plate/keel.I am aware of the cornish crabber range,,but I am trying to find lighter displacement equivalents, which may be towable.

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[Mirelle]

I fear the answer is "no", and I hope that I can show why this is so.

A 25-30ft boat is a very big boat to tow, and the Cornish Crabbers range are already light displacement boats.

Cornish Crabbers produced the Shrimper as a trailer sailer type replica gaffer; it is smaller than the Crabber or the Yawl.

The Norfolk Oyster is another nice boat but quite a bit heavier.

The practicalities of towing, launching and recovering such a big boat are not simple! Furthermore, the towing width restriction affects the shape of the hull adversely, once we get past say 25 ft, making the boat too narrow and therefore unable to sail very well without a lot of ballast, which is impossible if we want light weight for towing.

The gaff rig is not, and cannot be, suitable for very light displacement boats, because the gear is necessarily fairly heavy, which means that a certain amount of stability is needed to overcome this top weight before we get sailing in the first place.

On the whole, I think that the Cornish Crabbers range fits the bill about as well as any you are likely to find, and if you want a bigger boat you will have to forget about trailer sailing.

However, there is a positive side to all this, and that is that a centreboard boat of the type you are looking for can sit easily on a drying mooring, and such moorings are not expensive at all, in most places. If you can consider this as an alternative to towing, there are quite a few suitable boats because you can go rather heavier (which, in a gaffer, as I hope I have shown, always means better sailing performance).

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