Goodbye Paean - help me choose another boat

[PhillM]

So after 11 years of ownership and undertaking a massive refit with the extensive help of the forum (2010-2013 - thank you) and thousands of very happy miles, the time came to sell Paean. With a new promotion at work and new relationship, I now need a more capable and comfortable boat that would suit a couple taking extended cruises and perhaps an Atlantic circuit in a few years. I shall need to save up the pennies and expect it to take me a couple of years to have the sort of budget that I might need.

Meantime, I would like a small, cheap toy that I can take out solo around the Solent, Chichester Harbour and perhaps Poole. I am 55 and while relatively fit I do not want to end up in the water, so a racy dinghy is out of the question. However, I was wondering about some sort of camping dinghy. Add a little cover, blow up mattress, sleeping bag & camping stove and perhaps I could go on some fair weather adventures. Budget around £1k. I don't mind tatty but it has to be sea worthy. Suggestions?

 

[dom]

At that price range you might be best to just buy whatever you like the look of and feel you can live with?

You never know what might come up!

 

[TernVI]

I think the whole 'camping dinghy' thing is more theory than practice.
Any dinghy can tip you in, in Solent conditions.
I have sailed somewhere taking a tent in various dinghies, including 505, Laser, GP14 and Contender.
But there are very few places around the Solent you can just park a dinghy and kip on it.
There are many more possibilities if you go with a friend or three and you can carry the boats up the beach.
Beaching any dinghy, it's best to have a cheap old thing you're not precious about, but obviously it needs to be sound.

I suggest a Dart 15/Sprint 15. Tough, simple, covers some distance and has a camp bed built in.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Budget of 1K is the factor. I would say a Wayfarer but that is probably too expensive if you get a decent trailer with it. Look at the DCA website who avoid overcanvassed tippy dinghies in favour of cruising safely around the Solent and sleeping aboard. Wayfarers are a bit heavy on land too. I'd look at 13-14ft dinghies that have already got a reefing system. Ideally I would double your budget as I suspect the market might be active. Hope you find something.

 

[northwind]

Micro cupper, 18ft of fun, there is one for sale in havant at the moment for £795 Inc a trailer. (Now sold) Light displacement and small cabin.
Micro Cupper Class UK

 

[penfold]

Drascombe lugger, although the full rig might be a bit of a handful single-handed.

 

[dom]

Drascombe lugger, although the full rig might be a bit of a handful single-handed.

Yes, but £1,000?

 

[davidpbo]

If it wasn't for the tight budget I would have a look for a Hunter Mistral.

 

[steve yates]

So after 11 years of ownership and undertaking a massive refit with the extensive help of the forum (2010-2013 - thank you) and thousands of very happy miles, the time came to sell Paean. With a new promotion at work and new relationship, I now need a more capable and comfortable boat that would suit a couple taking extended cruises and perhaps an Atlantic circuit in a few years. I shall need to save up the pennies and expect it to take me a couple of years to have the sort of budget that I might need.

Meantime, I would like a small, cheap toy that I can take out solo around the Solent, Chichester Harbour and perhaps Poole. I am 55 and while relatively fit I do not want to end up in the water, so a racy dinghy is out of the question. However, I was wondering about some sort of camping dinghy. Add a little cover, blow up mattress, sleeping bag & camping stove and perhaps I could go on some fair weather adventures. Budget around £1k. I don't mind tatty but it has to be sea worthy. Suggestions?

I think youd be much better off with a small trailer sailer type which is like camping but far more confortable than actual camping, and wont capsize and tip you in. Every kind of dinghy is quite capable of going turtle in a heartbeat.

 

[Biggles Wader]

How about an old 20-24 footer like a Pandora or Achilles? Something a bit tatty should be available for next to nothing.

 

[penfold]

A Skipper or a Sea Wytch would also fit the bill, often see them or very similar boats for sale within the stated budget, or close enough for haggling.

How about an old 20-24 footer like a Pandora or Achilles? Something a bit tatty should be available for next to nothing.

 

[penfold]

Yes, but £1,000?

Hmm, probably not at the moment, but the market is a bit silly right now for anything functional.

 

[PhillM]

Thanks for the ideas. Re trailer sailer there are two issues, 1) the market is looking a little high atm and 2) I only have a small Ford KA atm which I share with my teenage son (hence it being a small and easy to insure car) so I really don’t have the pulling power for anything of size.

The budget constraint is to try to find a way to have some fun but while saving for a bigger boat. Worst case I’ll just crew for mates for a year or so. But having my own little toy is appealing. I’ve even considered getting a canoe and paddling from Newbury to Bristol. At least it’s being on the water and will keep me from getting bored in the summer.

 

[penfold]

All the cool kids are on paddleboards, even this fat old git has one.

 

[Bajansailor]

With a new promotion at work and new relationship, I now need a more capable and comfortable boat that would suit a couple taking extended cruises and perhaps an Atlantic circuit in a few years.

I am intrigued by this - what does your new other half now say about you absconding off in the meantime (until you get the bigger boat) by yourself on camping adventures?
Or have I completely misinterpreted what you said?

 

[PhillM]

I am intrigued by this - what does your new other half now say about you absconding off in the meantime (until you get the bigger boat) by yourself on camping adventures?
Or have I completely misinterpreted what you said?

I work in a University and she works for a 'normal' firm, so I have quite a lot more holiday then she does. She is fine with me being away from time to time. Since the new job, time is more constrained in the Autumn, Winter and Spring, which is when in the past I have done all the maintenance on my beloved wooden Paean. So, providing I keep my summer adventures cheap, and am around for our summer holidays, I'm able to abscond pretty much whenever I like.

 

[doug748]

I think It's not a case of the best dinghy but the best dinghy for the job, including cost. For those reasons, Penfold has a good shout with the Skipper 14. Light hull and compact rig for singlehanding on shore, unfashionable and you often see them for knock down prices.

Bet there some lurking in back gardens that could be got for well under 500 quid, with the trailer.

Things like Wayfarers are great but I recall six people trying to get a wooden one up a slipway once. Three are still wearing trusses, two have bad backs and one a prolapsed anus.

.

 

[Sandy]

I know of a nice Gib'sea 312 that is about to come on the market

 

[TernVI]

I think It's not a case of the best dinghy but the best dinghy for the job, including cost. For those reasons, Penfold has a good shout with the Skipper 14. Light hull and compact rig for singlehanding on shore, unfashionable and you often see them for knock down prices.

Bet there some lurking in back gardens that could be got for well under 500 quid, with the trailer.

Things like Wayfarers are great but I recall six people trying to get a wooden one up a slipway once. Three are still wearing trusses, two have bad backs and one a prolapsed anus.

.

The trouble with boats like the Skipper is that the rigs are crude and the sails very old by now.
When the wind pipes up you can't flatten the sails or control the rig.
Plus a lot of the parts were cheaply made, and 40 years on they will be weak.
For independent dinghy cruising, you need everything to be reliable.

It 's not a trivial problem. I think that's why many people theorise about it and very few actually do much dinghy cruising.
Plus the hassle of launching a dinghy and having somewhere to leave the car and trailer for the weekend is quite limiting in many places.

 

[Neeves]

At 55 you might enjoy a bit more comfort as an adventure turns into a SAS endurance exercise if you have to sail home to windward in a dinghy full of camping gear. I'd up the budget to something like a J24, Pandora, Impalla - and maybe that new person in your life might WANT to come with you occasionally. Assuming she is of a similar age to you - she might not fancy the bivouac tent on the beach. If she is part of the dream of the Atlantic crossing better she is introduced to the pleasures now.....

Good luck