Help me find a sailing dinghy

[kacecar]

A small keel boat on a decent launching trailer would seem to be the best compromise. Someone has already suggested the Squib and the Flying Fifteen. I'd add the Yeoman as another possible contender or, if you can find one, a Kinsman (a Yeoman with a lifting keel). The Yeoman/Kinsman was originally conceived as a boat for the Norfolk Broads but I know there were several fleets in Scotland back in the Eighties and Nineties. Cheap ones (probably requiring some work) can be found. Quite heavy, so would need a motorised vehicle or winch to get it in and out of the water. They are trailerable too.

 

[mjcoon]

A small keel boat on a decent launching trailer would seem to be the best compromise. Someone has already suggested the Squib and the Flying Fifteen. I'd add the Yeoman as another possible contender or, if you can find one, a Kinsman (a Yeoman with a lifting keel). The Yeoman/Kinsman was originally conceived as a boat for the Norfolk Broads but I know there were several fleets in Scotland back in the Eighties and Nineties. Cheap ones (probably requiring some work) can be found. Quite heavy, so would need a motorised vehicle or winch to get it in and out of the water. They are trailerable too.

As a Broads sailing novice I noted that mention and looked up the class: yeomankinsman.org.uk

 

[Greenheart]

If it really would be occasional use only, I think the earlier post that suggested a Walker Bay (10ft, not the 8) may be smart. Not a thrilling sail but versatile, robust during long seasons unattended, maintenance-free and no great effort to launch, row, sail or motor. The boom seems to rise quite high at the stern, which may help. The sailing version needs the inflatable 'sponsons' added...

...hmm. Complicated, and quite costly.

I hadn't realised there's the option to keep a boat afloat, close at hand. Assuming the mooring isn't drying, or blasted by gales and rough water, and that the cost is moderate, this may be the happiest solution...

...one can enjoy the sight of one's boat afloat (and check on her visually, anytime), and when a sail is tempting, it is only an inflatable ride away. The less bother it is, the more use we make of it. A keelboat (or anything heavy) kept ashore on a trailer will discourage the rare anticipated use.

I still think a modified Mirror wins, for pure ease and value. Even a tatty one can easily be made solid and ready for sea (and kept that way, under a good cover). If use is genuinely going to be very infrequent, paying more doesn't make sense.

 

[SaltIre]

They might be expensive and not very common second hand, but would a Hansa work for you for pootling? Single handed, used in para sailing and with a heavy removable centreboard - unsinkable and very hard to capsize.
The 1060 has twin rudders, so it might be possible to rig a small outboard between them.

Liberty S, single person performance craft that anyone can sail

Here's Rory McKinna, who races his 303 all over the place based at the CCC Dinghy Section at Bardowie.

 

[Wing Mark]

Sailing single handed, the biggest issue is launching and coming ashore.
Unless you will always use a slipway with a nice pontoon you can tie up to while you deal with the trolley, you either need help or a boat you don't worry about scratching on the beach.
Racing, we help one another.
Going out on my own, I don't mind dumping a £500 laser on the beach, it's scratched already.
A lot of boats won't even sit on a beach, or lie tidily alongside a pontoon.
Many won't even sit on a mooring reliably if the conditions are at all awkward.
The older, heavier boats are more compliant when empty, but harder to haul up the slip or beach.
The Laser is not ideal, because you can't drop the main.
But I can't think what other boat would be so seaworthy yet easy to drag up a beach when e.g. I've sailed across to the Isle of Wight.

It's not a trivial problem IMHO.

 

[SaltIre]

A Laser seems unsuitable - he can no longer crawl under a boom...

 

[SaltIre]

Wanderer- like a Wayfarer but easier to handle ashore.

One here - but at the other end of the country...
WANDERER SAILING DINGHY + GALVANISED COMBINATION ROAD TRAILER LAUNCHING TROLLEY | eBay

 

[Wing Mark]

A Laser seems unsuitable - he can no longer crawl under a boom...

Didn't think a Laser would suit the OP, but unless he's tying himself to convenient shoreside facilities, I'm not sure what will.
A Wanderer or similar is a good solution, if you can moor it while you park and retrieve the trolley.
Most of the places I've sailed, that a real issue!
It will sit on a beach if there's no significant waves, and if you can get one with a trolley and trailer for a grand, then a few scratches from the beach should not upset anyone too much.
ISTR they are simple solid GRP on the floor, nuthin' fancy like foam or balsa sandwich?

Typically, the one you find is 'quite a long way' from Scotland where the OP is!
Possibly because that's where they were made and to some extent marketed, ISTR there often used to be a shiny new one outside a certain chandler's in Portsmouth?

 

[westernman]

Sounds like a small keel boat left on the mooring would be a better bet.

Anything big enough to be stable enough is not going to be practical for single handed launching and recovery.
You cannot really keep a dinghy on a mooring. There will be a storm strong enough where it will fall over.

Of course you could go bigger with something like a Beneteau First 24 SE which is a real screamer when you want it to be (you can of course heavily reef it down to something manageable in almost all weather).

An all up weight of less than 1 ton (don't try launching single handed), so readily towable.

 

[dunedin]

Sounds like a small keel boat left on the mooring would be a better bet.

Anything big enough to be stable enough is not going to be practical for single handed launching and recovery.
You cannot really keep a dinghy on a mooring. There will be a storm strong enough where it will fall over.

Of course you could go bigger with something like a Beneteau First 24 SE which is a real screamer when you want it to be (you can of course heavily reef it down to something manageable in almost all weather).

An all up weight of less than 1 ton (don't try launching single handed), so readily towable.

A Squib just posted for sale, at Royal Tay Yacht Club shed in Dundee Sailing Dinghies for sale, Squib Sailing Dinghies, used boats, new boat sales. Free photo ads - Apollo Duck

Sails nicely, like all Oliver Lee designs, but very stable and used to staying on a mooring

 

[westernman]

A Squib just posted for sale, at Royal Tay Yacht Club shed in Dundee Sailing Dinghies for sale, Squib Sailing Dinghies, used boats, new boat sales. Free photo ads - Apollo Duck

Sails nicely, like all Oliver Lee designs, but very stable and used to staying on a mooring

But it won't plane.

 

[dunedin]

Or a Flying Fifteen at Strathclyde Loch …. GBR 2819

 

[dunedin]

But it won't plane.

I am sure Quandary also has his Musto Skiff on order

 

[scottie]

As I understand it you just want to be on the water without the problems of launching or mooring and don’t really fancy getting wet
I believe that there is a canal nearby so on certain days there are boats travelling that may be short of crew and might appreciate your company

 

[Quandary]

A Laser seems unsuitable - he can no longer crawl under a boom...

That is not exactly the case though I do it now with considerably less alacrity, the Laser is unsuitable because of the need for fast reaction, I want something that will tolerate a bit of delay occasionally. I am still fit enough to take young yachties through the canal here several times every week , opening and closing 44 lock gates and sluices in 4 hours and contributing £1k every year to Mary's Meals. I just fancy a bit of a sail every now and again when I am not doing that. I had no trouble single handing our S31 this summer and making decent passage times though I admit the engine was used more than usual, not because f too much wind but too little.

 

[SaltIre]

That is not exactly the case though I do it now with considerably less alacrity, the Laser is unsuitable because of the need for fast reaction, I want something that will tolerate a bit of delay occasionally. I am still fit enough to take young yachties through the canal here several times every week , opening and closing 44 lock gates and sluices in 4 hours and contributing £1k every year to Mary's Meals. I just fancy a bit of a sail every now and again when I am not doing that. I had no trouble single handing our S31 this summer and making decent passage times though I admit the engine was used more than usual, not because f too much wind but too little.

Apologies. I read it in your #1 to which many have responded!

In the distant past I have sailed Mirrors but can no longer crawl under the boom

 

[Greenheart]

Hmm, I've been confused by the circumstances too.

I've found that very little boats which are appealingly easy to move on shore, tend to be disagreeably brisk in their response to any gusts. I'm thinking of my friend's Europe (11ft). An Osprey may be technically too big for me, but it doesn't take me by surprise the way Lasers and little singlehanders do.

My own experience singlehanding a boat that is overpowered if it blows above Force 3, has taught me to recognise when it's a good day to launch (rarely).

Such days usually coincide with clear visibility, and warm sunshine which I interpret as preferred by Quandary, re. shorts and T-shirts...

...and in those light conditions, within reason it doesn't matter much what dinghy you sail, it will be manageable. Being able to sail a design that you really like, rather than one whose tameness made it just 'sensible', ensures you enjoy it.

So since the brief was a boat for very occasional sailing, I'd say decide what is the maximum weight you can drag unaided up the slipway, then find an old-fashioned, no-longer-competitive, (i.e. cheap) lightweight race boat, because you'll never want to go out when it's too lively, anyway.

On the days you don't launch, you can tinker with adding rowlock-sockets and outboard bracket, dry picnic-locker, ground tackle, or whatever else broadens the boat's usefulness to you.

It is worth sewing one deep reef into the mainsail and rigging the lines to control it, not so you can launch when probably you shouldn't, but just so you can't be caught out.

 

[SaltIre]

If the OP can crawl under the boom, I suggest a Mirror.

 

[Quandary]

Apologies
I am an octagenarian with a knee replacement, obviously I was more mobile and physically stronger 20 years ago. I can do most things but with some pain or discomfort if it involves kneeling or bending quickly, I was hoping to find a solution that avoided that but would put up with it if I gained the pleasure of a wee breeze and the sound of the water chuckle as the boat slipped along, as for the concern that I might drown myself in Loch Fyne I think I would prefer that to a couple of years with dementia.

 

[oldbloke]

Definitive answer (?), bigger than a mirror, smaller than a 2000, lighter than a wanderer, stable, roomy, row-able, outboard-able, sails well enough to satisfy, available and sellable......
Comet Duo or Versa