Ideas for sailing dinghy suitable to leave on a mooring please

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Trevelyan

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Hi all,
I am pondering about buying a sailing dinghy to keep on a (tidal) mooring. I already have a Seal 22, so I'm not looking for a small yacht as already have that covered.

I would ideally like a dinghy that is nippy...and ideally could be sailed single handed on occasion... ideas please! So the household name is a wayfarer... are there quicker alternatives?

Cheers,
Trev
PS yes I am asking the impossible...
 
Something with a self-draining cockpit that won't fall over on its own.

Have a look at a RS K1. It's got a lifting keel, but would suit your needs well.

If that's too rich for you, then look at a Topper Topaz Mango. Rotomoulded in plastic, so pretty indestructable and unsinkable. Can be had for £1,000 - £1,500.
 
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A wayfarer is of course a sensible suggestion and many are left afloat all over the uk. They don't self drain rain water though so a cover may be useful (but an inconvenience). They are also quite big for sailing single handed, I've done it so it is certainly possible but the wanderer was created as it's baby sister for cruising singlehanded. There are fewer around though so priced reasonably high. I assume since you mention tidal that it will be a drying mooring, in which case it's worth thinking about the bottom, thin Grp dinghies are easy to damage if they land on the mooring tackle itself. I've not checked if the Harley dinghies self drain on a mooring but they look like they might, and being rotomolded will be less sensitive to the bottom type, and potentially won't need antifoling. It's difficult to know what you mean by faster than a wayfarer - if you are looking for something lively that you can sale singlehanded in most conditions I think you will struggle to find something stable enough to leave it on a mooring.

Obviously in terms of moored dinghies the drascombe types are the common Option but it sounds like you are looking for something rather different in terms of performance.
 
Certain versions of the Wayfarer are self draining- the MkII SD, the World, and the MkIV (which is the current version).

Just beware some people with a MkII (the most common one) with self drainers may mistakenly describe is as a MKIISD.

I used to keep my MkI on a mooring and it did capsize once when I couldn't get out for a couple of weeks.
 
No reason why any of the "old" dinghies which are similar to a wayfarer in shape would be any worse on a mooring...

So add Ent, GP14, even Mirror and Heron. But GP14 and Ent not quicker than a wayfarer based on PY, and smaller boats get slower.

I wouldn't want a wooden one on a mooring. I did sail a wooden mirror once from Plockton that was on a mooring.

As others have said you need to think about bailing - and if its not 110% self draining on the mooring you will want a cover to help.

If you are planning to cruise without safety cover, you'll want to think about righting a capsize yourself - Not sure how easy a Magno would be alone! (Club sailors who sail them almost always need rescue boat assistance) Certainly no easier than a wayfarer. Smaller the better basically.

Heron etc are quite hard to get back into once righted. The Topaz which someone suggested is very easy (climb in the back) but I'd doubt its stability on a mooring but not tried it.

I've sailed GP-14s, Wayfarers, Kestrels on moorings - all suffered from rain. You also need to think how you store sails etc.
 
Hi all,
Regarding wear and tear, the mooring has a sandy bottom and only dries on big springs (on small springs it has about half a metre of water), so drying out would be pretty rare.

I could get out to bail it out about once a week, but to be honest would rather not be worrying after a few days of heavy rain. Would rather not be messing with covers...

Cheers,
Trev
 
I'm afraid you are asking too much, especially if you don't plan on checking the boat very often; and ShinyShoe's comment about looking after the sails is highly relevant too - how are they going to be protected from U/V and weather if you don't like covers ?

Even dayboats like Kinsmen need covers and ideally a solar powered bilge pump - and by that stage you're in small yacht territory.

Nature wins every time, you have to suit her with your boat and hard work, in this case either getting a decently performing dinghy up and down a slip, or if that's not possible, converting to something with a lid...
 
Don't know the OP location but another solution is to see if any local sailing club boats are up for sale . Leaving aside the covers and draining issue it would seem a certain robustness is required with an ability to right easily and sail single handed . Have you thought of just having a topper laser flat deck plus simple rig and taking the sails home?
 
ShinyShoe said:
No reason why any of the "old" dinghies which are similar to a wayfarer in shape would be any worse on a mooring...

So add Ent, GP14, even Mirror and Heron. snipped.
Click to expand...

Too easy for an Enterprise to capsize unattended sails down in strong winds. Using them for a sailing school we sometimes left them moored over lunch breaks, jib down, boom and mainsail roughly tied down in cockpit. If a thunderstorm with gusty winds came through, they sometimes capsized. Gunter rigged boats might be better as masts shorter.
 
Trevelyan said:
Hi all,
I am pondering about buying a sailing dinghy to keep on a (tidal) mooring. I already have a Seal 22, so I'm not looking for a small yacht as already have that covered.

I would ideally like a dinghy that is nippy...and ideally could be sailed single handed on occasion... ideas please! So the household name is a wayfarer... are there quicker alternatives?

Cheers,
Trev
PS yes I am asking the impossible...
Click to expand...

Alternatively, you could trade in your Seal 22, and get something like a Hunter Europa, which feels like a big dinghy under sail :) The Europa model has a self draining cockpit which is one of the main differences from the earlier Hunter 19 model.
 
ashtead said:
Don't know the OP location but another solution is to see if any local sailing club boats are up for sale . Leaving aside the covers and draining issue it would seem a certain robustness is required with an ability to right easily and sail single handed . Have you thought of just having a topper laser flat deck plus simple rig and taking the sails home?
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I'd be gobsmacked if you can moor a topper or Laser 1 and it stay the right way up.

But they are also probably the worst choice of boat to take the sails home. They are sleeved sails - you need to have the mast down to put the sail on. Not practical on a mooring.

Laser and Topper foils also have a second hand market. So could go missing from the mooring. Once you are having to transport sails, boom, foils out to the moored boat I'm not sure the advantage of mooring is there anymore!

jwilson said:
Too easy for an Enterprise to capsize unattended sails down in strong winds. Using them for a sailing school we sometimes left them moored over lunch breaks, jib down, boom and mainsail roughly tied down in cockpit. If a thunderstorm with gusty winds came through, they sometimes capsized. Gunter rigged boats might be better as masts shorter.
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I'm surprised. But I haven't sailed an Ent. Our Kestrels had aluminium centreplates (not sure if that was normal fit) and never seemed to capsize, but neither did the GP's or Wayfarers. These were all on inland waters but moored all season so definitely had the worst of the weather thrown at them.

We did store sails ashore, so there was minimal windage.
 
Trop Cher said:
Alternatively, you could trade in your Seal 22, and get something like a Hunter Europa, which feels like a big dinghy under sail :) The Europa model has a self draining cockpit which is one of the main differences from the earlier Hunter 19 model.
Click to expand...

A good idea, the 19' Europa - or the 16' Hunter 490 ' are a joy to sail and won't capsize; the Hunter 19 has crossed the Atlantic ( see ' David Blagden - Willing Griffin ' ) and I've met people who've crossed wide bits of the English Channel in a 490.

The 490 has a lift keel, the Europa was available in triple keel form for drying moorings.

Both boats put more emphasis on sailing ability and seaworthiness before accomodation though, don't expect double aft cabins - they had a very good sailor's designer in Oliver lee !

Or just swap the Seal for one of his larger designs with the same handling qualities as the Hunters but more room...:)
 
+1 for the Hunter 19 or Europa.

For dinghies on moorings I'd suggest a Wayfarer, a Drascombe Scaffie, a Devon Yawl or an old National 18, although most of these are at the limit of single handed dinghy territory.

Seajet's comments about looking after your dinghy on it's mooring are very true. I used to work at a sailing school where the Wayfarer fleet lived on moorings from April to September. They usually stayed upright but the moorings were pretty sheltered.

I'd recommend you dry sail your dinghy: tie it down in the dinghy park and it'll always be there when you want to go sailing.
 
ShinyShoe said:
Smaller the better, basically.
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Shiny, my respect, because I've lately put into practice an idea you came up with...but I know that if I had to choose a smaller dinghy, I'd just give up dinghies. And if the OP wants to leave the boat on a mooring, the effort it represents ashore will be no great issue.

Trevelyan has posed an interesting question which few designers ever tried to answer. I've certainly read that the very heavy, stable mk2 Wayfarers at Bosham sea school decades ago, were regularly found capsized on their moorings, the morning after gales.

So the boat must be self-righting and must also take the ground; hence fin-keel dayboats are out (plus, they're NOT dinghies)...

...I wonder if the smartest suggestions yet are the Kestrel and Bosun, each with a fully-retracting but optional ballasted centreboard?
 
dancrane said:
Shiny, my respect, because I've lately put into practice an idea you came up with...
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Oh lordy! What have you done!

but I know that if I had to choose a smaller dinghy, I'd just give up dinghies. And if the OP wants to leave the boat on a mooring, the effort it represents ashore will be no great issue.
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I wasn't thinking smaller for ashore, I was thinking smaller for -re-righting - but yes if you can find a self righting boat that may not be an issue.
...I wonder if the smartest suggestions yet are the Kestrel and Bosun, each with a fully-retracting but optional ballasted centreboard?
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Having sent a fair amount of my younger years stood on a Kestrel Alloy Plate I can swear they are not self righting! Would you not need to do a lot of hacking to add a balasted plate?

I suspect finding a suitable mooring might make a big difference...
 
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