Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender)

[stranded]

Due to complete on a cottage in Lympstone on the Exe Estuary in a month. Feet from the foreshore and has a decent sized boatstore. Although it will be our main/only home, we will probably only use it for a month or three each winter for the first few years as we will be sailing in bluer waters for a bit. But I would like when there to have a sailing dinghy which I can potter around on, go shopping up to Topsham, maybe a spot of fishing. So looking for stable more than fast. A nice shape so it doesn't spoil the view when kept on a mooring! Good rower. Wood would be lovely - I don't mind a bit of varnishing - but a good plastic design perhaps more practical. Oh yes, and cheap! I know even less about dinghies than big boats, so grateful for any thoughts on likely candidates.

 

[sarabande]

How long should it be ?

I have one in a shed, and could let you have some pics in a couple of days.

I am just north of Tverton so not too far.


Tim

 

[stranded]

How long should it be ?

I have one in a shed, and could let you have some pics in a couple of days.

I am just north of Tverton so not too far.


Tim

I don't really know Tim - short enough for me, long enough to take say four of us on a jaunt up to do the Topsham 10 (now nine sadly, I believe), and stable enough to drift back down to Lympstone on the tide afterwards! Oh, and I should have stated explicitly, sailing. Some pics of yours if it fits the above bill would be good.

Mark

 

[Kukri]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

Due to complete on a cottage in Lympstone on the Exe Estuary in a month. Feet from the foreshore and has a decent sized boatstore. Although it will be our main/only home, we will probably only use it for a month or three each winter for the first few years as we will be sailing in bluer waters for a bit. But I would like when there to have a sailing dinghy which I can potter around on, go shopping up to Topsham, maybe a spot of fishing. So looking for stable more than fast. A nice shape so it doesn't spoil the view when kept on a mooring! Good rower. Wood would be lovely - I don't mind a bit of varnishing - but a good plastic design perhaps more practical. Oh yes, and cheap! I know even less about dinghies than big boats, so grateful for any thoughts on likely candidates.

I would look for a Yachting World Dayboat.

Clinker, 3/4 decked, Bermuda rigged 14 footer, very stable and docile, can be kept on a mooring, takes an outboard and can be rowed. The 3/4 decked part is important if you want to keep her on a mooring as a cover over the cockpit is easy to rig and remove and save a lot of bailing but an open boat on a mooring in our climate is another matter... don't ask me how I know this...

Anything over 14ft becomes really hard work to row...same comment applies...

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

With or without Outboard?
Anything big enough for four would be big enough to carry an OB, so having to row it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[PeterWright]

Hi Stef

What you need is Family Fourteen, a Bermudan rigged clinker 14 footer of mahogany on oak frames with mahogany faced marine ply decks and spruce spars. A galvanised steel centreplate keeps her stable. The spiritual home of these Ipswich built boats is Overy Staithe Sailing Club, in Norfolk:

www.overystaithesc.org.uk

Where they sail FFS and their smaller sisters, Twinkle 10s and Twinkle 12s.

You did say you're not scared of a bit of varnishing!

 

[Daydream believer]

Personally i think that if you are leaving it for periods at a time you should step well back from wooden boats & the varnishing. Nice to look at when all tarted up but miserable when left for a while.
If you want room for 4 & still sail plus carry an outboard it then 14 ft is a bit short especially if it has a deck etc.
An open boat has to be kept dry so a self bailing cockpit would be best & that saves all the covering up . If you are not there & the cover blows off the whole lot soon gets dilapidated.It also becomes a magnet for thieves & the outboard has to be considered. Perhaps a smaller second hand Drascomb might be better, although I do not know the models available or cost

 

[wombat88]

Or think about a Tideway. Available both in grp and wood. All spars fit within the boat. Only 12ft but seems bigger when you are in it. Not too heavy when ashore (which is an important consideration).

Well built and very safe.

http://www.tidewaydinghy.org/

They do race Devon Yawls around your way which I think are 14ft(?). They are also very safe, solid and good fun but might be a tad pricey

 

[lw395]

A boat that carries four beer drinkers is probably going to be heavy for one person to manhandle?
And coming ashore on a tidal river generally involves some manhandling?
Or would you be able to get a running mooring or something?

Personally I would advocate something with good performance under sail. Devon Yawl is an option. Wayfarer except they just look like, well wayfarers really,...
Osprey?

 

[stranded]

Or think about a Tideway. Available both in grp and wood. All spars fit within the boat. Only 12ft but seems bigger when you are in it. Not too heavy when ashore (which is an important consideration).

Well built and very safe.

http://www.tidewaydinghy.org/

They do race Devon Yawls around your way which I think are 14ft(?). They are also very safe, solid and good fun but might be a tad pricey

Thanks very much all the suggestions and advice. Perhaps the wooden option is something I should save until we are back from our travels and have the time both to maintain and fully enjoy it. I will certainly look into the Tideway and Devon yawl, and the Drascombes. Might pop to Overy when I'm in Blakeney for a few days in February as well - just for a look at this stage. I am more concerned about rowability than an outboard - I need the exercise! We will though probably leave the Torqueedo from the big boat at the house as that will be a less compelling proposition when we are off grid, and should hopefully be rig able on most dinghies, one way or another.

Mark

 

[Ruffles]

Are you dragging it up a slipway? If so a straight keel with a steel keel band is a must.

Of course if it's 14' you won't be dragging it anywhere!

 

[JumbleDuck]

If the OP has a mooring available, I'd suggest getting a bigboat. Smallness is good if you have to launch and recover regularly but bigness wins in almost all other ways. I acquired a Drascombe Longboat this year, which I keep on a swinging mooring for the same sort of pottering, and it's fantastic for the job. Absolutely fine to sail on my own, plenty of room for friends, fine just to relax on with a book and some snacks.

OK, 22' is perhaps a bit overkill, but there are plenty of Luggers around and an older but sound GRP one should be possible for under £5k. Curiously the same sort of prices apply to Longboats - I think the greater length and weight may deter people.

 

[Romeo]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

...... so having to row it shouldn't be an issue.

Except that the OP says he wants a boat to row!

The qualities of an enjoyable rowing boat are of course different from a good sailing boat. A rowing boat wants to be as long as practical, and as narrow on the waterline as practical, which makes for an unstable sailing boat.

I used to have a Lune Pilot 14, which was quite heavy, and does not sail to windward well, but is good for transporting four, and is ok to row for a couple of miles if you have the time and inclination. Currently I have plastic double ender which is more of a pleasure to row, but a bit less stable to move about in, and although longer than the Lune can only really take three when under sail. Four when rowing would be ok, by hard work. I enjoyed rowing her ten miles on the last Sunday of October, when there was no wind whatsoever:

Drascombe lugger is a pig to row, drascome dabber is a bit better. Something along the lines of an oughtred ness yole will be by a long way better to row, but is possibly a bit on the big side for you, and of course is likely to be made of ply.

 

[Romeo]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

Have a flick through this blog:

http://rowingforpleasure.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/blog-post.html

The chap that writes it, Chris, has many rowing boats over the years. His most recent one is I think a Cygnus 15, which might actually be the very dab for you now I come to think of it, as she rows nicely and has a sailing rig on her.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

Forget rowing ... just get an old Drascombe with an outboard ... paint it if it's a bit shoddy.

 

[Romeo]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

Forget rowing ......

Well, I suppose you can always combine a one horse inboard with a pair of oars.

 

[stranded]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

Forget rowing ... just get an old Drascombe with an outboard ... paint it if it's a bit shoddy.

I want to row! My muscles are turning to jelly, and I can't abide gyms or other 'for the sake of it' exercise. Maybe I need two boats - one to row for transport then a lightweight flyer of a sailing dinghy to be silly on.
Having only had an inflatable tender I had no idea of the weight of bigger solid dinghies - I'd thought maybe a 200lbs, not 1,000 a la Devon Yawl! So yes, I had been thinking I could just drag it up the slipway and the 30 yards or so to the boat store - clearly not. I that as a Lympstone resident I will be entitled to lay a mooring, but I would want to bring whatever I get ashore when I am away.

Lots of food for thought here - 'specially like the look of that double ender Romeo, although the setting does no harm!

 

[jac]

Hi Stef

What you need is Family Fourteen, a Bermudan rigged clinker 14 footer of mahogany on oak frames with mahogany faced marine ply decks and spruce spars. A galvanised steel centreplate keeps her stable. The spiritual home of these Ipswich built boats is Overy Staithe Sailing Club, in Norfolk:

www.overystaithesc.org.uk

Where they sail FFS and their smaller sisters, Twinkle 10s and Twinkle 12s.

You did say you're not scared of a bit of varnishing!

Thanks for that.

Spent a happy hour reminiscing over overy staithe from that website and the cuttings. I pretty much learned to sail there in various dinghies in the late 1970s. My dad kept a Hurley Felicity there for a couple of years and my uncle took an Iroquois there several times. I well remember the Twinkle 12s.

 

[wombat88]

Tideways come both 12 and 14ft.

14ft often seems unnecessarily expensive though commodious. Older 12ft grp boats not so bad and good to row but four big people would be crowded.

 

[lw395]

Re: Practical and pretty dinghy (not tender) and

I want to row! My muscles are turning to jelly, and I can't abide gyms or other 'for the sake of it' exercise. Maybe I need two boats -....!

That's the spirit!