Questions about this type of Enterprise

[Seajet]

Though I love the idea of cruising an Osprey and sleeping aboard under a boom tent - maybe with inflatable boat rollers under the chines as Dan mentioned, I've wondered about doing that overnight - I think the overall problem of the weight of the boat - even just first launch and final recovery - is a major snag.

It's certainly feasible and I look forward to hearing more from Dan when he gets his teeth into it.

However I can't help wondering if a boat like a modern Gull - or how about a Pacer, similar if a touch racier, very cheap now - or an Otter, great boats - and a tent onshore may be more realistic.

It's a real shame East Cowes Marina was developed, there used to be a large inlet for the visitors' section, with a large grass area for camping and barbecues, an excellent little cafe, laid on dog walks, it would have been perfect for dinghy cruising even if having to tie up and pay 11' at marina rates !

When I took my Osprey to Cowes - with a novice crew ( but very athletically fit surfer ) to Cowes we tied alongside a boat the crew knew, using buoyancy aids as fenders then crashed at a mutual friends' house, no messing about sleeping on self bailers.

In the morning we warmed our damp wetsuits in the laundromat, putting on a toasty warm wetsuit is the opposite of putting on yesterdays' wet one, which is probably against the Geneva Convention.

 

[lenten]

i don t sail so i can t give sailing dinghy advice but i have got a fat 15 foot outboard powered rowing boat that i use for boat camping ashore with tent----loaded with gear the all up weight is almost 500 kg---i can launch and retrieve single handed---i used to tow with a volkswagen golf estate----now with a nissan x trail---it takes a bit of practice but its not that difficult ----i wouldn t rule out a heavy dinghy

 

[Greenheart]

I agree. I haven't lately tried moving a Wayfarer (170kg) but I'm well used to moving the Osprey (150kg + trolley + anything else in the boat at the time).

I expect it's obvious, but make sure that the wheels are only slightly astern of the midway point, balance-wise. If it were necessary to lift a considerable weight before also applying forward force, the task would feel a lot more arduous.

I actually built a stone platform on one side of the spot where I park the boat, because the ground wasn't level, and I wanted a firm surface under the wheels...

...so having hauled the boat up the slipway, to and from the hose for a rinse-off, then perhaps 80 yards over rutted concrete, gravel and grass, then up another 30 yards of about 1-in-20, it's finally time to shunt the trolley wheels up a tilted paving slab onto the platform. In spite of that, and the fact that I don't relish any kind of sport, plus I'm lazy and a bit of a shrimp, I've always managed to haul the boat up, singlehanded. I think you just have to want to, enough.

Of course, my heart is set on a centreboard yacht which wouldn't need any hauling out, but my reasons are more to do with the easier experience afloat.

 

[Tink]

However I can't help wondering if a boat like a modern Gull - or how about a Pacer, similar if a touch racier, very cheap now - or an Otter, great boats - and a tent onshore may be more realistic.

The Gull is top of my list, the Pacer is on the long list. Thought I want lightness robustness is also key, the Pacer is light and single chine so big flat panels of GRP which where designed to be stiffer ply. At 59kg it seams light for its size. The Gull is a much heavier Kg per meter length and being triple chine has much more form stiffness.

 

[Seajet]

There used to be a small fleet of Pacers at my club, I've no personal experience with them but they seem a good moderate boat; I was only reminded of them when looking on E-Bay for a chum who needs sails for a Miracle he has come by - there are several Pacers going very cheap, of course one doesn't know the condition of hulls and sails.

I guess the low prices reflect the fact the Pacer, like the Miracle, never became a trendy dayglo type racing boat.

A friend had a very nice Otter he had completed himself - pretty minimal work I think like attaching the thwart - he used to singlehand her quite happily, I sailed her too and thought her a delight - there was also at least one Otter at Cobnor where I learned sailing with school chums, two moderately competent schoolboys in the Otter could easily beat 3-4 less able people in a Bosun - now THAT is a heavy boat ! I know the RN requirements in her design.

The Otter seems to be forgotten nowadays but she seemed a very good general purpose boat, I seem to remember my chums' had a two part mast which is always handy.

People dinghy cruising around Hayling and / or passing between Chichester and Langstone harbours often stop for a breather at our slip, as we're at the mainland end of the road bridge to Hayling, if they time it right they get a welcome in the club or there are two nice old pubs handy too.

I remember last year a couple of guys singlehanding cruising dinghies were there as I launched my tender, I had a chat with them - one was a Gull, the other a very similar boat but modern wood / epoxy construction I hadn't heard of before ( I've lost track of dinghy and cruiser classes compared to my boat spotter youth ) - the wooden boat looked very nice indeed, also I suspect pretty expensive - if someone ran some modern design names past me I'd probably remember it, as I say looked just the job but I doubt there are many around.

 

[Tink]

A very big thank you Seajet
The Otter is spot on the money.
- proper good looking seaboat aesthetically
- bit bigger than a Gull
- bit lighter than a Gull
- nice simple layout
- flat thwart and side benches all level, easy to create a sleeping platform, but looks plenty of room on the cockpit sole
- round bilge so stiff in GRP
- looks like a couple of bilge runners for drying out
- good value

I will be doing a lot more research on the Otter but looks great

 

[wombat88]

Excellent tough little boat the Otter. I have been in one and was impressed. Surprised that it is lighter than a Gull but then there are lots of different Gulls. There should be plenty of Otters around and they are not expensive.

Pacer...is lot no: 7 in the Chichester Harbour Auctions a Pacer?

http://www.conservancy.co.uk/assets/files/cms_item/215/d-Auction_Catalogue_2018-DjUMFAusoT.pdf

I wonder where Tink's base is likely to be? If around Chichester he could do worse than get himself onto the waiting list for a space in the dinghy park at Cobnor. Wide 'beach', water virtually all the time and...a powered winch.

 

[Seajet]

Wombat88,

you could well be right; a wooden one, I know they started as the ' Puffin Pacer ' - always guessed rightly or wrongly they dropped the ' Puffin ' when going to grp.

I know a good club Tink could consider too IF going to be based in Chichester Harbour.

 

[Greenheart]

It's a shame there are hardly any decent photographs of Otter dinghies. Many are conspicuously pre-digital photos, but I expect the boats don't show their age as badly as the pictures. High time the owner of a clean example posted a dozen photos taken in good light to show the layout and general proportions.

...he could do worse than get himself onto the waiting list for a space in the dinghy park at Cobnor. Wide 'beach', water virtually all the time and...a powered winch.

I hadn't thought about that for decades. In the mid 'eighties I lived at Chidham, so Cobnor would have been very convenient, but did it have a club or boat-park then? I kept my boat at Bosham, which was incredibly limiting tidally, though certainly pretty. The fact that I was almost invariably attempting to sail as far 'down river' as possible meant an extra mile on every trip, usually against the wind in a narrow channel, just to get to Cobnor. All good training I s'pose.

 

[wombat88]

otter422 by dralowid, on Flickr

Gunter is good.

When I gave up racing I gave up clubs too!

The point I was making about Cobnor (apart from the availability of water) is that the winch allows for a slightly heavier boat.

If I get back around low tide and there is no one around I have an extra length of rope to winch the boat up the beach to the ramp.

 

[Seajet]

The Otter we had at Cobnor Activity Centre - or whatever they called it in my school days, a wonderful facility -was old and battered even when I was a boy, but the fact it was used there says it was quite a sturdy boat; the main class used was Bosuns, which could ram straight through both sides of a modern warship without losing speed ( I might not have liked the mooring right opposite the slip / hard* in those days occupied by the gleaming Folkboat ' Aurora '.

Our Chief Instructor / schools liaison was the lovely, sadly late Jenny Boone; after the morning briefing she'd say " Right boys, I want you all on the hard in ten minutes " - cue much schoolboy sniggering, I thought she was naive and innocent but lately I'm told she probably knew exactly what she was saying, possibly for a weekly bet / joke.

We slept in the log cabin, eating aboard the hulked Thames barge ' Pride of Sheppey ', which disappeared some years ago.

I agree with Dan, I visit Bosham Channel in my Anderson 22 occasionally but really it's a case of staying on the boat, access ashore at low water is nigh on impossible - anyway it's bad manners and against local byelaws to leave an unattended boat on someones' mooring, even if it's obviously unused ( I picked a mooring up there one time which was corroded so thin I wouldn't trust it to hold a wristwatch let alone a boat ).

Decades later I kept my Carter 30 fin keeler nearby on a deep water mooring for one winter; the whole set-up at Cobnor was facilitated by Martin Beale, I think mayor of Bosham.

There was a tender park, but I had to knock cap in hand for permission and key to get my tender out, let's say I did not hit it off with Mr Beale who seemed rather rude, but then again he was ill, and he had done sailing schools around a wide area a huge favour.

That Otter was white with a mid / pale blue deck moulding, like a lot of boats of that generation.

My sailing mentor Charlies' much later brand new Otter was white with a peach coloured deck, she looked very smart indeed.

 

[wombat88]

These days there is the CYE, The Cobnor Activity Centre (RYA) and the Cobnor Estate dinghy park. Only the last has spaces for dinghies but there is a significant waiting list.

 

[Seajet]

Wombat88,

what is ' CYE ' ?

Our club holds annual ( maybe more ) overnight round the harbour dinghy cruises to Cobnor, camping ashore; cruisers are invited to tag along, partly to join in the fun, also as one can't have too many safety boats as it can become hairy near East Head for juniors if the weather doesn't comply - some cruisers may come armed with super-soakers...

 

[wombat88]

Christian Youth Enterprises. https://cye.org.uk/

It is a good spot and very central in the harbour. An easy sail to any number of watering holes for those who so desire.

An evening run up to the pub at Dell Quay arriving around HW can be very pleasant but if you get it wrong and the breeze dies on the return you can spend a lot of time trying to cover the last few hundred yards against the tide at the beginning of the Bosham channel.

 

[Seajet]

Thanks for letting me know wombat, not for me but nice to see anyone out on the water doing it the proper way.

 

[Tink]

We are moving to a village near Basingstoke, my wife has to commute to London to work. My daughter, mad mad keen Optimist sailor is 13 and so had to consider her. At my club up north we turn up on a Sunday morning and adults and kids all race together the whole day, win win, lots of sailing for everybody. I looked at most of the south coast clubs with Optimist fleets (including Itchenor) and they just didn’t replicate this model. Eventually I stumbled across Burghfield near Reading. They have a good Optimist fleet and sail the Optimists at the same time as the adults. I will keep racing my Streaker and when I get the cruising dinghy I can test it out in the comparative safety of Burghfield. Reefing afloat, capsize etc in heavy wind with rescue cover just seams prudent. Then hopefully I will get a few weekends away cruising with more as my daughter gets older.

 

[Tink]

Excellent tough little boat the Otter. I have been in one and was impressed. Surprised that it is lighter than a Gull but then there are lots of different Gulls. There should be plenty of Otters around and they are not expensive.

Pacer...is lot no: 7 in the Chichester Harbour Auctions a Pacer?

http://www.conservancy.co.uk/assets/files/cms_item/215/d-Auction_Catalogue_2018-DjUMFAusoT.pdf

I wonder where Tink's base is likely to be? If around Chichester he could do worse than get himself onto the waiting list for a space in the dinghy park at Cobnor. Wide 'beach', water virtually all the time and...a powered winch.

I got my weight from here which includes the original brochure
http://folk.ntnu.no/wells/Otter/index.html

All the Gulls are supposed to be the same weight I presume with the Otter designed for GRP it is a more efficient design.

Cobnor, is high on my list of places to visit.

 

[Tink]

Wombat88,

you could well be right; a wooden one, I know they started as the ' Puffin Pacer ' - always guessed rightly or wrongly they dropped the ' Puffin ' when going to grp.

I know a good club Tink could consider too IF going to be based in Chichester Harbour.

From good old Wikipedia ‘It was commissioned by Puffin Paints and Glues’ I therefore presume that as the GRP one wasn’t painted the Puffin was dropped.

 

[Tink]

otter422 by dralowid, on Flickr

Gunter is good.

When I gave up racing I gave up clubs too!

The point I was making about Cobnor (apart from the availability of water) is that the winch allows for a slightly heavier boat.

If I get back around low tide and there is no one around I have an extra length of rope to winch the boat up the beach to the ramp.

Thanks for the book picture. My one concern is the built in foam, I worry that overtime this must absorb water.

I would like Gunter, easy to tow with smaller spars, low weight aloft when camping.

Long term plan is to give up sailing clubs also

 

[Tink]

It's a shame there are hardly any decent photographs of Otter dinghies. Many are conspicuously pre-digital photos, but I expect the boats don't show their age as badly as the pictures. High time the owner of a clean example posted a dozen photos taken in good light to show the layout and general proportions.

Don’t think it will work but will try and use way back to look at expired gumtree adverts