RNSA 14 information/register

[HolgerD]

We am picking up an RNSA 14 Dinghy this coming Tuesday and I have spent the last couple of days trying to research these things to little avail. The information on the internet seems to be the same old regurgitated stuff and I am not even convinced some of it is accurate.

So are there any RNSA 14 owners here and is there a boat register or definitive source of information on them? I have ordered a copy of 'Small Boat Conversion' By Lewis as it covers the 14 foot Naval Dinghy however any other information will be gratefully received.

David

 

[wombat88]

Check with the CVRDA, they have an active facebook page. I'm sure the RNSA14 has been discussed in the past.

 

[Kukri]

I think that RNSA 14s are now rare. Because they were once very numerous, they were seldom cared for - “just a clinker gunter dinghy”.

But they are a racing one design class built to the National 14 rule; the construction is quite light and they are planked in elm, which is not very durable.

Designed in 1936, by the very distinguished combination of CE Nicholson and Uffa Fox. In the early sixties they were commonly used as club learner dinghies - I learned in them - and they were replaced in the Navy and in the Sea Cadets by the GRP Bosun which is heavy and unbreakable, but the RNSA 14 is neither of those things. People just assumed they were unbreakable until they broke, but their original purpose was to be carried aboard RN warships to provide competitive sailing in port. They survived into the era of plywood dinghies and got rough treatment because they were seen as rather like clinker tenders, but they are much more delicate.

 

[tidclacy]

I think there is one at the Black water sailing club in Essex . They may be able to help

 

[Redwing228]

Our local mooring officer at one of the inlets on the Haven here in Pembrokeshire has one in almost permanent layup. She's been fitted with a bermudan rig.

 

[HolgerD]

Thanks all, I cannot get my forum membership to go through on the CVRDA and nobody has picked up my question on the Facebook page so anything on this post is useful. I will collect her tomorrow.

 

[Motor_Sailor]

We bought an RNSA 14 from the navy in a local disposal sale in 1964. They were almost given away and many became small workboats / tenders for fishing boats and treated as a cheap, disposable item. We put the rig from a Swordfish on ours and had it for quite a few years until it fell apart.

 

[Kukri]

An RNSA 14 is a really nice boat to sail. She won’t plane - she isn’t meant to - but she does handle very nicely. They were not intended to be kept afloat and indeed they should not be - they belong under a good cover on a trolley. They will make water when launched and you will need a sponge and a bailer - just as my Uffa Fox built 1939 International Fourteen does - they were never expected to be bone dry - that came in with the hot moulded Firefly in 1946! This is a racing boat and the sail area is quite generous.

They will capsize if pushed too far and they are about as much fun as any contemporary dinghy to bail out. If she still has the original soldered copper buoyancy tanks, keep them for authenticity and add some inflatable ones.

You have a lovely boat there.

Do join the CVRDA.

 

[srm]

They were not intended to be kept afloat and indeed they should not be.

Really, why not?

The nautical dept of Stromness Academy had four that were used to teach rowing to school children. Four pupils on oars and one on the helm. They were kept afloat on moorings all summer and taken ashore for the winter. They were phased out for low maintenance fibreglass boats in the early 90's. Nice boats, but heavy. For a time the department had two fibreglass boats and two RNSAs, there was always a competition by pupils to try and get the fibreglass boats as they were faster.

 

[Kukri]

Really, why not?

The nautical dept of Stromness Academy had four that were used to teach rowing to school children. Four pupils on oars and one on the helm. They were kept afloat on moorings all summer and taken ashore for the winter. They were phased out for low maintenance fibreglass boats in the early 90's. Nice boats, but heavy. For a time the department had two fibreglass boats and two RNSAs, there was always a competition by pupils to try and get the fibreglass boats as they were faster.

I think you have just answered your own question; if kept afloat they get saturated and they get heavy, and as a racing boat they are built quite lightly.

Would anyone ever keep an Uffa King National Twelve afloat? Of course not - it’s impossible - she will capsize. Yet the Uffa King is a clinker dinghy, and an exact contemporary of the RNSA 14.

The RNSA 14 as a class has almost disappeared because they were left lying around and not treated with the respect they deserve.

 

[HolgerD]

Thank you all for your replies, I have been lucky enough to trace the boat ownership back to the mid 1970s now and it is referenced as having been built in 1947 at Portsmouth. I have an enforced lay off from all things boats for the next three weeks so all I can do is carry on my research and hope the good weather is still here when I can get out again.

Kukri, you are right, I need to join the CVRDA, I will contact them now.