Sailing dinghies left on moorings, excluding Wayf & Wanderers

[Lakesailor]

Seahawk 17. Lifting keel. Easy to slip. Been on a mooring for 3 years, all year, now.
Sails well.

Ideal

​

 

[Penton Hooker]

Well, open Drascombes have crossed most oceans in the world!

Having had a small sailing cruiser, a Hurley 22, I reckon there is a great deal to be said for a spacious cockpit and unrestricted headroom. Each to their own but I reckon an open camping boat has a lot to offer. I wouldn't dismiss the Wayfarer just yet!

 

[Kelpie]

Dan
remember what I said about putting a £ in a jar every time you asked what boat to buy?
You could have had several of these by now:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271114347152&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

I agree with Searush- just go and buy something!

You did ask some questions about Wayfarers.
A lot has been said/written about the different marques. I don't think it makes all that much difference. I've won races in my old MkI* (supposedly the slowest of the lot), and have sailed MkIIs, and now own a World. They all have pros and cons. My first one was a composite, and I only moved on because I got fed up of varnishing. The World is nice, very clean and uncluttered, self-draining is a bonus but at the same time it feels more like a dinghy and less like a boat. No lockers, and no floorboards, so you can't just dump your jacket on the floor, because it'll get wet. Minor points, and on the whole I know I made the right choice.

One other I would say, though, is that if you are planning on singlehanding almost all the time, the Wayfarer may not be ideal, although it depends on your size/weight. I'm a fairly small chap and whilst I can have a lot of fun singlehanding the W, I tend to go around with the boat on its side, and properly crewed boats tank past me. Fortunately I can usually find crew and get the boat fully powered up, which is even more fun

(* the guy I sold it to is a SI, so the old MkI is comfortably beating all of the other Wayfarers in the fleet... including me in my much newer World...)

 

[Greenheart]

I agree with Searush- just go and buy something!

Good sense, I know it's true.

Thanks to all.

Got a bad feeling I'll end up with a Contender, still wondering why. But I'll try to keep quiet till I've bought something.


Ah, the peace.

That didn't last long, sorry...

Is it possible to make a racing dinghy into a rugged beachable cruiser, by epoxying 1mm aluminium sheets to the undersides?

Only kidding. Is it, though?

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

I fancied a Contender since a young boy, but have to say I was very disappointed when I got one.

Poor in light winds, quite a lot to lug around on shore, and worst of all despite everything the class association told me the thing turned turtle at the drop of a hat - one of the very few boats I was glad to sell on.

I can't help wondering if the idea of dinghy cruising is a touch romantic, sounds lovely working one's way along the coast sleeping on beaches but the reality is probably handling a heavy dinghy alone in surf and long periods of sailing with an inhospitable shore under ones' lee and the worry of capsizing a loaded boat singlehanded in what to it will seem heavy weather...

Combining a dinghy with satisfying high performance, light enough to handle ashore, able to go on a mooring, able to carry cruising stuff, able to right singlehanded, able to sail singlehanded, able to fit in your garage...

Even a millionaire commissioning a one-off would find it's impossible !

If one was said millionaire, the nearest I can think of is a Salcombe Yawl, and even that doesn't satisfy all parameters, - though I reckon you could put up with one at a pinch...

All I would say is that where boats are concerned it's probably better to let heart rule rather than head; no good having a boat which ticks boxes if she doesn't make your heart sing.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Dan Crane, I can assure you that the Wayfarers at Bosham have been known to capsize, all twelve of 'em, as there was when I was senior instructor there.

Were you an instructor at Crab Searle's school?? Emsworth Sailing School - end of Bath Road?

I learnt to sail there....

 

[Seajet]

Were you an instructor at Crab Searle's school?? Emsworth Sailing School - end of Bath Road?

I learnt to sail there....

Fantasie 19,

it's too late for a refund now !

 

[Greenheart]

All I would say is that where boats are concerned it's probably better to let heart rule rather than head; no good having a boat which ticks boxes if she doesn't make your heart sing.

Thanks for that, Andy! I was concerned that narrowing-down of what's available, wasn't bringing me nearer to a conclusion. Thanks for helping me dismiss the Contender too...such a pretty boat, so intelligently honed to singlehanded use...and so damned demanding!

As to letting my heart make the decision, I lurch suddenly back towards the Osprey again...not known for being undemanding, I realise, but a good load-carrier (assuming heavy stowage can be secured amidships); more power than I'd ever need (in fact I'd doubtless be shopping for a Gull mainsail, too); lovely looker...

...and, just as we all grin and bear the compromises we must make to enjoy the time we spend afloat, I'll have to fit a jockey-wheel and queue up at the jetty with the rest of the club.

Your description of unnerving passages off unfamiliar and dangerous shores reminds me how completely helpless I've felt at such times, barely stemming adverse conditions aboard boats whose intrinsic design wasn't principally intended to be as efficient as possible.

I can't recall who on these pages said "you can throttle back aboard a fast boat, but you can't turbo-charge a slug"...

...or words to that effect. Whether I'm passage-making or having a few hours' fun locally, an efficient design will be my choice; it's too frustrating giving a slow boat your best, without reward. Should make things simpler...racers are everywhere, unlike cruising dinghies.

Next exciting question: is it easier to move an Osprey's thwart forward to make sleeping space, or to live with amputated feet? And how hard is it to replace a centreboard with a space-saving daggerboard? And will the 56lb-weight trick keep a moored Osprey upright?

I'll go back into contemplative hibernation till I've bought my dinghy. Thanks chaps.

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

think I've mentioned it before but my chum Vern of these forums has an old grp Osprey MkII, I'm authorised to offer a spin whenever you feel like - when warmer !

We have a spare reefable main and an Enterprise main as well which I'd be interested to try.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Fantasie 19,

it's too late for a refund now !

Best week a kid could ever have - reckon I was 14 - absolutely loved every minute...

 

[Penton Hooker]

Were you an instructor at Crab Searle's school?? Emsworth Sailing School - end of Bath Road?

I learnt to sail there....

For a short while but I was offered more money and less mud at Bosham Sea School where I worked for three seasons.

 

[Greenheart]

...my chum Vern of these forums has an old grp Osprey MkII, I'm authorised to offer a spin whenever you feel like - when warmer!

Thanks very much, I hadn't forgotten! Roll on springtime...

...perhaps you can recall (I'm being analytical again): does the GRP Osprey have a double-skinned hull? I'm thinking of the original 3-man crew the boat originally carried...some of the photos of woodies look to me as if a hefty crew would step through the bottom.

Is Vern's example similar to this rather tired old one on a Canadian lake? Looks as if she's had some very rough repairs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF4L7rwseek

 

[Penton Hooker]

We have a Salcombe Yawl on my local water, lovely boat. Mind you, she's no better at sailing than my Drascombe although, to be fair, I have fitted booms so not quite a standard boat.

Romantic stuff, dinghy cruising! I have on occasion kipped down off a beach but at 21' I don't tend to run her up a beach. If I can do it at 66 then I'm sure that you younger folk can do it.

 

[Greenheart]

For a short while but I was offered more money and less mud at Bosham Sea School where I worked for three seasons.

You weren't there, spring 1983, I s'pose?

 

[Sandgrounder]

Thanks for that, I may well enquire further.

Interesting point...at what size do you think the discomforts and limits of dinghies, get replaced by the inconvenient bulk and weight of mini-cruisers?

There must be an ultimate smallest yacht design somewhere in between, which planes, self-rights, dry-stows hundreds of kilos of gear, lets a couple sleep in dry comfort, dries out upright, can be moored indefinitely in safety, and looks nice too.

I always admired the Swift 18. Never been aboard one though.

A Swift 18 turned turtle on its mooring on Windermere 2 or 3 years ago. It was November but the weather wasn't so very bad; my 3/4 decked keelboat was still in the water and was fine. The Swift was the only boat to go over but it had been left keel up which wasn't necessary given that there was sufficient depth for it to float upside down without the mast grounding.

 

[lw395]

Thanks for that, Andy! I was concerned that narrowing-down of what's available, wasn't bringing me nearer to a conclusion. Thanks for helping me dismiss the Contender too...such a pretty boat, so intelligently honed to singlehanded use...and so damned demanding!

As to letting my heart make the decision, I lurch suddenly back towards the Osprey again...not known for being undemanding, I realise, but a good load-carrier (assuming heavy stowage can be secured amidships); more power than I'd ever need (in fact I'd doubtless be shopping for a Gull mainsail, too); lovely looker...

...and, just as we all grin and bear the compromises we must make to enjoy the time we spend afloat, I'll have to fit a jockey-wheel and queue up at the jetty with the rest of the club.

Your description of unnerving passages off unfamiliar and dangerous shores reminds me how completely helpless I've felt at such times, barely stemming adverse conditions aboard boats whose intrinsic design wasn't principally intended to be as efficient as possible.

I can't recall who on these pages said "you can throttle back aboard a fast boat, but you can't turbo-charge a slug"...

...or words to that effect. Whether I'm passage-making or having a few hours' fun locally, an efficient design will be my choice; it's too frustrating giving a slow boat your best, without reward. Should make things simpler...racers are everywhere, unlike cruising dinghies.

Next exciting question: is it easier to move an Osprey's thwart forward to make sleeping space, or to live with amputated feet? And how hard is it to replace a centreboard with a space-saving daggerboard? And will the 56lb-weight trick keep a moored Osprey upright?

I'll go back into contemplative hibernation till I've bought my dinghy. Thanks chaps.

TBH, you sound a bit contradictory about what you want.
The Osprey is a lovely boat, but it is a big 2 handed dinghy. Sailed single handed, you would be over powered very easily.
Camping in boats, as far as I can work out, needs suitable places to stop. I have done a bit years ago. Two up in an old 505! It was a case of carrying a small tent and pitching it ashore. Being a £200 shed, it was not unreasonable to drag it up the beach. At the time, a seaworthy Wayfarer would have cost four times as much, so would not be something I'd have been relaxed about scratching. Also it would simply have been too heavy to drag out of the surf without a trolley.
If you want a boat to go places and sleep in, there are plenty of small trailer sailers that could be a lot of fun on a similar budget.

 

[Searush]

TBH, you sound a bit contradictory about what you want.
The Osprey is a lovely boat, but it is a big 2 handed dinghy. Sailed single handed, you would be over powered very easily.
Camping in boats, as far as I can work out, needs suitable places to stop. I have done a bit years ago. Two up in an old 505! It was a case of carrying a small tent and pitching it ashore. Being a £200 shed, it was not unreasonable to drag it up the beach. At the time, a seaworthy Wayfarer would have cost four times as much, so would not be something I'd have been relaxed about scratching. Also it would simply have been too heavy to drag out of the surf without a trolley.
If you want a boat to go places and sleep in, there are plenty of small trailer sailers that could be a lot of fun on a similar budget.

Quite. he wants 1 boat for a dozen purposes! Dan Focus on the ONE sort of sailing you will definitely do & buy a boat for that. You will NEVER get one boat that does everything, that's why I have over a dozen now.

 

[Greenheart]

Very true, my 'needs' are intrinsically contradictory.

I'd like a substantial, fast boat that isn't unduly twitchy or alarming; has room for dry stuff but isn't actually a Westerly Centaur; isn't falling apart despite being old enough to be cheap...and can lie safely anchored or be hauled out without a rugger team to help.

I'm possibly pinning my colours to the Osprey because I tend to believe that if one uses a lively inshore boat for extended day-trips which may go offshore, and if I may sometimes benefit from an overnight in a sheltered anchorage...then having nearly six ft beam and a cockpit eight ft long, plus a rig that can seriously hurry or be tamed by reefing, is probably advantageous. Plus, critically, oldies are cheap!

Looking on the bright side, whichever I pick, it'll bring me all manner of mishaps and misadventures, and I'll keep the camera handy.

 

[Greenheart]

...a seaworthy Wayfarer would have cost four times as much, so would not be something I'd have been relaxed about scratching. Also it would simply have been too heavy to drag out of the surf without a trolley.

It interests me that the Wayfarer (170kg?) is always described as appallingly, unmanageably heavy ashore, while in the case of other big dinghies like the Osprey (140kg?) and 505 (127kg?) a not-much-lesser burden isn't described as anything like the same amount of trouble.

Is the Wayfarer as much tougher than the others, as its greater weight suggests?

 

[BrianH]

A friend's father had a plywood wayfarer in the 60s, kept on a mooring, seemed to do alright without a double bottom.

As did I in Whitby harbour in the early 60s - a Mk 1, all wood. She was in the lower harbour near the bridge and dried out at low water on fairly flat mud.

She had a waterproof cover over the entire cockpit and boom, which kept her dry. Never had a problem in three years of keeping her there.