Solo dinghy converted for camp, row, sail, expeditions

[Searush]

(snip)

Originally Posted by Searush

A nicely done conversion. But I wouldn't like to try dropping the main even on a lake, never mind at sea...

...why's that, cap'n?

Balancing a light tippy boat like the Solo while trying to keep her head to wind & lower the main into the boat complete with the boom - which will drop off the gooseneck immediately the load comes off it, is going to be pretty tricky.

Your Osprey will allow you to stand up & attend to the rig, but you will need the skill of a unicyclist to do that on a Solo with no steadying wind in the sails. I could only do when standing alongside the boat & it is easiest if the boat is rigged & de-rigged ashore.

Try it & see how you get on, but have someone ashore videoing it please, we could do with a chuckle.

 

[Greenheart]

Try it & see how you get on, but have someone ashore videoing it please, we could do with a chuckle.

My instinct says in 12 months I'll have many short adventures and misadventures on film, with which to amuse or bore forum readers. This summer was a shakedown when I realised a lot of things that ought to have been obvious from the start. I've already cruisified the old racer and made her reasonably single-handable...next year the fun begins properly.

I just read that the Solo is 5'1" in beam - not so slender as her 12'5" LOA might expect. But I see she's only half the weight of the Osprey, so I can picture her tipping more readily.

As to dropping the mainsail and tangling with sail & dislodged boom in the cockpit whilst afloat...that's just what I was hoping you'd say, Searush. I found it an intolerable nuisance...

...to which my inexpensive quick fix was lazyjacks. Considering what this Solo sailor has already done to his rig, I reckon lazyjacks wouldn't deface it any more, and would help a lot.

Here's an interesting observation (I hope)...I looked on the Wikipedia Solo page, and there's a list of nine RYA clubs with large Solo fleets. What d'you think they all have in common?

Every one of them is on an inland lake. Not a drip of brine on any of the hulls. Is it fair to infer that the Solo isn't at its best in coastal chop? And, maybe particularly unsuitable for even the most eccentric coastal cruising?

 

[Lakesailor]

A nicely done conversion. But I wouldn't like to try dropping the main even on a lake, never mind at sea.

I wouldn't even consider it. I did once drop the main on the lake. It was a very tippy moment.

In this video at 48 seconds I attempt to tighten the kicking strap whilst forgetting to hold onto the tiller. Ooops. That would happen if you were to go forward, leaving the tiller. I had only sailed it a couple of times at this point and didn't realise just how delicate the balance was.
The actual footprint on the water is very small, although the boat is quite beamy. Not beamy enough to sleep in though, unless you are very thin and curved.

​

 

[Lakesailor]

In the first 20 seconds of this video I capsize the boat by just standing at one side of the cockpit, and again at about 2 minutes.

 

[KellysEye]

>A wayfarer is quite heavy.

That's the point if you are intending to go cruising in a dinghy you need a boat that is stable and behaves well which a Solo is clearly not. As I mentioned a couple sailed one from the UK to Greece so they didn't have any trouble with the weight.

 

[Greenheart]

As I mentioned a couple sailed one from the UK to Greece so they didn't have any trouble with the weight.

About 12 months back I was more-or-less sold on the suitability of a Wayfarer...the only problem was their very high cost, even when old and crusty. But that shows how undimmed by age their readiness for cruising purposes is.

All the same, I didn't fancy sourcing a trailer in order to fetch back an antique woodie from Northumbria, or a remote sea-school example with many miles under her centreboard...

...and I couldn't ignore the number of equally large, much faster, newer dinghies, all available at a fraction the price. I'd even fancied small keelboats, but the key to their stability prohibits the 'manhandleability' ashore which even a heavy dinghy allows. The Wayfarer's hull form gives it a roomy cockpit floor and a stable stance in the water...

...but that Volvo-esque, hefty, voluminous reliability necessarily drops its willingness to plane. Not saying they can't plane, but I'd rather be on shore in conditions when they do...

...so my solution was to find a boat big enough to have some Wayfarerish cruising characteristics of space and sheer size, without necessarily ditching the option to go fast.

Interesting that the Solo rates as slightly slower than the Wayfarer, assuming both boats are down to weight and carrying all permitted sail.

 

[Lakesailor]

It's probably the old thing about Karts seeming to be going fast when it's really about being low down and banging about a lot.

When you get a Solo planing they are great fun. I found it tedious in light airs as they heel to windward and the crouching to balance it knackered my back. When there is some pressure on the sails they are much easier.

 

[Searush]

It's probably the old thing about Karts seeming to be going fast when it's really about being low down and banging about a lot.

When you get a Solo planing they are great fun. I found it tedious in light airs as they heel to windward and the crouching to balance it knackered my back. When there is some pressure on the sails they are much easier.

Good summary. And I would have been happy to play in the Solo off a beach, but wouldn't attempt cruising one. The guy has clearly selected it simply because it was what he happened to
have at the time

 

[Old Rhodie]

We seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel here - hasn't anyone looked up the "dinghy cruising club" who have years of expertise in this area.
ken

 

[Seajet]

Last week I met a chap at my club, a fit 65; he mentioned he'd had a Wayfarer but it was too heavy to get up the slipway, so he now has a very pretty West Wight Scow.

I remember chatting with two blokes in their 70's at least, cruising around Hayling & Chichester singlehanding a Gull and a W.W.Scow.

Seems to me boats like this are a joy to own and sail, while Wayfarers weigh a ton, requiring an army to get the thing up the slip and one might as well have a cruiser !

Never sailed a Solo but my ex F.I.L. did, on a pond funnily enough.

Cruising Scorpions and Ospreys was spiffing and utterly achievable when I was young, but I would think hard and twice about it now; must do more in the gymn.

 

[Greenheart]

We seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel here - hasn't anyone looked up the "dinghy cruising club" who have years of expertise in this area.

Reinvention is under-rated. I get very bored by inevitable safe recommendations of the Wayfarer. Actually the Dinghy Cruising Club seem broadminded about what makes a good cruising boat...naturally they're not wild about weight-conscious stripped-down racers, but they keep in mind that even a Wayfarer can capsize...so there's no guarantee that a slow heavy boat is sure to be a better choice.

I was very keen on the Contender until I bought the Osprey...I still think the Contender and Flying Dutchman are the prettiest dinghies by far. If their floors weren't inclined to flood (because they don't have centreboard cases) I'd probably have gone for a Contender. Not much dry stowage, nor inherent stability, but they've got a nice flat floor.

The best thing about not using recommended kit, is confounding presumptions about why one has a boat. It's bad enough explaining to non-sailors what you do...I find it much worse that so few dinghy sailors understand any sailing outside racing, and that anyone who doesn't race is presumed to spend time afloat being muddy and uncomfortable, moving at laughably pedestrian speeds, and surviving dismally on tins of spam.

I'm very certain that the weather is a far more important factor in the success of a dinghy cruise, than the choice of boat.

 

[Seajet]

Dan,

spot on.

But...I cruised my Osprey with a novice crew from Chichester to Cowes on a 2 day trip with no bother ( however said crew though on his first sail was a Marine & an experienced surfer ), but I doubt I'd contemplate it any weather in the Contender, maybe it's my age ?!

 

[Greenheart]

To be honest Andy, now that I have the Osprey, I can't imagine wanting anything smaller, like the Contender. As so often, the bigger the boat, the less awkward her combination of uses feels. I reckon the Osprey's 8'6" long, 24" deep cockpit will help make her a comfortable cruiser under reefed sail; but under full rig, she'll still sail rewardingly.

Smaller boats are fine in particular areas - but if they're designed for stowage/comfort or a capacious or protective cockpit, most likely they won't perform. I fancy the little Europe dinghy for drip-dry sailing on breezy days when the Osp will be an awful handful...but it wouldn't suit longer distances, and for me, nor would a pure cruiser like a Cornish Cormorant.

I do still hanker after the 19'10" Flying Dutchman though. I even found an article about singlehanding them! So the madness goes on (will be curtailed by the silly prices though ).

View attachment 37397

 

[MCL]

Good on the guy, no its not conventional, yes the sail plan is unbalanced but if he wants to alter it in the future he can. Yes a sliding seat for solo does seam odd but at least he will be comfortable while he is rowing. No the boat isn't as stable as a GP14 but its not as stable as a 40 foot yacht either, so why didn't he buy one of them, because it is likely he is making do with what he has got.

Someone posted earlier "Swallows and Amazons forever", for me at least that's what sailing is... cruising about in a little boat exploring creeks and estuaries. He is not constrained by his draft, his running costs are minimal, he can store the boat in his garage so he can go and tinker about with his boat in relative warmth in winter evenings. At least they were my reasons for buying a Voyager 14! http://mark-sailing.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[Reptile Smile]

The only thing I feel slightly uncomfortable about is, as far as I understand, the poor bloke didn't ask for advice or comment in the first place? Dylan posted the pic/link and judgement was passed - fair play if he asked for it, but I seem to have had plenty of people (not on here) tell me why I shouldn't be sailing what I'm sailing, and yet I still skippered 500 miles last Summer in a variety of 'wrong' boats (or so I was told) and was as happy as a pig in the proverbial doo-doo.

My general observation of all those in the marina in which my boat currently resides is that their propensity to offer unsolicited advice is inversely proportional to the amount of time they spend sailing. That is, the painter/decorators seem to have a lot of opinions, whilst the actual sailors don't tell me what to do.

Please bear in mind I'm categorically not talking about folk on here. Many (including many on this thread) have forgotten more about sailing than I will ever learn, and have given me untold help, support and advice in the past which has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, and for which I am extremely grateful.

 

[Searush]

Just remember that we all learn by discussing such issues. If a comment generates counter comment & varied opinions so much the better. I learn a lot from responses to my comments.


Even if it's only that my critics are daft . . . :triumphant:


Stupid icons!

 

[MCL]

I know some people have pointed out that it isn't the most appropriate boat to cruise in but I bet same was said to Ron Pattenden until he sailed round Britain in a laser dinghy.

 

[Greenheart]

I wonder if Dylan is reading these responses to his thread? Ron Pattenden wrote "Land on My Right", about the experience. He must've just kept turning right.

But look at the Laser's cockpit. It's like a baby-bath. Anything carried on board for the trip must either have been strapped down in zip-lock bags, or lost, or drenched.

Technically, it might be possible to cruise on a windsurfer, but unless the journey is undertaken only for publicity, it surely couldn't be anybody's choice to do so?

If the watertight hatchway to my under-foredeck space was any bigger, I reckon the space would count as a cabin. Not a lot of headroom, but it's handy for dry stuff.

Plus - did the fellow sleep on the Laser? Respect to his nerve if he did - but that's a level of craziness I wouldn't even want to be able to claim in retrospect. However lowly dinghy cruising may be regarded as, I reckon it can be fun, along similar lines to yachting, not just a comfortless stunt.

 

[Woodlouse]

I wonder if Dylan is reading these responses to his thread? Ron Pattenden wrote "Land on My Right", about the experience. He must've just kept turning right.

But look at the Laser's cockpit. It's like a baby-bath. Anything carried on board for the trip must either have been strapped down in zip-lock bags, or lost, or drenched.

Technically, it might be possible to cruise on a windsurfer, but unless the journey is undertaken only for publicity, it surely couldn't be anybody's choice to do so?

If the watertight hatchway to my under-foredeck space was any bigger, I reckon the space would count as a cabin. Not a lot of headroom, but it's handy for dry stuff.

Plus - did the fellow sleep on the Laser? Respect to his nerve if he did - but that's a level of craziness I wouldn't even want to be able to claim in retrospect. However lowly dinghy cruising may be regarded as, I reckon it can be fun, along similar lines to yachting, not just a comfortless stunt.

The Atlantic has been crossed by windsurfer. I think it was a specially made board with storage compartments built into it.

The Pacific has been crossed by a chap in a Finn.

 

[Lakesailor]

The bloke can choose whatever boat he wants to for his cruiser.
I just think he is a masochist. Far easier ways to enjoy a bit of cruising.