Solo dinghy converted for camp, row, sail, expeditions

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
Bruce's Solo

CruisingSolo-1024x300.jpg
 
A nicely done conversion. But I wouldn't like to try dropping the main even on a lake, never mind at sea.

I guess that was the boat he happened to have, and I loved mine despite the holes in the hull that lakey fixed, but it wouldn't be my first choice for camping, the freeboard is too low & your bum gets wet. The GP14 was specifically designed for the purpose (plus taking a small o/b) so that's the boat I would choose.

Altho Jack de Crow carried it's skipper from Shrewsbury to the Black Sea & she was just an 11' Mirror dinghy (good book & well worth a read btw) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unlikely-Voyage-Jack-Crow-Odyssey/dp/1574091522/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384957360&sr=1-1&keywords=jack+de+crow Oh my, the price has gone up a bit since I acquired my copy, a sign of a book in demand I guess.
 
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Far too unstable for carrying your possessions in. The bloke must have a terrific sense of balance.

I see he has raised the boom a lot (and presumably cut about 3ft off the foot of the sail). Headsails are not part of the Solo sail plan. Complete waste of time. Much better off with a GP like Searush says or a clinker dinghy.

Proper boom position

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I've had a couple of Solos and rated them highly. Neverthless, would not be my first choice for camping, rowing etc. If you need to make so many modifications, why not start with something more appropriate in the first place. I don't think the high boom and the addition of a headsail flatters the looks of this classic dinghy. The jousting stick at the front detracts, too, imho. Neverthless, great admiration for the intent.
 
davidjackson said:
I've had a couple of Solos and rated them highly. Neverthless, would not be my first choice for camping, rowing etc. If you need to make so many modifications, why not start with something more appropriate in the first place. I don't think the high boom and the addition of a headsail flatters the looks of this classic dinghy. The jousting stick at the front detracts, too, imho. Neverthless, great admiration for the intent.
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Taking that amount of area off the main & adding 2 jibs forward has got to have screwed up the balance, unless the centreboard has been pushed forward, which doesn't seem to have happened. My solo didn't have that much weather helm, so I would expect the modified boat to have dangerous lee helm.
 
Lakesailor said:
Far too unstable for carrying your possessions in. The bloke must have a terrific sense of balance.

I see he has raised the boom a lot (and presumably cut about 3ft off the foot of the sail). Headsails are not part of the Solo sail plan. Complete waste of time. Much better off with a GP like Searush says or a clinker dinghy.

....
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At least it's probably lighter than a GP.
Sometimes you've got to use what is at hand.
 
Daydream believer said:
If the guy is having fun does it matter?
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Probably not. But if the resulting boat has lee-helm (as Searush and Lakey, experienced Solo sailors, think it will), then it would be dangerous for him to go overboard, as lee-helm would mean that the boat would merrily sail away downwind instead of rounding up into the wind with no hand on the tiller.

My Dad had a beautiful Solo, all varnished, veneered wood. While being fun to sail, she was wet, and totally lacked storage space. We actually got far more use out of our ancient Heron, which was dry, and had plenty of space for putting odds and ends in! I've no idea what became of Dad's Solo - it went missing after Dad stopped sailing at Dunbar. Being wood, I doubt she'd still be sailing, though.
 
The most common dinghy used for camping and sailing is a Wayfarer, high freeboard and stable, as talked about in another thread. I loved it when I did a dinghy course with my son, we could have taught him on our yacht but dinghies are the way to learn.
 
A wayfarer is quite heavy.
Also, less easily available cheaply than an old Solo.
You might find the Solo much easier to drag up a beach, and worry about doing so a lot less than a Wayfarer.
I think it needs a mizzen to re-balance the rig perhaps?
 
lw395 said:
A wayfarer is quite heavy.
Also, less easily available cheaply than an old Solo.
You might find the Solo much easier to drag up a beach, and worry about doing so a lot less than a Wayfarer.
I think it needs a mizzen to re-balance the rig perhaps?
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I love it! Great idea to help balance the rig. What a bloody nightmare to handle tho!

As Dylan says, it's great to see people sailing and why should they do the logical or sensible thing or follow conventions? Just not my choice. As others have said, the Slo-low is wet & lacking in storage (until you open up the buoyancy tanks for storage) but it is light enough to pull up a beach on a roller.

Mind you, my GP14 is pretty much as quick, dry enough to sail in normal clothes & easy enough to pull up a beach on a roller too. Rigging & reefing it on the water is much easier too & the cost isn't much greater, if at all and it is designed to take an outboard. Oh & the rig is properly balanced, can be reefable & has an optional, smaller cruising jib too.

Lakey sold the Solo (after sorting it out) for about 200 quid less than I paid for the GP14, but the Solo had no trailer & the GP14 came with an excellent combi trailer worth at least 200 quid.
 
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prv said:
Has Dan seen this?
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I just did... :) ...where did you find the pics, Dylan?

...credit to the chap for ignoring customary advice. Granted his CE will now be well ahead of his CLR, but clearly there's a roller on the jib so it won't be excessively unbalanced all the time - perhaps he'll only use all the sail downwind? Definitely it's an unusual choice for cruising...I wonder if those white thwart-props fold up, to let him lie on the cockpit floor?

I don't understand the fact that he's sliced the bottom 20sq ft or so off his mainsail, unless it was damaged unrepairably. I've sewn a mighty deep reef into the Osprey's big main...

View attachment 37345

...and it might well set like a sack when reefed, but I'll retain the option to open it up...100sq ft in the main, another 45 in the roller genoa. During forces 1 to 2, which of us hasn't wished he could set more sail? Why didn't this guy arrange a neat reef which would let him match sail-area to conditions? Presumably the high boom is to let him row beneath it.

When I was choosing between dinghies, somebody here made the point that while it's easy to sail a fast boat slowly, it's much harder to make a slow one fast. Thereafter, I wanted a race-bred design because even long past her competitive days, such a boat will walk all over new, better-sailed slower designs. I never have any reason to hurry, but the option to fly is a nice feeling. But mainly I bought the Osprey because she's so big...

...the Solo strikes me as a gentleman's singlehander - better-mannered than a Finn, less lairy than a Contender or skiff, far less wretchedly common than the Laser, and not obsessed with performance. But she's also much smaller, and however pleasant it is to be able to move the boat on shore, if you select a boat for its mobility there, surely you'll regret the fact once you're afloat. I can't run the Osprey up to her place in the dinghy park, but that's irrelevant when I'm afloat - I didn't buy her for her performance on wheels.

And dry stowage - not a lot of that on the Solo as far as I can see. I admire the man's practical minimalism, but I want my tent, towels, clothes, cigars and sleeping bag to be dry.

Searush said:
A nicely done conversion. But I wouldn't like to try dropping the main even on a lake, never mind at sea...
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...why's that, cap'n?
 
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