What dinghy is this (or what is the sail markings??)

[mickywillis]

Can anyone identify this dinghy or the markings on the sail?
Its about 11ft long, looks a bit Mirror dinghy ish, but is simulated clinker build in GRP.
Boat bought in the Isle of Wight and has no other markings or makers plate, other than that on the sails (we think it looks like either an Aladdins shoe or a whale!!)

Pics here:





Not sure if pics will come up, so please excuse me if they don't and I'll try posting again!

 

[Rabbie]

I used to have one. Sail No 17. It is a 'Slipper' made by a company in Eastbourne named Smith & Gibbs. Quite rare. In 20 years I have only ever seen one other and it is situated outside the public loos in Pevensey Bay, full of flowers!

 

[mickywillis]

Hmm, a Slipper eh? Well I thought the sail markings looked like a whale, so it's now become known affectionately as "The Sperm" (whale!!!)
I've trawled the net for the sail markings but could find absolutely nothing near the marks on the sails.
its a nice boat, in good nick, which my cousin bought for I believe £300 on a trailer. Takes an outboard, but no rowlocks for rowing.
I'll pass the details onto him, thanks for your help.
If anyone else has any info on the dinghy, please post on here, thanks!!

 

[sarabande]

good heavens - Smith and Gibbs still going ? I bought a couple of lengths of line from them in 1976 to use during our drive out to the Persian Gulf, and still have one of them in use.

The place used to smell of tarred rope and tobacco - ah, nostalgia !

 

[Rabbie]

S&G closed down many years ago. I know what you mean about their shop!

Mickey - next time you go to a pantomime - look at the shoes (slipper) worn by Aladdin!

 

[beegib100]

Hi MickyWillis,
Please forgive this (very!) late posting, I only recently started a search online for references to our boat design and just today stumbled across your original forum question above of 2009.

To be honest I had imagined our little boat had long since disappeared from the scene and was now destined for obscurity! On the contrary, after recent searches it appears they are still being used by some sailing clubs for training.

Yes indeed, the boat that your cousin bought was Slipper no. 37 and the logo was intended to resemble Aladdin's footwear!

The original Slipper dinghy was designed by my father in 1932 in Eastbourne. He was a keen sailing and boating enthusiast in his youth and for the Slipper he chose a clinker pram design.

Dad built the original Slipper at his parent's home in Eastbourne and kept it at the Artisan's Sailing Club (renamed the Sovereign Sailing Club, which later merged with Eastbourne Sailing Club).

If you are interested, I can send you a picture of the original Slipper at the waterfront in Eastbourne with Dad and a friend in it, also one of (I think) glassfibre Slipper number 65 taken at the same place with Dad sitting in it some 67 odd years later!

Dad founded Smith and Gibbs in 1946 with Frank Smith, a friend and fellow sailing enthusiast. They built a number of wooden boats in the 1950s for the local market, of which around five were wooden clinker-built boats based on the original Slipper design. At least one was purchased by the Pevensey Bay Sailing Club, in which a young Phil Morrison first started sailing. Phil went on to become a World Champion yachtsman and world-renowned yacht designer.

After Frank Smith left the partnership in 1972, my brother Roger joined the business, which retained the name of Smith and Gibbs for continuation. Roger put a lot of effort into developing the marine side of the business and developed trade with the local sailing clubs. The retail side of the business really took off and the early 70s were a boom time for local dinghy sailing, aided of course by the increasing profile of the Mirror Dinghy, designed by Jack Holt and Barry Bucknell.

I joined the business in 1978 and it was shortly after this we decided that, following the spectacular success of the Mirror Dinghy, the market was there for the Slipper to be reborn, this time in glassfibre. We felt that this would be a good move to compete with the Mirror and other small family sailing dingies. Compare wth other boats of similar size and design, the Slipper offered a reduced maintenance schedule with a minimum of varnishing and some general cleaning. It also looked more aesthetically pleasing than some of its contemporaries!

The first glassfibre Slipper was built around 1982 taking the first set of mouldings from moulds which were in turn moulded from a wooden plug set made by Dad at our family home in Polegate, East Sussex. Somewhere I have some pictures of the launch of the first glassfibre Slipper at Eastbourne beach, I'll have to try and dig them out!

In all we built (I think) around 67 sailing versions of the Slipper. Along the way we introduced various improvements such as glassfibre mouldings to replace the ply fore and aft buoyancy tanks, a glassfibre gunwhale cap moulding to replace the wooden gunwhales and transom plate, a Bermudan rig to replace the Gunter Rig, glassfibre side buoyancy tanks to replace buoyancy bags and an aluminium rudder stock in place of the wooden one.

There were a number of other refinements which I am afraid I cannot recall now, but suffice to say that the intention was to produce a family sailing dinghy that was affordable, easy to sail and maintain as well as a nice boat to look at. It was aimed at those new to sailing who wanted a sturdy, well built boat that would last for years and for which off-the-shelf parts could be obtained easily in case something broke.

We exhibited at several boat shows including Earl's Court and Southampton. In addition to the sailing version, we built around 50 rowing versions which were sold to individual users as well as water companies and local leisure facilities.

We built two other designs, a smaller dinghy called the Pup (based on the Slipper) and a larger fishing boat called the Sovereign 17.

We were never in a position to devote a great deal of time to market the Slipper nationwide although we did sell through a small number of dealers including London Dinghy Centre. Although the potential was great there were a large number of other competing classes appearing on the market and we did not have the facilities or the economies of scale to be really competitive on price. We also offered other services such as dinghy repairs, metal racing dinghy masts and custom rigging, custom boat covers as well as the retail outlet and it was difficult to apply the time that would have been necessary to make headway. We were also reticent to produce more boats after the European Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) was introduced, although there was no reason to believe that the Slipper would not comply.

The very last sailing Slipper was built around the early 1990s. I left the partnership in 1992 to pursue my own career and my brother carried on as a sole trader until the late 1990s when he sold the business on. I believe S&G carried on until the early 2000s when the retail outlet closed and as far as I know, has ceased trading.

I hope this gives you some useful background info on the Slipper. If your cousin still has it I hope that it continues to give good service, it looks as though it has been maintained very well.

If there is anything else I can help with I would be happy to oblige.

I am hoping in time to put together some more information on the Slipper dinghy, maybe even a web site, with luck it will generate some interest.

Best regards to you,

Brian Gibbs.

 

[Simon Suter]

We have some at Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club we use for training. I sailed one last year and found it to be very light and responsive

 

[Seajet]

beegib100,

thanks for posting that Brian, just the sort of history we should all treasure here !

I appreciate your Slipper predated the Mirror by quite a while; I remember there was what seemed to me a blatant carbon copy of the Mirror ( hard chine ) but in grp, known as the ' West Eleven ' made by Shepherds of Windermere...

Given the popularity of simulated clinker, and the approximate Slipper / Mirror format plainly being right, it's a great shame there weren't a lot more Slippers.