Where have all the dayboats gone?

[Seajet]

Dan,

they use floating docks at Looe, Cornwall and the old outer harbourr at St Helier, Jersey; don't see why it shouldn't work for a Fifteen.

The snags are it requires a flat seabed, and won't swing like any conventional moorings nearby; quite a lump, it might be regarded a hazard to other boats.

I think the idea itself would work, but doubt any harbour authority would permit them; maybe if a sizeable class was involved it might be worth it, but not cheap by the time one has designed in all the safety and proofing against legislation if the thing falls over, sinks, blows up,collapses or otherwise causes damage...

Meanwhile how about a really tasty dayboat !;

 

[Greenheart]

Thanks Andy, I approve of that!

Perhaps a no-longer seaworthy catamaran hull could be returned to service as a floating dock for a Flying Fifteen?

No, I'm serious...(I think)

...take one sad old shabby Shearwater or unsailably tatty Hobie/Dart...

...get rid of the trampoline and angle-grind away the front (or rear) tramp-beam...then hinge a sort of 'gate' into the front (or rear) hull-holes...and construct an aluminium or steel chassis (from old yacht masts, maybe)...

...such that the cat hulls now support beams a yard above, from which webbing can suspend the old keelboat, which is floated in from one end, then winched aloft...whilst still technically only being a five-meter catamaran. What payload can a Dart18 carry?

Would you pay mooring fees for the catamaran, or the Flying Fifteen? You could claim the FF was just a tender...

 

[lw395]

I wonder if the floating-dock idea, suggested lately hereabouts, might enable elderly Flying Fifteens to dry out upright, undamaged?

Attractive idea, to me...an old FF on a half-tide mooring, with a soft 'pontoon' of jerrycans or buoyancy bags, holding the boat 24" above her intended waterline. It would take a lot of pumping each time, but not impossible. Or, would it become dangerously unstable?

I think they would need a lot of support, they are not going to sit on the keel.
You could have a 'single point hoist' like the 12metres do.
But with a winch and decent trolley, they are easily 'dry sailed'.

 

[Seajet]

The 'floating cradle' jobs I have seen are constructed of massive old timbers, with two horizontal layers say 6' apart in height; the lower layer rests on the seabed, the upper layer is what one ties up to.

Obviously there's a lot of structure between the two.

I'd think one could suspend wide webbing straps to suspend the hull when the tide is out, the difficult bit would be removing and refitting the aft sling to allow access, then putting it back once the boat is in situ.

On the floating cradles I saw the keel rests on the seabed and takes the weight, the boat is simply tied up as in a marina; I don't think a Flying Fifteen would like resting on the keel, not designed for it and would probably punch up through the hull !

Still I'm sure anyone who grew up watching Thunderbirds / UFO / Star Trek II could come up with a 21st century docking system.

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

fifteens rest on their keels when on the road trailer along with the bow support.

I saw someone crane one in at sunderland. They don't launch them they use a davit and lift them in.

Nice Loch boats

Yoemans are a good well priced day boat. Saw one for under £3k recently including outboard and trailer.

I suppose no use in the south again as you need a deepwater mooring

 

[lw395]

fifteens rest on their keels when on the road trailer along with the bow support.

I saw someone crane one in at sunderland. They don't launch them they use a davit and lift them in.

Nice Loch boats

Yoemans are a good well priced day boat. Saw one for under £3k recently including outboard and trailer.

I suppose no use in the south again as you need a deepwater mooring

Some places like Hayling and where they sail them on reservoirs, they tend to trolley them in, due to not having a handy quayside. It does help to have a winch or tractor!
Here in Portsmouth, they sometimes launch dayboats using the big forklift with strops between the forks.
There are quite a few dayboats under £3k, Squibs are in that market and have good racing.

 

[Seajet]

The trolleys I've seen for various keel dayboats at places like Hayling Island SC have big wide support cradles running the full width of the boat, so must take a great deal of load off the keel rather than resting the weight of the boat on it.

I really don't fancy resting something like a Flying Fifteen on her keel...

Even some full size yachts can't be dried out on their keel, an example which springs to mind is the Listang.

Seems completely daft to me though !

 

[EuanMcKenzie]

I really don't fancy resting something like a Flying Fifteen on her keel...

most of the weight of a modern 15 is the keel. they are treated like dinghys though. Dont get in when on the trailer

(the slip the trailer straight into the water at Loch Tummel too. and have a capstan at the top of the slip for pulling them out again. rope from trailer to capstan, the fleet help each other and its no bother.