would anyone like to sing the praises of Walker Bays?

[dylanwinter]

I shall keep my eyes open for walker bay at the right price but as a stop gap I have just bought this for £100.

sweet little thing I think

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/sailing-around-britain/dinghy-that-rows-and-might-sail-100/

all I have to do it to work out how to make her sail as well as she will row

 

[Greenheart]

Yes, very pretty; give her a coat of white and some brass rowlock-sockets, and people will call her a little classic.

I notice she, umm, doesn't seem to have a centreboard slot...

Had to use my oars on the Osprey today, first time for a year or so. Alone amongst twenty or thirty club-racers who couldn't be sure if there was enough breeze to justify launching...I went out, discovered they were right and had to row back. But it was great to find how easily I could maintain a steady three knots, when I would just have been adrift, without the oars.

Highly significant though, how badly she rows if there's no centreboard down. Doesn't need a lot, but some is vital.

 

[dylanwinter]

Yes, very pretty; give her a coat of white, a teak rubbing strake and some brass rowlock-sockets, and people will call her a little classic.

I notice she, umm, doesn't seem to have a centreboard slot...

Had to use my oars on the Osprey today, first time for a year or so. Alone amongst twenty or thirty club-racers who couldn't be sure if there was enough breeze to justify launching...I went out, discovered they were right and had to row back. But it was great to find how easily I could maintain a steady three knots, when I would just have been adrift, without the oars.

Highly significant though, how badly she rows if there's no centreboard down. Doesn't need a lot, but some is vital.

she has a long shallow keel

I might make it a tiny bit deeper - or try without and use a big blade paddle to steer with

D

 

[Greenheart]

Hmm. Rowing aside, I was meaning you'll want a centreboard, daggerboard, or even leeboards, if you're going to sail her.

Since she's GRP, I reckon it wouldn't be too outrageous a venture to grind a slot though the keel to carefully-measured dimensions, and build up a glassfibre case above the slot, braced where necessary...

...and look out for a cheap Laser daggerboard during the winter.

If she was wood, in my hands I reckon that kind of butchery would end in foundering, five minutes after first tests...

...but making a GRP structure watertight needn't be difficult. Although judging where exactly to position the case, might be.

 

[NUTMEG]

My Lune Pilot (14' with ballasted keel) has no center board and makes very little leeway. I wonder if the long keel might mean she will sale OK. Worth trying before cutting holes in her I reckon. Nice little boat

 

[dylanwinter]

View attachment 54366

My Lune Pilot (14' with ballasted keel) has no center board and makes very little leeway. I wonder if the long keel might mean she will sale OK. Worth trying before cutting holes in her I reckon. Nice little boat

I will certainly try first - she does have a pretty pronounced keel - and what with 14 stone bloke and 3 stone labrador there will be a fair amount of boat below the water

having seen how well the duck punt does with just the chine in the water I might be lucky

I am going to try using a steering oar and thole pins just for fun

D

D

 

[Otter]

Long keeled sailing boats with no centreboard have been around for some time!

 

[dylanwinter]

Long keeled sailing boats with no centreboard have been around for some time!

they are usually deeper keels than this one


of course there are the yoles of Orkney and Shetland

http://cdn.boatshed.com/autoimage-2631_BoatPic_Main.jpg-400-300.jpg

beginning to feel optimistive about this

as long as she will fine reach I will be happy

D

 

[Greenheart]

Wasn't not having a centreboard a characteristic of Swallow, in Arthur Ransome's novel?

I don't doubt it can work; I also suspect that some careful low-season work with ply and glassfibre could make a neat, stout daggerboard case that wouldn't weaken the boat or compromise its watertightness, and would allow a board from an established class to fit.

Might even be able to extract a daggerboard case from a boat at a scrap yard. That would save shaping the inside curves.

 

[Seajet]

How about some clips at the sides to hold a wooden paddle (or two ) as a lee board ?

Then when Impulse Drive is required the paddle is there handy...

 

[dylanwinter]

Wasn't not having a centreboard a characteristic of Swallow, in Arthur Ransome's novel?

I don't doubt it can work; I also suspect that some careful low-season work with ply and glassfibre could make a neat, stout daggerboard case that wouldn't weaken the boat or compromise its watertightness, and would allow a board from an established class to fit.

Might even be able to extract a daggerboard case from a boat at a scrap yard. That would save shaping the inside curves.

sometimes when towing you can get a fine stream of water coming up the plate case

I shall try plan 1 first which is to stick a step in for the optimist rig, shove a paddle over the back and see what happens.

The advantage of this is that I keep the shallow sailing ability. Dagger boards stop boats very, very fast when they hit the bottom.

using a wide blade paddle as an additional leeboard might also help and could be an experiment worth doing

As you say - I can always go to the mark 1 paddles if the wind is too far ahead of the beam.

D