RS Quest - Suitable for single handing?

Originally posted by Jamesr I have looked at the Gull but its even smaller that my current Topaz.

Room in boats is a funny thing. Its not always obvious why you seem to have more room to stretch in some than others, and its by no means always related to headline dimensions. That's why its a good idea to try and get a ride in as many things as possible. Even a quick out to the middle of the lake and back will tell you a lot about how you'll find a boat.

Edited by JimC - 11 Aug 16 at 3:22pm

Please please please don't assume that modern boats are any better than older traditional dinghies. There is a chap on here insistent that we are a bunch of backwards individuals refusing to move into a modern world, but when so many of the modern offerings are such utter junk it's easy to see why people continue to sail traditional boats.

Like has been said previously, consider an ideal boat for your main sailing activities and don't try and find a compromise.

It sounds like you want a boat for pottering about in rather than racing and to be honest none of the modern boat builders produce for that market. They either produce racing dinghies, beach boats for holiday makers which are robust but wobbly as you don't mind swimming a bit on your hols, or sail trading craft where you typically have 2-3 people in the boat.

To be honest in your position I'd look for a cheap FRP mirror.

Thanks for all the responses.

Something Ive learnt from this forum is that boats that I would normally dismiss as they were designed 50 years ago seem to be the most recommended and the most suitable. Coming from the world of mountain bikes and cars where the latest is the best does not seem to apply.   

Im in no rush so Im going to spend some time going to boat shows and looking around the club and have a proper look at some of the recommended boats.

 

Originally posted by Jamesr Something Ive learnt from this forum is that boats that I would normally dismiss as they were designed 50 years ago seem to be the most recommended and the most suitable. Coming from the world of mountain bikes and cars where the latest is the best does not seem to apply.

You need to qualify that quite a lot. Sailors, are incredibly evangelical about their chosen craft. Many if not most of the boats designed 50 years ago were bloody awful and have rightly disappeared into oblivion. The survivors are obviously best of the bunch, and are heavily updated, often using far better materials than were available back then, so in many ways only the hull shape and internal layout are 50 years old.

Then, even so, many of them have design features that it amazes me that people put up with. Boats which, when capsized, fill up with water so comprehensively that only hard work with a bucket will get them moving again, and only then if you can bucket the water out faster than its coming in again after stuffing items of clothing in the centreboard case. Boats with, instead of buoyancy tanks, the ineffective and high maintenance solution of air filled bags, and so on.

The other thing that they mostly have is construction features that make them horrendously expensive considering the amount of boat you get for the money, and often ghastly ergonomics.

[there, that should provoke a torrent of abuse]

On the other hand all boats are a compromise, and there are disadvantages to most modern designs too. For modern entry level boats the most popular material is moulded thermoplastic. This is not a perfect boat building material, although it is at least better than old school solid glass fibre, which is also heavy and has a poor service life. Its main disadvantage is that its not very rigid and fairly heavy, so it doesn't scale up well. For smallish boats like the Topper and the Feva I like it a lot, but boats up in the 14 ft plus size range tend to be a bit floppy and rather heavy. It is improving all the time as the technology develops. There is a definite snob attitude against the thermoplastic boats too, but they are getting better all the time. Beware of those whose prejudices are based on what the material was like 10 years ago!

On the other hand boats of that sort of size made from the best modern material, a sandwich of glass fabric each side of a foam core, are a lot more expensive and also rather more prone to damage from injudicious handling. Plywood, whilst a decent boat building material, is just not cost effective for production boats nowadays. That does leave the manufacturers with a bit of a quandary for larger general purpose boats, since both obvious choices of material have significant disadvantages!

All this means its horribly difficult to make categoric recommendations, which is why I say you need to jump in as many boats as possible. Fortunately you can exploit the evangelical fervour mentioned above, since its reasonably easy to get short rides from those who want to promote their chosen beast, no matter how flawed it is...


Edited by JimC - 12 Aug 16 at 1:44pm

I ended up buying a Solo in the end. I got a later FRP boat. It was a great boat and way more stable and roomy than the Topper Topaz that I had before. I could sit comfortably to one side even in light winds.