Nutters sought, for new dinghy class..
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12225
Printed Date: 08 Jul 25 at 1:44am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Nutters sought, for new dinghy class..
Posted By: realnutter
Subject: Nutters sought, for new dinghy class..
Date Posted: 17 Nov 15 at 10:43pm
|
Here's the deal... Since 1985 there's been a solo dinghy class in the US offering the following: Self build using stitch and glue - total cost to build well under £500.. and that's fully rigged!!! So light and small you don't need a trailer or trolley... It goes in the back of your car, and lives in the corner of your garage.. It's a proper dinghy with all the controls you expect.. (no trapezes tho'!) Strict one-design hull and sail but everything else is pretty free.. Sailable in strong winds... designed to be carried to the lake over the snow banks of a US winter, and properly raced... And the detail.. It's called the Cape Cod Frosty and is 6'4" long.. with 25 square feet of sail! Pics here: http://www.taft.com/BoatsBoating/Frostys/FrostyIndex.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.taft.com/BoatsBoating/Frostys/FrostyIndex.html I want to bring this silliness to the UK, and go sailing when others can't.. Any interest?? I should add that I'm in Reading, and sailing at Reading Sailing Club... it would be best if other interested people are reasonably local.... but I'd happily travel (easy when the boat fit inside the car!)
|
Replies:
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 17 Nov 15 at 11:12pm
| Er....? |
Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 8:40am
|
Well yes. Could be fun. BUT. We do have the Optimist already established and available all over the country. By all means wind adults up for some fun racing in tiny boats. The Oppie is slightly bigger, however at 6' 4" this American class will not fit inside the majority of UK cars. There are also UK firms offering pre-cut Optimist kits. |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 9:09am
| Can anyone remember the 6' skiff topic on here many years ago? Posters must have been much younger and skittish in those days. |
Posted By: turnturtle
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 9:39am
| what are those funny little things raced on the south coast with a no hiking rule? |
Posted By: MerlinMags
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 10:38am
The Foxers at Hamble, you mean? |
Posted By: turnturtle
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 10:41am
| indeed, they'd be the ones... I thought it was a Pacer at first, but that's something completely different. |
Posted By: The Moo
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 1:55pm
| Not for me, but they look to be having good racing. |
Posted By: Jack Sparrow
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 2:06pm
|
Your knees will love this boat, sorry I meant knee surgeon. ------------- http://www.uk3-7class.org/index.html" rel="nofollow - Farr 3.7 Class Website https://www.facebook.com/groups/1092602470772759/" rel="nofollow - Farr 3.7 Building - Facebook Group |
Posted By: JohnJack
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 2:10pm
| Anyone who played Mario Kart on the SNES remember Donkey Kong, kind of reminds me of that. If you can get past that image it looks fun, good racing. Doesn't look like they would go well in anything other than flat water though. |
Posted By: salmon80
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 2:10pm
|
Oh my it looks like the Firebug http://www.firebug.co.nz/
I used to be a member of Reading Sailing Club from 1990 to 2007 it might suit that lake but to be honest why cramp yourself up in a little thing like that just to say you can fit it in/on a car? Windsurf and kitesurf gear can also do that ... |
Posted By: turnturtle
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 2:39pm
sounds perfect, especially if RRS is relaxed and you can throw banana skins at each other. (although you might want to be careful, it can be deemed racist in some parts of the world)
|
Posted By: piglet
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 6:47pm
| Not this little black duck |
Posted By: chris_wht
Date Posted: 18 Nov 15 at 11:12pm
|
missing a hilarious trick by not having unlimited sail area and rig configuration.... otherwise you may as well put a topper rig in an oppie. ------------- |
Posted By: Jeepers
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 12:00am
|
Does it have a professionally run class association and a generous handicap? Will it garner enough entries to be considered for the Endeavour next year? If not, worth thinking about.
|
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 8:49am
|
It seems to have a well organised class association in the US, but no handicap... I've tried to make contact with them, with a view to buying plans, but no response yet...
|
Posted By: Chris415700
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 1:19pm
|
My nutty side tells me that I'd rather have one of these - [TUBE]DJSKAybjq1I[/TUBE] No rudder, no centreboard, but it looks like a lot of fun.
|
Posted By: Presuming Ed
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 3:08pm
|
Quite easy to build too, by the looks of things. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-leOGnyCr2SQ4be_BeOmd-VYOS0cH4xa" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-leOGnyCr2SQ4be_BeOmd-VYOS0cH4xa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_SGDi0qjE [TUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_SGDi0qjE[/TUBE]
|
Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 3:13pm
Shouldn't a Duck Punt have a cannon at the front. Could be handy when you need to enforce your right of way  ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |
Posted By: Presuming Ed
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 3:16pm
Yes.  |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 4:28pm
| I like the laying down bit. Life always looks better when laying down. |
Posted By: Presuming Ed
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 7:37pm
| 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 7:56pm
I was generally face down. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 11:07pm
Oscar Wilde I believe but in his case he was probably face down.....
|
Posted By: iiiiitick
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 11:08pm
| The trouble with all these just for fun boats is when do you sail them? Most people struggle to find time to race their number one boat. |
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 19 Nov 15 at 11:17pm
| Sunday would have been perfect... I could have sailed a Frosty, and probably stayed upright! |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 8:24am
I think I prefer this one, actually. Thank you for the link. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: getafix
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 12:47pm
|
Fill your wellies with sea water, rip up some £50 notes, get cold and wish you were somewhere else doing something else. Now go back to sailing whatever you were before or change to a boat you actually fit inside! |
Posted By: MerlinMags
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 2:36pm
I tend to just wish I was warm, rather than wishing I was doing something else. Sailing is THAT good. |
Posted By: nutonthetiller
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 2:45pm
| I would rather sail a Mirror dinghy. |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 4:43pm
I know I'm a Spencer fan, so biased, but I really think the Firebug is a work of genius. Most super easy to build boats are horrendously box shaped, but Spence managed to draw a boat with a constant angle on the chine all the way along, really simple section shapes and all the rest, and still come out with something that's boat shaped. I look at something like that and wonder... |
Posted By: Do Different
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 5:40pm
|
Yes Firebug looks handy. I guess with what looks decent rocker and double chine it'll tack pretty handy and respond well to for n aft trim. Punt looks nice to me as well, although of course a different boat altogether but great for creeping up the edge of an estuary. Anybody here recognise the White Hart Race? You know who you are  |
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 6:35pm
|
I have to agree that Firebug is remarkably pretty for a box boat! Designed to be built without epoxy, it's probably the better choice for kids to build too.. but at 8' x 4' it's still pretty big, and heavy.... The Frosty has a minimum hull weight of 34 lbs, if you're clever enough to build it that light.. but it also has a minimum sailing weight (fully rigged boat + helm, measured by the helm carrying it, and standing on bathroom scales) of 214 pounds, so there's no point in me (140lbs) building down to weight... And I can stand a Frosty on its transom in the corner of my living room, which I couldn't do with an 8' boat..
|
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 7:08pm
|
Not sure you'd need to worry about class sailing weights, so build it as light as you possibly can, make it easy to carry. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 7:26pm
|
Rules is rules, Rupert!! |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 9:27pm
|
But fun is more fun... ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 10:05pm
|
OK, Rupert.. so you want a development class? How's this? 1. LWL max 8' One hull - no transverse line crosses a hull skin more than twice (anti multihull rule) 2. Construction. plywood 2 off 8x4x 6mm plus 1 off 8x4x12mm.. to include foils... 3. No flexible joints in the mast. (anti windsurfer rule) 4. All rigging and sails to be second hand (with receipts to prove (anti rich person rule)) 5. Total cost under £400 6. Boat must include buoyancy to support 50kg when swamped I don't think I can keep it simpler than that.... |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 20 Nov 15 at 10:12pm
|
Wasn't so much the design rules (though the six foot skiff has featured on here in the past) but the idea of a minute sailing weight when yours is the only one. ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 24 Feb 16 at 9:41pm
|
Well, time has passed and the hull is nearly complete.... Here's some pics of construction - not necessarily in the right order!! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ry7jnwqmkpc3vvd/AAAigjV9rFEDG8eUr7mgRRXta?dl=0" rel="nofollow - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ry7jnwqmkpc3vvd/AAAigjV9rFEDG8eUr7mgRRXta?dl=0 |
Posted By: 423zero
Date Posted: 25 Feb 16 at 5:44pm
|
Looking good. Aft or Centre main ?
|
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 25 Feb 16 at 5:54pm
|
Aft bridle, but centre main off the boom, I think... At least I'll try it that way before committing to to fitting a centre main block to the hull ... |
Posted By: 423zero
Date Posted: 25 Feb 16 at 9:07pm
|
Centre main gets hung up less than centre/aft. Aft main gives you more room in boat, but I always associate aft main with light wind sailing and cruising. How long is sail foot ?
|
Posted By: realnutter
Date Posted: 25 Feb 16 at 9:12pm
| The foot is 60"... puts the clew about 5" ahead of the transom... |