During my first successful dinghy cruise around the Solent a problem which cropped up at every port of call was how to get ashore. I prefer to lie afloat in my boat. I do not like to be constantly moving about inside the boat while aground. Also when at anchor on a mooring the after end of the tent can be left open as she always swings away from the weather.

At Bembridge after dressing in slacks and sandals etc., I stood on the fore-deck of my covered wagon and kedged myself ashore, then tying a long trip line to the crown of the anchor; I balanced it on the fore deck on top of the anchor rope. Then I gave the boat a mighty shove (getting one foot wet) and when it lost way tugged on the trip line pulling the anchor over the side. Thus the wagon was anchored. Recovering her in the dead of night I hauled the anchor ashore by the trip line with boat attached.

At Yarmouth I had to tie alongside numerous pram dinghies which were tied up to the bridge over which I climbed to get ashore. At Lymington I was directed to mooring posts. Here the sympathetic Harbour Master loaned me a pram dinghy. At Buckler's Hard, anchoring prohibited, I was directed to a mooring. To get ashore the covered wagon was sculled to the stage and left banging about among many prams as the wind caught the tent.

As I had not got a boat of my own to reach my mooring at Bosham, I bought a 5 foot Prout folding pram (or Coracle to give it the correct title). This is just the answer, it folds up nearly flat and stows on board my 14 footer Beachcomber, lying alongside the centre case and partly under the fore-deck. It is quickly assembled and tied up astern before the tent is rigged - and off we go ashore in comfort.

At the beginning of this year I took a trip to Keyhaven in Beachcomber. Wishing to enquire ashore about a mooring - anchoring being prohibited - I sailed up to the yacht club. The wind was from the east which put the club on a lee-shore so I picked up a mooring and leaving the sails flapping rowed ashore in the Prout. The expression on the onlookers’ faces as I lifted my pram on to the club's hard was one of amazement and astonishment. They had watched this 14 footer come in, pick up a mooring, then suddenly appear to give birth, the pram appearing from nowhere. Just for good measure I rowed back to Beachcomber, hauled the pram on board, folded it up and stowed it out of sight.

It cost a lot of money but I wouldn't be without it. It has removed the only real objection I had to dinghy cruising.

When I bought Beachcomber secondhand in 1956 she had three thwarts, one right aft, a rowing thwart that also helped to support the centre case and a sailing thwart which was on the same level as the other two. To use as a dinghy cruiser where was I to sleep? I have tried sleeping ashore in a tent but it means lugging all the gear ashore and waking up frequently wondering if the boat is still there or whether there is enough cable out and then finding the boat left high and dry instead of afloat when I want to get away. Neither had I organised a tent for Beachcomber providing I could solve the sleeping problem. I bought a big tarpaulin, rested the after end of the boom and gaff (Beachcomber is gunter rigged) on a crutch, unshackled the goose-neck and hauled it a few feet up the mast. This gave me a ridge pole for my tent with head room up the forward end. With my ideas and my wife's scissors we made a snug fitting tent which is made fast by little cleats fixed at intervals around the top strake and closed forward, open aft. Then we made a hammock just long enough for me. This was slung beneath the boom, the fore end being made fast to the mast and the after end made fast to the boom and gaff lashed together (the ridge pole).

All the stresses and strains were carefully considered before I heaved myself (11 stone odd) into it and many peaceful hours have I spent in that hammock. The first night I slept on board Beachcomber was at anchor in Chichester Harbour. I climbed into the hammock and lay there full of apprehension. I imagined that the first biggish boat to pass by would set Beachcomber rolling and that I in my hammock would swing away from the centre of gravity and the whole issue would capsize. When it happened a boat's wash set Beachcomber rolling and me swinging, but because hammock and Beachcomber were swinging in different rhythms we didn't capsize after all, in fact both movements seemed to cancel each other out.

The following winter a boat-building friend of mine and I carried out some alterations in Beachcomber to make her a two berth cruiser in case I became lonely. We removed the original sailing thwart and put in a new one level with the fore deck and the gunwales. Then we raised the floor boards (or cabin sole) about 9 inches off the keel from amidships to right forward. This allowed two persons a 6ft. 3 inch long space to lie down either side of the centre board case and mast and air beds provided well clear of any bilge water with feet and legs under the fore-deck. To compensate for loss of space under the foredeck two hatches were cut out in the forward floor, this gave us access to the bilges where we kept a spare anchor and all our tinned food - labels removed and contents painted on the tin in red, cruiser fashion. Fats kept in a tin remain hard in the 'holds'. Also we put in a big locker right aft, the after thwart is now a shelf in this locker.

Beachcomber this summer has slept three persons as I can still sling my hammock, but this winter I plan to alter the shape of the tent; then my hammock will have to go.