Brief specifications: Length 14 ft Sail area 115 sq.ft. Beam 5ft 6 ins Sailing weight 370 lbs. 1964 price £285 + £30 sails = £315 Complete with oars, rowlocks, jib jam cleats, self bailers - £324 Builders: Bossoms Boatyard Ltd., Oxford.

Background: The Bosun was designed to a Navy requirement for a safe, fast, minimum maintenance dinghy suitable for 2 - 4 men to handle in the open sea. Ruggedness and one man righting after a capsize were also specified. We felt that a boat winning a competition along these lines would be well worth considering as a cruising dinghy and so borrowed a Bosun for testing. The test consisted of two weekends sailing in Chichester Harbour and a cruise to Cherbourg. Unfortunately the latest Mark 2 dinghy was not available for the dates we wanted, but we felt that a two year old Mark 1 would show how the dinghy stood up to use and so tested this.

Description: The dinghy consists of the usual two fibreglass mouldings for hull and deck joined at the gun'ls. to give a rolled layout. However it differs from other fibreglass boats in having the space under the side decks between the mouldings filled with polyurethane foam. The forward 18" of the hull is also filled with this foam. There is approximately 20 cu.ft. of locker space remaining under the foredeck, enclosed by two doors in the forward bulkhead of the cockpit. There is no after deck. The Proctor metal mast is stepped in a simple form of tabernacle which allows it to be raised and lowered from the cockpit. All outside edges are protected by replaceable wooden strips, and bulb section wooden bilge keels are provided as rubbers and handholds when capsized. The centreboard is ¼” steel plate and the lifting rudder is wood. Stainless wire and fittings and synthetic ropes are used throughout.

Hull: The hull appeared very strongly built and well protected with wood. The two year old test dinghy had always been kept in the open without a cover but her condition was excellent. The builders suggest that painting after a few years would be required for any colour except white like the test boat, but this is only for appearance rather than to protect the material. The foam buoyancy increases the hull weight but ensures that the boat is unsinkable even after a major collision. The dinghy tested had an annoying slight leak round the centreboard bolt.

Gear and Equipment: We considered the tiller of 1¼" square section wood possibly too light for a boat of this size, and would have preferred a box-type or tubular metal one. We did not break the present tiller, but were not driving the boat very hard and it bent considerably. The centreboard hoisting arrangement is a standard tackle led to jam cleats on the main thwart, and was found very convenient to use. The lifting rudder is simple and efficient but some means of retaining it in a capsize would be welcome. The unusual jib hoisting arrangements were found very satisfactory.

The hankless jib is raised by a rope tailed wire halliard until an eye at the rope-wire join can be slipped over a fixed hock on the mast. A tack downhaul is then racked alternately with the forestay tail to tighten the jib luff. The lack of hanks is an excellent feature as it allows the jib to be dropped straight into the cockpit. However the cleats on the foredeck for belaying the forestay and tack downhaul tended to foul the jib sheets, and it might be an improvement to use cleats with shorter horns than the present design.

The jib halliard block in the test boat allowed the wire to fall down beside the sheave and jam solid when lowering the jib on one occasion. All-terylene halliards would avoid this risk. The mast lowering arrangements were satisfactory and did in fact allow the mast to be lowered and raised at sea or by one person from the cockpit in port. The all-stainless fittings, apart from the jib halliard block, were efficient and appeared strong enough. No means of altering mast rake is provided, as the main shrouds have no rigging screws. The reefing arrangement used is the normal square pin-square hole system and appears a good example of the type with a strong gooseneck. No mooring fairlead or samson post is provided but there are slinging eyes and carrying handles.

Suitability for cruising

Cockpit space: The cockpit is large and provides room for the off-watch crew to rest. However there is insufficient clearance for an adult to sleep in any comfort on an air mattress under the main thwart. To us, camping aboard would need bunk boards on top of the thwarts. Alternatively, the aft thwart is only held by four screws and could easily be removed at night to give about 6ft. 2ins. clear between the transom and main thwart. A tent could easily be fastened to the wooden gun'l. rubber.

Locker Space: The space under the foredeck is ample to hold two large bed rails, a tent, kitbag, and several smaller boxes. Further open space for storage is available behind the aft thwart. In common with other fibreglass dinghies there is no covered under-deck stowage without opening the locker doors, though these are dished to allow stowage of small items in the doors themselves. The door apertures are 12” x 14” which was found adequate. A serious defect for cruising is that the locker doors are not sealed. It appears that rubber seals and a re-designed door attachment method would be needed to overcome this, but an owner could easily do these simple modifications. The forward locker had an unpleasant smell, evidently due to a continuing curing process in the fibreglass.

Safety and Performance: The results of the D.C.A. stability test of sitting the crew of two on the gun'l. were marginal, the test being passed with the plate down but not with it up. After capsizing, the builder's claim of easy righting was found to be absolutely justified and the boat could be sailed on immediately, although with about 6" of water in the cockpit. The righting test was not repeated with the dinghy loaded or in rough water, but we felt no doubts that it would be equally successful. The bulb section bilge keels were most helpful and would be a useful addition to any dinghy likely to be capsized at sea.

An official Portsmouth Yardstick Number is evidently not yet available for the Bosun, but we think it would sail at about 98 (actually 1196), equal to an Enterprise or Fairey Falcon. With two up and full camping gear and food she would plane most impressively on a broad reach in force 4-5. The handling was very satisfactory and we found no vices.

It seems possible that the high performance may have been obtained by using a hull which is too fine lined to give enough buoyancy for carrying heavy loads in big waves. Running under jib only, in force 4-5 and a bad sea with breaking crests, we were pooped three or four times, at least once with a crest coming over the stern while the bow was depressed far enough to immerse the foredeck. While one cannot of course say that any other boat would definitely have escaped pooping under these conditions we felt that a more buoyant hull might have done so.

The Mark 1 Bosun we tested was found to have a washboard design (moulded in the fibreglass decks) which was virtually useless when going to windward at sea, as the water went both over the washboard and round its end to drain into the cockpit and demand almost continual baling. The Mark 2 has an improved washboard with a wooden capping and an additional spray chine, and Len Steele reports that this boat is satisfactorily dry. Anyone buying a Mark 1 for cruising would be well advised to make similar modifications. The test dinghy had no self-bailer fitted, but provided one does not intend to sleep on the bottom of the boat it would seem a worthwhile addition.

Value for money as a cruising dinghy: The Bosun is expensive and heavy when compared with a hard chine plywood boat (e.g. Seafly 14'9" - £235 including sails). However it appears much more robust and of course maintenance is virtually nil and no boat cover is required. It is probably the safest dinghy available, since (a) capsizing is unlikely and can easily be righted, when the boat appears to float high enough to allow bailing out in most conditions; (b) it is unsinkable even in a major collision. A reservation about safety concerns the bow buoyancy of the hull, since with heavy loads and big waves it seems possible that bailing could not keep pace with water entering over the transom when running, or over the washboards when beating (Mark 1 only). While the resulting swamped hull would support the crew and also allow limited progress downwind, this may be insufficient in conditions where the crew must reach shelter quickly or succumb to exposure.

The dinghy appears very suitable for anyone wanting a fast, robust, safe, low maintenance 14ft. boat and who is prepared for the Bosun's high cost and weight and the need for minor modifications to the locker doors and washboards (Mark 1 only).

The builders were most helpful and efficient in arranging the loan of the dinghy, and it appeared that if other D.C.A. members want to take one to sea they would be pleased to organise this.