No two people have the same ideas about boats or indeed the same needs or requirements. There can therefore be no ideal or perfect solution and everything is a compromise.

I came to dinghy cruising from a background of sailing GP14s on London Docks, with the occasional ‘friendly’ race and also a fair bit of charter cruising on the east coast. I then moved north into an area where charter firms don’t operate and decided that the only way to get any sailing without joining a club and having to race, was to buy a boat of my own. But what sort? I had no idea where to start my search for a non-racing dinghy.

I went to the Birmingham Boat Show about six years ago and was lucky enough to see a notice about the D.C.A. which I joined. After much friendly advice, my first boat was a Tideway, sometimes known as a Walker 12, which I bought from another member. Suffice it to say I took the boat cruising everywhere — Dee Estuary, Rudyard Lake, Conwy, Lune etc., and a full week on the Colne and Blackwater Rivers when I did not set foot on shore in six days — and found it to be admirably stable and easy to sail. It was a very sturdy boat being clinker built of mahogany with an iron centreplate, but consequently very heavy for its length of 12’. It was also just a little small for the addition of a cuddy or cabin.

I was getting to the stage, or age, when I wanted some sort of permanent shelter. It is nice to be able to climb straight into a shelter after a wet sail, and not to have to put up a tent cover and dry the seats and the gear and so on before settling down to a meal or sleep. I consequently looked round for something slightly larger and was taken by a Silhouette (Mark II) which I saw languishing on a canal nearly. It had an inboard engine and served me very well for a few years in all sorts of weather on the Dee Estuary and along the North Wales coast including parts of Anglesey. I kept it on a mooring at Heswall and got the local boatyard to haul it out every autumn and launch it every spring. I didn’t have a trailer. Heswall is about 30 miles from home and maintenance began to become a problem particularly since the boat was plywood and about twelve years old. I also wanted to explore other parts of the coastline but a Silhouette is a little big to trail singlehanded, although sailing it alone was no problem.

I was therefore on the search again. I wanted a boat that was essentially a dinghy but with a small cabin or cuddy and a large cockpit. I wanted it to be stable, for estuary and coastal work, and an iron plate seemed essential. I wanted it to be fairly light for ease of singlehanded launching, trailing and retrieving and so it should not be much more than 16’ long. Easy maintenance was a must so, regrettably in some ways, I looked for fibreglass. It had to have reasonable lines and not too much windage. And of course, it had to be cheap. Small wonder every boat is a compromise.

Looking around for a boat can be difficult. There is a dearth of information on this kind of boat, particularly on a comparable basis. Actually there aren’t many boats to choose from when one really gets down to it. I started by looking at all I could find in the 12’ to 18’ range but very soon made a short list. I probably missed a lot out.

I looked at boats like the Mirror 16 and the Wayfarer, with a view to building a cuddy on the front, but decided against that as being something beyond my capabilities. If I could find someone to do the design and construction, the Wayfarer might still be ‘on’. The Mirror, though, didn’t seem stable enough although I considered putting on an iron plate and gunter rig. I looked at boats like the Leisure 17 but they are really small cruisers with cramped cabin and cockpit alike, as opposed to a cruising dinghy. Some, like the Voyager, didn’t seem entirely safe, sitting one very high up and exposed in the cockpit. Some that seemed good on specification were ruled out on cost grounds like the French built Foxtrot. Some were too heavy. And so it went on.

Lists are very helpful when comparing things and so I put down as much as I could find out on paper about all the boats I had considered. Table I shows a sample of the way I went about things. Table II shows a list of all the craft I ever considered, without the details, but containing potted comments of the reasons for liking/disliking or discarding a particular craft. The ideas are purely personal and could be entirely wrong, as those of you who own such craft will no doubt be quick to point out! The list obviously misses out a lot of likely candidates and I hope readers will help me make it more comprehensive so that next time…

Having gone through my lists and crossed out the obvious dislikes, I set about trying to find out more about those on my short list. A lot of them were just names and I hadn’t ever seen the craft, let alone handled them. Going round the country looking at boats is an expensive and time consuming business and obviously one can’t do too much of that either. However, I did write to and receive a lot of very valuable help and advice from D.C.A. members, most of them complete strangers at the time I first wrote. I am extremely grateful indeed, particularly for the trial sails.

In the end, you will see from the charts, that I have chosen a Shipmate Mark II. I have no idea yet whether my requirements have been met because I have not yet taken delivery let alone sailed in her; perhaps I might write a sequel at the end of the first season’s sailing telling you if my hopes were fulfilled or not.

Table I

Make/type LOA Weight lbs. C/P or keel Sail area sq. ft. 1975 basic cost ex-VAT Remarks Silhouette II* 17’ 3” 1300 bilge keel 165

For comparison purposes Tideway* 12’ 0” 350 iron C/P 90

Yeoman 20’ 0” 1400 keel 200 1450 Really too big and heavy; looks nice; too expensive Sea Hawk 17’ 0” 1200 C/P in keel 126 1060 Cabin cruiser; too heavy Tricorn 16’ 6” 580 C/P 139 - No longer made ‘early’ fibreglass type; seems OK Hunter 490 16’ 0” 1000 C/P 121 1350 Cabin cruiser; too expensive Alacrity Weekender 18’ 6” 1500 keel 150 1865 Too expensive and big Lanaverre 510 17’ 0” 750 C/P 127 1200 Too expensive; looks nice Foxtrot 16’ 8” 730 C/P 140 1285 Too expensive Sunspot 15 15’ 3” 900 keel 105 980 A bit ‘noddy’ Clipper 15 15’ 0” 720 C/P 95 ? Didn’t enquire about boat Drascombe Dabber 15’ 6” 550 C/P 118 ? Expensive; no cabin or cuddy Shipmate II 16’ 3” 675 C/P 104 695 Seems OK Sea Shanty 17’ 9” 1500 keel 131 2060 Expensive and heavy Roamer 14’ 0” 500 C/P 96 ? Needs to be built from plans; no builder; beyond me Seafarer 18’ 3” 750 C/P ? - Too big and heavy; no longer made

Table II

Craft Remarks YW Dayboat 14 Built of wood; no cabin and I therefore didn’t go into details YM Junior Wooden boat; again open, so I didn’t go into details Rebell Again a wooden boat and seemed rather heavy Roamer 14’ Couldn’t find a builder and certainly can’t tackle it myself; woodply anyway Midshipman 14’ Liked the look of photos very much; couldn’t find owner or builder Foxtrot 17’ (Jouet 17) French boat; looks very nice indeed and had no obvious drawbacks except the price Lanaverre 510 17’ Ditto — never seen one in the flesh Clipper 15’ Only heard of this after I had chosen the Shipmate; don’t know anything about it Mirror 16’ Thought of making adaptions — adding a cuddy — but basically it is a bit unstable for sea cruising I guess; thought of watertight lockers, metal centreplate, extra ballast etc. Wayfarer 16’ Considered the idea of adding cuddy which would make it a good contender but thought it too complicated in the end Leisure 17 Too much a cabin cruiser Silhouette 17½’ Cabin cruiser — although very good of its type; builder now out of business Lysander 17 Cabin cruiser, wood Jaka 17 Didn’t get details so know nothing about it, but seemed heavy and expensive so didn’t pursue S.H.E. D17 Ditto Nimrod 18 Ditto Shipmate Senior 16 ‘Cabin’ version of the Shipmate II Shipmate Mk II 16’ Seems ideal as far as I can see; have sailed one for a short while; fibreglass, large cockpit, cuddy, seems stable (from pictures of maker’s tests); may be a fraction long & therefore heavy for launching etc. alone but there is nothing similar at 14’; price is lowest of its kind on market £936 inclusive of vat, sails, sheets, cleats, bow roller and small extras; will do an appraisal after one season’s use if you wish Hunter 490 16’ Really a cabin boat, not unlike a Silhouette in many ways; can be purchased in semi-kit form to help reduce cost Alacrity 18’ 6” Weekender Much larger than name suggests; too big for me Sunspot 15 Too much cabin for size of boat; ‘noddy’ Seahawk 17’ Quite nice of its type but again basically a cabin cruiser Yeoman 20’ Looks a very nice boat but a bit big & built for racing Seafarer 18 A slightly bigger version of the Shipmate 16 but not built now Tricorn 16’ 6” An early type fibreglass boat; I think fairly heavy but otherwise in the right ‘field’ for my needs Drascombe Dabber Lugger Longboat Basically these seem to be very good boats by all reports; I have seen a few but never sailed one. The Dabber & Lugger have no cuddy, and the Longboat, which has, is too big; rather expensive Tarpon Seems OK but I have never sailed one; made of wood and the cuddy has a homemade look about it Cabin 16 Built to order by a boatyard in Faversham; looks good; about £1200 though; wood Dandy 16 Old advert but my letter returned saying “not known” Family 18 This seems to be the same as or similar to the Redstart which has no freeboard round the cockpit i.e. crew sit high up knees under chin; cabin too big, cockpit too small; bilge keels make draft too big Redstart Trailer Sailer 14 & 16 There is also an 18. These boats look good from drawings; they are wood & I think only built from kits or plans; I have never been able to trace one W.W. Potter 14 Can’t think of anything really wrong but don’t like its looks; too much windage Voyager 14 Again, like the Redstart, too much cabin and no cockpit; crew exposed Kelpie 15 Too much a cabin cruiser, like the Silhouette; keelboat Sharky 16 A bit ‘noddy’; really a cabin cruiser Glenyawl 17 Built to order with personal variations if required on a basic theme; built of clinker plywood; one man firm in mid Wales; looks OK but have never seen one sailing