If I disappear into the garage Sue says I'm “patting the boat” - a therapy which can be just as beneficial as sailing one, and with less likelihood of ending up on a lee shore (though it came near to that, garage, dinghy and all, in the famous Long Stratton 'tornado' of autumn ‘89). For twelve years the boat was Roamer R 10 (nicknamed The Bongololo after a large central African millipede). At times the patting entailed extensive surgery. But there was no occasion when a significant change was not an improvement, so herewith - prompted of course by Len Wingfield's comments in the last bulletin, and our recent reluctant sale of the faithful craft - are some observations on the outcome of all those pats.

She appeared in our back garden in Norwich early in spring ‘78. A battered, frost-bitten stripped-out hulk about as ugly as a dinghy could possibly be, though only about four years old. Only her stern differed from Eric Coleman's design. The ‘sterncastles’ had been omitted and the deck built across the entire area between transom and frame E, giving a huge hold with a large hatch on top (almost unusable with the tiller in place).

In time I made the fore hatch, floor boards and seats largely to plan. But a removable cross-thwart was added for rowing and to provide enough forward seating to take all five of us for day-sailing and still make it possible to go about without chaos ensuing - well generally anyway. I became so used to sailing without a kicking strap, that I only got round to fitting an effective one several years later. Instead of the winch he designed for raising the centreplate, I used a five-part system made up from two galvanised blocks with one attached to the forward bulkhead. This proved so successful that it was never changed. It also acted as effective toe straps, so I chucked out the ones I'd made from discarded car seat belts. Incidentally, the boat has always absorbed recycled bits of this and that; 19th. century shelving from our Victorian larder provided seats, parts of an African hardwood coffee stool became a tabernacle for the mast, some teak taken from a discarded door frame (about to be ‘skipped’ at College) made the foredeck splash boards, the bilges were painted through with the remnants of eight different tins of gloss paint mixed into a hideous four-letter brown..... The latter proved durable, but too light absorbing when searching for small items dropped through the floor boards. So it was eventually changed for Danboline grey bilge paint.

The Sherwin was emphasised by a double thickness of iron (the outer layer intended to be sacrificial). Above this level all the topsides and decking was painted a light sand colour, but the main hull pillar-box red. This light-over-dark colour contrast is essential in Roamers if the effect is to be aesthetically pleasing and the visual ‘weight’ of foredeck and sterncastles minimised. It is not enough just to have colour differences, and I think that dark or varnished foredecking and sterntanks can have too heavy an effect. The light decking may give rise to some glare in sunlight, but it serves to reduce thermal stress and damage to woodwork in hot weather. In later years I added strategically placed patches of deck paint in a somewhat darker stone colour which was also used on the floor boards.

R 10 was sailed in this form from her initial re-launch in summer ‘79 until her major operations commenced in ‘87 (in sympathy with her owner?). The vexed problem of oar stowage which the huge stern locker generated, was overcome by slinging them on the boom - a trick which worked astonishingly well for the whole period. I also cut a shallow outboard recess into the stern to allow a short-shaft 40+ to be used. Soon after making the tabernacle I shortened the forestay and fitted a three part system to aid mast raising and lowering; not of course because the mast is any great weight, but to allow the stays to be swigged up tight easily and speedily from inside the boat, after going under Broads river bridges. The disadvantage is the yards of extra line which has to be tidied away - so, finding we did far more sailing at sea than under low bridges, we reverted to lanyard.

We sailed her most around East Anglia and the Broads of course, but also had notable holidays in Scotland (from Loch Sween) and south Cornwall. Any other modifications made were relatively insignificant. The boom tent was not permanently attached, and always seemed to take at least 20 minutes to set up effectively. Sue machined it from mid-brown roofing-quality tent canvas which worked well and looked good from outside. But inside, the effect was gloomy even with a white towel or piece of sheeting, tucked between boom and the oars which formed the eaves, to provide a reflecting surface. Next time I'll use white or ‘natural’ canvas.

The ‘operations’ of the late eighties where quite radical, and were undertaken to improve sleeping arrangements and stowage. For a time Sue complained that she was always finding me (‘bodging saw’ in hand and often with David McC. egging me on), “cutting another hole in the boat!” The broad stern deck was cut away from frame E in an increasing curve, back to within a foot of the transom, so the outboard recess was undisturbed and a convenient seat remained to sit on when washing feet over the stern or donning wellies. It also provides fair-weather protection for odds and ends. The old seats were then removed and replaced with built-in ones running the full length of the cockpit and continuing at the same level across the stern between frame E and transom. The footwell which remained was 22” wide x 6’ 6” long. The floorboards (1/2” ply) lift to slot between the seats to provide a large uncluttered sleeping platform at last ‘unintruded’ by the centreplate hoist box. (Who referred to that piece of equipment as a passion preventer?)

The central portion of each side seat was boxed in (to provide several cubic feet of extra safety buoyancy) with 9” screw-down plastic inspection hatches in their vertical faces. A weathertight ‘Coleman-hinged’ hatch (see the one on the cabin top of Rebell) built into the top of the now lower stern locker, can be held open with shockcord and used while under way. For rowing a plastic one-piece moulded footstool (by Addis kitchen ware) works beautifully and has its place in a recess at the forward end of the port seat when not in use. Opposite, on the starboard side, part of the seat can be lifted, dropped vertically into an angled slot, and becomes a backrest when seated on the floor in the shelter of the forward bulkhead to brew up. The oars can now be moved to alternative stowage if you wish by slotting them below the side decks.

To get rid of the mud and debris brought in by the anchor, a hole was cut in the foredeck to starboard of the kingplank and just ahead of frame A, and a self-draining anchor-well fitted of sufficient depth to take a Bruce anchor and considerable length of chain and warp. This modification is a great boon which has no detrimental effect on stowage in the forward hold, nor as far as I can judge, on performance.

Finally, the sterncastles were added to the quarters. They were built onto the surface of the decking and somewhat narrower than designed - so their volume is less than Eric intended but located where it will exert the necessary leverage in a knock-down. Their day to day value to my mind comes in the extra shelter provided and the rapid-access stowage for small items which remain immediately to hand behind 6” diameter hatches.

Had I kept the boat, it was very apparent that the logical conclusion to these modifications would be to make the now small cockpit ‘well’ self draining, since the floor boards are a couple of inches above the waterline. It also became clear that many of these changes and at least some of the designed features of the Roamer, could be built into quite a number of popular chine dinghies with generous bilges and good stability characteristics. They would however need at least some ballast to compensate for the small increase in top hamper. Frankly, I am one of those who think that virtually all cruising dinghies need some bottom weight to make them more stable and forgiving, and added buoyancy to compensate. I don't know how much the total weight of the hull (designed to be about 750 lbs.) may have been altered. Quite a lot of heavy material in this particular boat (e.g. the solid plank seating) had to come out before the lighter ply structures were built in - so it may not have been much. I also frequently wondered at the huge strength built into Eric's design, and am quite convinced that a Roamer could be built stitch-and-glue style on light frames/bulkheads jigsaw-cut from heavy ply to a total weight probably 60% or less than usual. David McClellan has made similar observations. Anyone out there with the time and nerve to attempt it? There is also much to be said about and learned from the sailing qualities of the Roamer, but that is perhaps for another time.

Where do Sue and I go from here? It's a hard boat to follow.......but we want a craft to sit IN rather than on, and one which does not have to be driven hard heaving on sheets from the side decks in a blow - a form of anaerobic exercise which no longer agrees with me. That means either going up to something bigger, more trying to launch and retrieve (we live 60-75 minutes from the sea launching sites), and more costly to buy and run; or something smaller, lighter, more easy to handle and perhaps only for fair(er) weather sailing. I had intended partially to ‘roamerise’ a Mirror, raise the rig 6”, fit a swinging centre plate, proper foredeck perhaps with a gentle slope to it..........but I would still have to sit it out and it still has a jib to handle. So it now seems more likely to be a Bolger 15’ 6” x 4’ ‘instant’ Beach Cruiser - a cat yawl with self-tacking sprit-boom rig and leeboards, half decked and a good boat to row in easy fashion and to run ashore; and no more than 175 lbs. hull weight.

Well; I had better start “patting” it - at least on paper! Perhaps I could build in a few Coleman characteristics as I go..........

(Drawings on next page)

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