It is two years since I last visited this show. It has definitely grown in size, but was still as full of friendly people as ever. I would recommend it as the show for DCA members to visit as it is chock-a-block with desirable small boats. Unfortunately I was not able to be there very long, so my usual detailed list of worthwhile craft and prices is not forthcoming. I will mention some pointers for anyone contemplating building their own. If anyone has the cash to have a boat built then they can write to me and I will send them a list of possible names.

Those considering building their own dinghy and having a modicum of woodworking skill would find it hard to ignore the possibilities of the ‘glued-lap clinker system’. By no means a recent innovation, “restricted” class dinghies such as National 12’s, Merlin Rockets and even International 14’s have been built by this method over the last thirty years, as it allows one to change the hull shape from one boat to the next without expensive new moulds. With the advent of epoxy techniques the system has become even easier saving the precise bevelling of planks, in fact, if you don’t mind the appearance, you can still have a watertight hull with no bevelling at all. One of the advantages of the system over conventional clinker is that it virtually does away with the necessity of fitting ribs, abolishing all that steaming ,drilling and clenching/riveting, and making the inside of the hull easy to clean, varnish or bail. The hull is watertight permanently as the planking is glued along the edges and is dimensionally stable as plywood is used, not natural timber. Other assets of the system are the lower price due to the reduced timber required, and the lower weight. The result of one’s labours will be a round bilge hull with all that means in improved performance over hulls built using large flat panels. Unless one has to have a specific design for some reason, the only reasonable excuse for building double chine hulls in wood or buying one in GRP is that kits in timber are available for this method, or that there are existing racing fleets that one may wish to join. Clinker building aside it can only be the success of the Wayfarer, a design now 35 years old, that persuaded the first manufacturers of the Wanderer to want it to look like the former’s little brother. An opportunity for a modern general purpose 14 foot round bilge dinghy in GRP, by a good designer was thus sadly missed. I must leave it there as otherwise you will be hearing my views on the stultifying effect of one design racing on dinghy design.

Fortunately there are now many designs available for glued clinker construction, as well as for other methods. One of the foremost designers at the moment is Ian Oughtred, well thought of in the USA, who has an excellent range in his portfolio, from conventional tenders, performance planing dinghies and more stable varieties; to rowing skiffs, beach boats and canoes. His plans give lots of help for building. All his boats are good looking. He has several designs suitable for a beginner. As a guide to cost, his Ptarmigan 11’ 6” design, weighs in at 140 lbs. hull weight with expected costs of hull only £550, gunter sloop fully rigged £900. Ian Oughtred, Gorton House, Lasswade, Edinburgh EH18 1EM

Also try Selway Fisher Design of 15 King Street, Melksham, Wiltshire SN12 6HB. Tel. 0225 705074. As well as a range of designs they also produce manuals on Small Plywood Boat Construction, Sailmaking for the Home Builder and Ply/epoxy Canoe Construction. They were not present at the show themselves but one or two of their designs were, including their 12’6” Privateer multi-chined gaff sloop with topsail. This was available for £2,500 (no VAT payable) from Long Island Boats, N.G. Apps, 1 Spring Street, Wool, Wareham, Dorset BH20 6DB tel. 0929 462113.

Andrew N. Wolstenholme, of Field House, Station Road, Hoveton, Norwich NR12 8UR was represented by his pretty little 11’ Coot at the show. It could be worthwhile to send him a sae for details of this and any other designs he has.

The National Maritime Museum has simply thousands of traditional designs available - from Fully Rigged Ships to Bum Boats. They have not yet got round to cataloguing them all yet, but if you have a yen for say, the Bounty’s boat which Captain Bligh made famous, or Shackleton’s ship’s boat in which he voyaged in the roaring forties to save his crew from the Antarctic you could well find that they could come up with the design for same. The Smithsonian Institute in the USA already gives this service at minimum cost — I had a design back from there within 10 days.

Maritime Information Centre, The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE1O 9NF.