A member's boat described

These fibreglass craft designed by Ian Proctor, were sold by Fosrite Plastics of Grimsby in the sixties for £345.

Adverts in the yachting press at the time described her as, 'a boat you could leave on a mooring', 'tow behind a mini', 'take all the family', 'sail single handed' and 'go camping or racing'.

Dimensions: LOA 16'6" LWL 15' 6" Beam 6`2" Weight 550 lbs Draught plate up: 8" Draught plate down: 4' 4" Sail areas: Cruising main 98 sq ft Jib 35 sq ft Genoa 59 sq ft Spinnaker 173 sq ft

If built today, she would cost in the region of £5,000. The Beaufort has been out of production for some time. I have logged about 100 hours in No 41, sailing in the Lake District and inshore at sea.

Performance: Force 1 She sails well downwind and on a reach, but must be heeled to leeward while tacking to keep her moving. Force 2 Performs well on all points of sailing without any vices. turns quickly and can hold her own against GP's, Wayfarers and many other popular dinghies. This is about the limit for single-handed sailing, if there are any gusts. Force 3-4 With a crew of two the boat sails well; she is fast and comes about easily. Force 5 She is a handful and should be reefed down. Force 6 She should be reefed down by about two yards and with the smallest jib. Lee helm will be experienced but can be improved if the crew moves forward. The windward ability is poor when reefed down.

The long foredeck, wide side decks and high freeboard make her a dry boat in rough water. She is initially a little tender and heels sooner than a hard chine boat, however once her more than ample beam takes effect she stiffens up.

Her PY is, or was 117.

Buoyancy: There are buoyancy tanks of 600 lbs forward and 750 lbs aft. The aft tank having a hatch on the after deck takes a great deal of gear including the outboard engine. There is room under the wide side decks for another 200 lbs of buoyancy in the form of inflatable bags or blocks of expanded polyurethane.

Stowage: As well as the aft tank, there is a great deal of space under the foredeck. There is room under the side thwarts to stow a pair of oars.

Construction: The boat is well made to a high specification. The materials are: - Fibreglass to a more than adequate thickness, with good finish. Other materials being mahogany, Tufnol, stainless steel, bronze, anodized alloy and a galvanised centreplate.

Comfort: The mahogany side thwarts are just wide enough with a good backrest. The side decks are excellent and make sitting out a pleasure. The boom is set high enough to avoid bending double when going about.

Points Against: This is a heavy boat and requires three people to pull her on a trailer out of the sea over wet sand, or over a stony foreshore. She must not be allowed to rest on the bottom on a falling tide unless your crew have the stamina, power to weight ratio and aggression of a large ape. Access to the forward storage area is very awkward. There are faults in the construction; the fibreglass hog has a tendency to crack right through just aft of the centreplate case but this does not appear to affect the strength of the hull. Both buoyancy tanks tend to leak where they are bonded to the hull. The Cam cleats for the jib sheets are bolted directly to the inward sloping side decks and are thus set at the wrong angle. The long foredeck is slippery and requires a non-slip area.

Points for: The boat is very strong and will take a lot of punishment. It has a large cockpit with good seating. There is room to sleep two in the bottom of the cockpit. There is a great deal of storage space. She is a powerful performer, especially at sea.

Personal Comment: The Beaufort has the characteristics of a family Labrador, allowing the children to push and pull it around without complaint, but alert and able to bound along when allowed to.

Cost and Availability: A good example in nice condition will fetch about £1,500. A well used boat that requires some t1c. about £700. This type of boat is in demand by sailing schools and rental outfits, so the chances of finding one for sale are less than great.

Doug Heslop suggests that descriptions of various boats, old and new, well loved and lesser known can be useful to novice cruiser sailors. There should be a certain protocol in the giving of the information, similar to the above. However he stresses that the authors must be honest and have had sufficient experience of the boat under discussion. They should give a measure of their experience in the approximate hours of sailing time in the boat.