From Cliff:

The Dabber is a GRP yawl-rigged centreboard dinghy with a traditional displacement hull. Its weight 250 kg (551 lbs) makes it quite possible to launch single handed from a trailer. Cliff uses a breakback trailer attached to the car (to be recommended for those of us no longer in the first flush of youth). It can make things more comfortable and predictable.

Its vital statistics are as follows:-

Length on deck — 4.72 m (15’ 6”) Length on waterline — 4.14 m (13’ 7”) Beam — 1.78 m ( 5’ 10”) Total Sail area — 10.96 sq. m (118 sq ft) Draft (plate down) — 0.91 m (3’) Min. draft — 0.2 m (8”)

All sails are loose-footed, the clew of the triangular mizzen (13.3 sq ft) being taken to a very easily withdrawn bumpkin which is vulnerable if left attached when mooring. The jib is small (22.1 sq ft) its tack is set on a bowsprit 2.5 ft long which, though sturdy, can be removed whilst afloat when mooring in restricted spaces. The main is a standing-lug which benefits by being tripped round to the lee-side of the mast when tacking, although this is not essential. It is supplied with one adequate row of reeling points, the tack downhaul being a simple rope through the forward thwart. This is adequate for adjustment by a crew but needs a light tackle to the floor, then run aft for single handed work.

The centreboard is galvanised steel and protrudes through the top of its case, being raised by an easily-operated tackle from aft. The floors are pine and easily removable for maintenance, their presence makes final bailing most easily done by fitting a pump in the generous rear locker into which the hull drains. The ‘optional’ sole to this locker being essential if it is to be used for storage.

Two self-draining open cave lockers are provided just aft of the mainmast which can accommodate the anchor, fenders and the odd bit of clothing or food. They need to be fitted with lids if much spray is to be encountered. (Cliff’s boat’s previous owners used them as kennels for a small self-tacking dog which always preferred the lee one as a hideaway).

In many boats there are two alternative rowing positions and a removable thwart for the forward one. Oar stowage can be a problem, being inconvenient on the floor or side benches. David stowed his with the looms projecting over the wooden capping of the transom and secured with shock-cord which only leaves the flat blades of the oars which can be secured upright against the hull on top of the side-benches.

An engine up to 4 hp can be carried, access to it being easy as there is an engine tunnel in the overhang of the reardeck. A separate fuel tank can be mounted on one of the rear quarters of this deck to keep the floor clear. The current manufacturers (McNulty) will provide a cockpit cover for mooring, an overall cover, a sprayhood and a cockpit tent as extras — although we have no experience with these.

The rudder is a plain sturdy wooden blade mounted in pintles over the stern and can be used when the engine is operating — its blade doesn’t foul the propeller at normal angles. It extends slightly below the keel height so that care is needed when coming onto shallow shores. Cliff’s boat’s previous owner made a kickup rudder with a metal blade which solves this problem and reduces drag. The standard rudder blade could become exposed at big angles of heel in a seaway or crew placed too far forward but we have not been troubled by this provided the boat is not pressed to its limit.

The wide beam gives a reassuring ultimate stiffness in a ‘blow’, though the fine lines lower down mean that unless very heavily laden it responds well to light airs for a boat with no racing pretentions. Both jib and mizzen are smaller proportionally than those of the larger Lugger making their performance quite limited although useful for a balanced tack-in towards a shore when the main has been handed. On a breezy day a useful first strategy is to brail up the mizzen, followed by furling the jib, before less conveniently reefing the main. With a reefed main together with jib and mizzen some very exhilarating reaches have been done with three adults sitting up to, or even on the gunwales!!

Buoyancy is by built-in polystyrene foam fore and aft and under the side-decks. This, when new, is adequate to keep boat and crew afloat although it is rarely possible to bail-out a completely swamped boat as water enters via the centreboard slot unless it is blocked with towels.

There are some questions around the long-term efficiency of polystyrene as it degrades which might cause owners of older boats to renew or redesign this if challenging sea-passages were to be made.

Cliff’s was built by Honnor Marine, we believe they are now obtainable from McNulty Boats. They are sturdily constructed and with minimum maintenance will withstand the rough and tumble of shoreline life. They will give safe enjoyable sailing without gymnastics, forgive the odd mistake and look after you in a sea-way.

From David:

Mine is another Honnor Marine and is a good sea boat. It’s fairly resistant to being capsized: I never managed it, indeed my capsizes in other boats have tended to result from my overconfidently going out in conditions with which the Dabber would probably have coped!

It’s one of the faster Drascombes. It’s easy to launch and recover: with the standard-issue Bramber trailer, which I had, you need to unhitch in order to tilt the trailer and its line of keel rollers to match the angle of the hull as it rolls up or down, then the straight keel should stay on the rollers and not wander off on either side. (Fitting extra rollers helps). There’s no need to immerse the wheel bearings on most slips or beaches.

Folk used only to Bermudan sloops will find that managing a lugsail yawl requires some different techniques (e.g. sail balance becomes much more critical in a boat with sails poled out beyond the ends of the hull. See also my article in Bulletin No. 122). A Dabber needs Force 4 to get it going, but then sails well. It will go to windward quite successfully, unlike some ‘traditional’ dinghies. Unlike Cliff I tended to reef the mainsail first and then drop the main leaving just the jib and mizzen, the exception being to furl the mizzen first when running before the wind. In very strong winds under jib and mizzen there was a tendency to carry lee-helm, a problem I solved by resetting the jib at the stem-head, and using the mainsheet cleats on the cockpit sides as fairleads for the jib sheets.

The boat enjoys a long open cockpit due to the masts being near the ends of the hull. The cockpit floor between the buoyancy tanks and the c/b case is not wide enough to sleep comfortably. The solution is to raise the floorboards to the level of the sideseats and sleep on top. Honnor Marine’s Dabber has no dry stowage: I used waterproof containers strapped either side of the c/b case, along with water carriers and open-topped boxes for gear.

I made an overall tent from a large tarpaulin fitted outside the gunwales. My Dabber came with two sets of rowlock sockets, enabling me to support the oars about 15” above the gunwales to hold out the tent sides.(Supports are aluminium tubes with plugs in the bottoms to fit the rowlock sockets, and the rowlocks themselves in the tops). The tent proved very heavy to handle so I put a joint in the centre, which had the advantage that I could erect the bow half only for cooking etc.

Useful modifications

1. If a bobstay is fitted and the forestay moved to the outer end of the bowsprit, tacking the jib becomes much easier. (Not recommended for boats with a deck-mounted tabernacle).

2. The standard method of tying the halyard to the mainyard and threading the tack downhaul through the tack eyelet is fiddly and a nuisance to undo when lowering the mainsail. A better solution is to splice a snaphook onto the halyard and tie the parrel-loop permanently to it. The put a small strop on the yard to hook into. A similar snaphook and a block can be used to attach the downhaul (hence Cliff’s reference to a tackle).

3. Tripping and Brailing lines for the mainsail (see my previous Bulletin article).

4. Brass bands to protect the rudder and ‘skeg’ area of the hull.

5. Mast gate. The mast is stepped by lowering it through a hole in a board at deck-level. This is difficult on land if it’s windy and very difficult afloat! Converting the hole into a slot closed by a mast gate or locking pin makes the whole process much easier and safer. (Some owners have fitted tabernacles: see above).

6. The vulnerable bumkin can be greatly shortened if you fit a mizzen boom. (I will explain sheeting and furling arrangements to anyone interested). The sail sets better too (I did experiment with a main boom, but this proved a cumbersome monster, being very low and very long, with the possibility of horrendous broaches and gybes. It ended up as the tent ridge pole: for running before the wind it’s much easier to pole the mainsail clew out with a long boathook).

7. Box for anchor and cable drum on foredeck.

8. The mainsail with its yard is quite heavy. A power of two tackle on the halyard helps. (Again I can explain etc.)

9. I used a power of four tackle on the mainsheet: less tiring to hold in strong winds, and easier to haul in again after letting the sheet run in a squall.

10. Extra jibsheets, cleats on the c/b case for single-handing.

I kept my Dabber for 12 years and thoroughly enjoyed sailing it, mostly on the west coast of Scotland around Loch Sunart and also around Morecambe Bay. I only sold it to buy a cruiser.