yacht tenders

[sailingforever]

I've heard that some yacht tenders alos make excellent small daysailers.
one thing that is nice is that they can hold quite a load but how good is a regular yachts tender's sailing performance?

the ones that I really like are the Maine made Puffin dinghies, especially the 8 ft row and sail.
also the dyer dhow midget but maybe those are above my price range.(lol)


I hope someone has had some experience with yacht tenders.

have a great holiday!!


- Hannah

[Jeff_H]

Generally yacht tenders are designed to provide as much carrying capacity in short length and light weight as possible. They are not designed to sail or row especially well.

Jeff

[sailingforever]

I want something that will give me a dry and fun ride though( I'll be sailing May to October in Maine) so it can't be something like a sunfish.

what I really want is a Beetle Cat but those are really out of my price range(lol)

[Jeff_H]

What is your price range?

Years ago, there used to be a whole range of reasonably good sailing small daysailors. Boats like the Blue Jay, Penguins, Flying Juniors, Interclub Dinghies, Oday Sprites, Widgeons, and Javelins used to be common as dirt and made good boats for the kind of thing that you are considering. When I was a teenager I had a Sprite that was the bee's knees for poking about. Mostly I sailed her on Long Island Sound but I also sailed her on Harpswell Sound in Maine, where the spray was cold and swimming was a very brief experience.

Jeff

[sailingforever]

the boat I've always wanted! lucky you!

one feature I really liked about the sprites was that they could be cat or sloop rigged.
and they are the right size.

I wonder why they are no longer made.


and what about hobie holders? they look pretty interesting, especially the 12 footer.

oh yes, and my price range is under $1000

that should prove to be difficult. although I once saw an oday sprite for $500...

[sailingforever]

if I had a sailing partner i would save and get a lido 14 probably.
unfortunatly my sailing friend lives too far away for that.

or I would get a blue jay...

[merc2dogs]

Oday sprites seems that they were dropped because people who would buy one ended up buying Hobies or something similar.

I've had one for the last 8 years and love it, for just dinking around it cant be beat, and it's perfect for getting to the mooring, my other boat's 28ft, so it's a bit too small to stow the sprite aboard.

There are a few stich and glue sailing dinghy plans out, some look like they'd be nice in both modes, one I have been thinking about is a 9ft two-part/nesting style, may not sail as well as the sprite, but it looks like it would match every other need. need to find the link again, re-installed everything and for some reason didn't save my bookmarks.

Ken.

[sailandoar]

I am looking very seriously at:

10' 2" sailing dingy that is two part nesting: 5' 6" long when nested and about 110 lbs.

The builder is very nice and very helpful in e-mails so far. I built some glass dingys years ago similar to the Bruce Bingham trinka in 9' with molded lapstrake. Wonderful rowing and sailing. The niccollslite is very similar. Not quite as pretty (shearline) but a big part of that is the constraints on the design by the requirment to "nest" the two sections. I am impressed with the construction, strength, light weight, and am waiting for some additions to the website that will include pictures of some of the options that are currently only described.

Here is some info from the builders web site.

*******************

http://www.niccollslite.net/page1.html





Contact:
Niccolls Lite

Address:
PO Box 2221 Point Roberts WA. 98281

Phone:
"Everyone of my boats is sold after we talk about what is important to you.... the customer. If interested please call me" : Barry Niccolls
Cell: (604) 218-8027 Cell,
Fax: (604)-940-0798
E-Mail: niccollslite@hotmail.com or nestingdinghy@yahoo.com

[Faster]

Check out www.walkerbay.com
These molded plastic dinghies are available with sailing rigs, and also they offer an add-on inflatable section that turns them into sailing RIBs with extra stability and load carrying ability.. Beamy, roomy and not far off your price range.