"Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

an area to discuss dinghy developments
Rupert
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Rupert »

http://www.cvrda.org/dinghydata/mailboat.htm

Still think the Mailboat wins.
Rupert
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PeterV
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by PeterV »

Chris, I thought I had a lovely transom!

And so does my Finn!

Rupert, you're wrong, Laser Tourist woin the competition at the start!
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chris
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by chris »

Peter, I've only once been close enough to even see your transom! But I did say some were quite nice.
clibb
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by clibb »

Unless I am mistaken the Maierform bow was an ice breaking device, nothing to do with streamlining bulbous bows.

Nick
Michael Brigg
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Michael Brigg »

Carrying on the discussion a little further with regard to aft raked stems and the like, I did enjoy Laser Tourist's reference to the British inclination to shoot ourselves in the foot. We have a long line of Military commanders that are famous for their extreme bull headedness, with either disasterous or brilliant success. Something to do with Luck more often than the right stuff, but less likely these days as Political correctness leads us down a path of timid mediocrity.

I believe the tendency to an Aft rake on the stem came about out of convenience, as this was the easiest way to design a bow on a boat with significant tumblehome. This was a neccesity in sailing ships carrying cannon and in the days when Boarding the opponent was the principal naval tactic.

Tumblehome meant that when ships came together, the gunwhales would be some distance appart, making boarding more difficult.

Also, a shell striking the side obliquely would have to penetrate more armour for any relative thickness, or might even be deflected, (Especially so if the ship was heeled away from the attacking ship, as would be the case if you were down wind.)

Tumblehome gives a wider waterline for the given size of ship, and so there is both increased stability and greater storage volume. (for water and munitions) allowing longer periods at sea. The narrower upper decks kept heavy guns nearer the mid line, again improving stability.

However it is difficult to shape a significant Tumblehome into a sharp prow unless it is raked aft, and a flat bow would be slow, not a good idea in the tactics of sailing skirmishes where the upwind boat would have most of the aces.

The modern american ship with a raked prow benefits from a wave piercing shape, so there is less pitch to affect the aim of the weaponry (though I doubt that is much of a problem as they mostly shoot missiles these days,) but the angled sides would be better for radar stealth.

I think Rupert's Mailboat is far uglier than LazerTourist's Swail, which has a real sense of style.

The sail boat that had real style in its bow, (though lacking certan practicalities such as head room) was Fazisi.

Image :) :)

A Beautiful Russian Swan with a touch of the Navy about her...

Image Image
Michael Brigg
clibb
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by clibb »

Fazisi, otherwise know as "The Soviet Submarine" was skippered by Skip Novak. His book on designing, building, financing, and sailing Fazisi, whilst having to deal with cold war Russian interference, is well worth reading.

Nick
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trebor
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by trebor »

Probably a stupid question, would the raked back stem not push the boat under when striking the face of a wave?
Robert
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Rupert
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Rupert »

Not a stupid question at all. The idea I expect is that it goes through the wave ("wave piercing"), like the modern cat designs. However, I'm not at all convinced it works on a fairly wide dinghy, and going down the mine is a distinct possibility despite the high bow, especially given the lack of rocker. I'd have to sail it to be sure, though!
Rupert
LASERTOURIST
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The Mailboat is said to be made of polystyrene foam (AKA Klégécell), didn't know about this one but there were two "rather ugly ducklings" made this way : the lateen rigged Sunflower (the first one , sponsored by a US Chewing gum company were bare white klégécell while the later ones wer clad with thin yellow plastic to give them a semblance of hardness and durability and the bigger brother called Wildflower (sloop rigged).

The ugliest of the two was the bigger Wildflower , it was very squarish and had a seasled / boston whaler gullwing type of bottom.

Ugly and fragile as they were , they had at least the merit of being dirt cheap...

I dont think the wav piercing concept is any good on a monohull , it works on cats and tris vith tnife sharp bows
Michael Brigg
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Michael Brigg »

LASERTOURIST wrote: I dont think the wav piercing concept is any good on a monohull , it works on cats and tris vith tnife sharp bows
Sadly, sometime not however!

Image

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/299439 ... -blow.html
Michael Brigg
LASERTOURIST
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The Pete Goss boat was a freak and somewhat "out of the box" , not quite tried and tested....

awkwardly supported twin masts (Tim Coleman's crossbow 2 style, only was sailing on inshore flat waters at Weymouth), windsurf style wisbone booms that do not give much control over sail shape , What's more it was scaled up many times over compared to Crossbow 2...

No beam ahead of the main one and crazy flexion in pounding seas...the big french transatlantic multis had lots of horrible breakdowns of their own , but lessons were learnt, the breed was gradually improved and they achieved some degree of reliability even up to south ocean , round Cape Horn style of sailing....the Pete Goss was not the product of step by step , trial and error improvements, but a big leap into the great unknown...
aviateam
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by aviateam »

Listed as a dinghy, and surely ugly.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boat-dinghy-/ ... 27fac793bf

All yours for 99p....!
LASERTOURIST
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by LASERTOURIST »

surely some horrible "kleenex" clamshell over foamcore dinghy , sunflower or wildflower style...


This one is not bad either never heard of that thing , possibly german (located near the north-eastern border of France), certainly a Dinghy /windsurf cross breed , possibly used by Batman...

http://www.leboncoin.fr/nautisme/774960391.htm?ca=12_s

Enjoy!
Rupert
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Rupert »

I like that! Kind of...

The Batman boat, that is. The other looks like a cattle trough.
Rupert
Rod
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Re: "Ugliest dinghy ever" contest

Post by Rod »

LaserTourist, where do you find such artistic pieces, this must be the swoopiest dinghy ever. Haven't figured out what the long tracks are for though.

Rod M.
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