Two Mystery Dutch boats

an area to discuss dinghy developments
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Er-Indoors
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:34 pm

Two Mystery Dutch boats

Post by Er-Indoors »

While Nessa was out on the water in the Netherlands I spotted a couple of mystery boats for you guys to ponder.
Mystery boat 1-800.jpg
This one plastic by the Yacht Club entrance - the covered up one alongside is similar boat...Didn't see it sail. note the cool boat space markings!
Mystery boat 2-800.jpg
This one was out in the water with 2 adults in it. In the pouring rain in case you didn't guess. It has a capital M on the sail and a wooden boom and mast but the hull is plastic.

Have fun!
LASERTOURIST
Posts: 368
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 9:54 pm
Location: France

Re: Two Mystery Dutch boats

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The firs boat is easy enough , it is one of the better laser clones, built by YAMAHA in Japan ,
called the Sea Hopper (usually with a grasshopper in the sail)

It is not without its defects : the sail (by Briand in La Rochelle) was not too badly cut but the mast was a disaster (3 sections of aluminium tube, each one brutally tapered at the top to accomodate the following section, in the camping tent pole fasion....there were no plastic collars to ensure a snug fit and the mast wore and swayed badly)

The hull has a low freeboard (lower than the Laser, which is markedly lower than the X4, the french clone) with a marked deck sheer , so it is very wet indeed in choppy conditions.

Molding quality is quite good but the boat comes only in whithe hull / orange decks (contrary to gaudily coloured pre 120 000 Lasers) , probalbly for some japanese safety rules (which are very tight to discourage imports, they tried to block imports the french Tiga and Bic sport windsurfs that way)...

A deliciously unuseful feature is the little molded glovebox at the backi of the cockpit, it was specifically designed to hold a purpose built varnished pine paddle and a highly inefficient anchor, a kind of miniature "Marrel" type anchor (as seen on tankers and cargo ships), which would be more suitable to a big scale model of some tug or tanker.

..some japânese bikes had those types of completelty unuseful features , such as the LC D display of the selected gear on some period big Suzukis (including the rotary engined RX)...somebody considered this as a maketin bonus (even if it needed a complicated wiring -motorbikes- or molding -dinghies)
LASERTOURIST
Posts: 368
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 9:54 pm
Location: France

Re: Two Mystery Dutch boats

Post by LASERTOURIST »

The second boat (obviously a quiet 12 Ft Cruiser of yesteryear, in the style of popular Zef and Piaf...both excluded as their sail emblem was respectively a Z and a sparrow head) is so indistinct through the rainy glass pane that it is quite unidentificable...could be a Minor by french maker Silvant that fits the size and period (though later ones had an aly mast) or a Musard by Morin (but the M in the musard sail was more curvaceous)...or any other kind of Dutch / german / british / belgian...dinghy with a similar program
solentgal
Posts: 466
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:01 pm
Location: twixt Chichester & Pompey

Re: Two Mystery Dutch boats

Post by solentgal »

Ah......that has answered a mystery for me too.... I came upon one of the Sea-hopper orange dinghies in the New Forest a couple of months ago, and wondered what it was..... now I know! :)
Sami.
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webmuppet
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:43 pm
Location: Deepest Suffolk

Re: Two Mystery Dutch boats

Post by webmuppet »

Until recently we had a very nice dinghy in our boat park which I'm told was a Dutch class - sail had three (?) chain links on the sail and it looked rather like a bigger version of an Enterprise. When it first appeared it was in the most beautiful condition and it looked great out on the water - the owner was Dutch and he told me that it was a popular class back home. Unfortunately the boat's seen very little use and has now been removed from the boat park,

Nigel
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