Traditional-looking dayboat requires little maintenance

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 30

Traditional-looking dayboat requires little maintenance

Stuart Walker, of Walker Marine, Nelson, has jointly developed with Graham Sissons a traditional style of dinghy with a modern fibreglass hull and all the advantages of maintenance-free materials and finishes. Known as Nelson's Lugger, it had its first showing at the Auckland Boat Show and has sold about 25 models to places as far apart as Auckland and Balfour. Mr Walker says that it is not intended to be a purist's traditional craft but, rather, a modern approach to a well-refined design The hull and spars are of modern materials which offer minimum maintenance while reducing concern for damage to polished brightwork, as would be the case with an expensively-built, traditional wooden version; however performance characteristics of the wooden original are still retained. There is some wood brightwork around the gunwale to add contrast to the glass hull. The traditional boat expert, Jim Keogh, made the following comments in the September, 1981, issue of “Sea Spray”: “The Whitehall replica appears to be kitted out in an attempt to capture a part of the low-income boating market; it is a pretty skiff that breaks the rule of thumb by being wider than a third of the over-all length (3.7 m by 1.6 m) but has considerable deadrise which narrows the waterline beam. “The boat is of classic

shape and apart from its rounded skeg, is the nicest I have seen. Nelson's lugger is a misnomer as it is in fact a sprit rig — all luggers have a yard, either standing or dipping, which brings parts of the mainsail forward of the mast. "Performance of the boat is. in a word, great — qualified by the fact that, it is a small boat. “It handles unpleasant conditions in a casual way and

is amazingly dry considering its low freeboard. Its turn of speed is v also surprising and it is a relaxed sort of speed where you don't have to stack out and uselessly grind your teeth against the unexpected. “I am sure that deep in its fibreglass soul there is a memory of what • a good wooden working skiff should be.

“Because of the skiff, it doesn’t point all that well, but that is a minor disadvantage because it gets the tacks over very quickly.

“Two adults and two kids would be a comfortable number on this boat for safety and pleasure — the lugger would be capable of handling any unexpected weather with this load, providing the skipper and crew knew what they were doing."