Otter, original brochure

Discussion forum for the Otter class of sailing dinghy

Moderator: aptanet

Post Reply
rogerbrain
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:43 am

Otter, original brochure

Post by rogerbrain »

Hi All,
I have got an original brochure (flyer) on the Otter Dinghy from Chris Clarance Marine,
Anyone who would like a pdf copy, mail me and I will mail it to you.
Best
Roger

olliemoore
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:29 pm
Location: Somerset

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by olliemoore »

I have just been given an otter to restore and need as much info as I can get hold of! If anyone has anything that might help me in this little project then please let me know. Thanks

Adevfr
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:48 pm

Post by Adevfr »

Hello Roger,

I was interested to learn that you have a pdf flyer available for the Otter. I bought an Otter in the summer to help my wife & I practice and improve our recently learned dinghy sailing skills in and around Poole Harbour. I bought it with 2 main sails, 1 jib but no spinnaker. It has the boat number 1124 as being built by Chris Clarence. I would be grateful if you could email me the pdf details you have to save us guessing if we have rigged it correctly. please email to adrian.seymour@kennametal.com Many thanks, Adrian.

chrispotter25
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:30 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by chrispotter25 »

Hi everyone. I recently bought Otter 272 from a non-sailing neighbour who had bought her as a project, left her in a field rotting...usual story. A very sorry sight when I saw her and I took her as a rowing tender for my larger boat. But she has cleaned up very well, sails washed up well, etc, and I am all ready to sail her.

However, I was given a bag of bits and I am not sure that I am rigging the mainsheet properly. In particular, there is a rope loop with a fibre pulley block attached, which seems to slot into a hole, but none of the holes in the transom seem to be in a suitable position. If anyone could provide me with a pdf of the original handbook, or can supply some pictures of the rear rigging arrangements I would be very grateful.

I also bought an old Seagull outboard thinking I might be glad of it on the Otter, as my sailing ground tends to be the Usk estuary. This enjoys daily 13m tides, making it quite a job to get back to the club house if the wind drops! I assume I should strengthen the transom with a wooden board. Anyone have any experience of doing this with tips, before I do my usual trick of learning the hard way?

Chris

User avatar
aptanet
Site Admin
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:02 pm
Location: Waterlooville
Contact:

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by aptanet »

Hi, and welcome to the forums. It is a little quiet in here on the whole, but there has been the odd burst of activity. I've just updated the look of the site a bit, which was pretty much the default for the software used following a major upgrade recently. I've also noticed that there may be some problems with mails getting through to newly registering users, so I'll have to look into that.

Anyway, to the question in hand. I don't have any brochures, handbooks or any other documentation unfortunately. I did try to get hold of somebody who was apparently a member (secretary from memory) of the class association. Unfortunately that seems to have died out, and I'm assuming the contact details I had were out of date because I never got a reply.

I'm hoping to get the time to get down to my, sadly little used, Otter to take some photos of the rigging, but my time for doing actual sailing is in short supply, and I've actually been sailing my Kingfisher (small 20 foot sailing cruiser) rather than the dinghy. From what little information I've managed to gather on the Otter since I got mine I believe there are several different rigs including the usual bermudan style and a more traditional one with a gaff along the lines of the Mirror, so your setup may be different.

Having just dug checked through some old emails I've found a photo of an Otter sailing. I was sent it a while ago, but when I asked about using it on the site I didn't get a reply unfortunately. I've just had a play with it, and cropped a section of just the mainsheet, so since there are no people in there, and even the dinghy isn't uniquely identifiable I'm attaching it here in case it is of any help. A quick thought, is the pully for attaching to the boom rather than the transom? If you only have one is there one missing?

As for the outboard fixing, I've not done this on mine, although I am considering it for pottering around with my sons. Personally I would put a wooden panel on both the inside and outside of the transom sandwiching it. It will improve the grip, increase the thickness for the bracket and protect the GRP as well as strengthening it. It is also handy to have a sacrificial piece that can be replaced if it becomes too battered with the fitting and removal of the outboard. When I've done this on tenders I've simply bolted the two plates through. Unfortunately it'll have to be off centre unless you're happy to remove the rudder when in use which could be tricky on the water! You may find the fixings get in the way of the bracket as well.

Happy sailing.
Attachments
Picture of the mainsheet rigged on an Otter
Picture of the mainsheet rigged on an Otter
ottermainsheet.jpg (37.63 KiB) Viewed 25194 times
Paul Tansom
Sailsite Forums Administrator
BDMLR Marine Mammal Medic
--
https://www.plsa.org.uk/ | https://www.kyoa.org.uk/
https://www.aptanet.com/ | https://www.linuxlore.co.uk/

k.woodland
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:40 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by k.woodland »

Hi all,

I have just bought an old(ish) Otter, sail No 647, but it came to me without much info. What I really need to know is the rigging lay-out. It's got a proctor mast and boom with Bermudian rig. Any help would be warmly received.

many thanks,
Russ Woodland

crow
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:09 pm
Location: warsash

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by crow »

sorry for not replying, permission is given for use of the complete picture.
I use a 2hp outboard on mine using temporary wooden plates each time. This does stress the transom so I do not do it often. I f they were made permanent it would be a much stronger setup. I will try to take some pictures of the bermuden rig set up soon but unfortunatly I snapped the centreboard and until I finish making the aluminium replacement I can't sail her :-(
mike.

justin
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:43 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by justin »

In case anyone is interested, I can contribute 2 things:

1. My Otter (427) had a wooden mount for an outboard on the transom. I believe it was like this from new. The wooden mount is not central on the transom, thus it is possible to sail with an outboard in place. My father's outboard (I think it is a 2.75 hp 2-stroke) pushes the boat along very nicely. It is possible to sail with the outboard in place, but the extra weight is noticeable. Also, having this weight hanging on the transom puts the boat out of balance, and the mainsheet has a habit of getting tangled in it. Thus I can't recommend bringing an engine on a sailing trip! If it is helpful, I could try to provide some pictures of the outboard mount - it could be helpful to anyone thinking of adding it to an earlier Otter.

2. The mainsheet is attached as shown in the previously posted picture. One end is fixed to the transom, it then runs through a block on the end of the boom and back to a block on the transom. Since there were several rigs produced for the Otter, I can't say if this is the same for everyone. Our Otter was built as a wooden masted gaff/gunter, but was modified to use the aluminium masted bermudan rig many years ago.

It would be nice to try to collate information on the Otter.... I think I will try to set up a webpage over the winter and include some recent photos. Even wikipedia has pretty limited information available!

Bradley
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:22 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by Bradley »

I have just bought an Otter dinghy and the hull/sail number is 783. Does anyone know if there is any record anywhere of sail numbers and date of manufacture? My boat was made by John Baker Ltd but they are no longer in business. I have done all the usual Google searches without any luck. Any help appreciated.
Many thanks.
Derek B.

Bradley
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:22 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by Bradley »

The last posting by 'fulucy921' appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with the subject OR with this site. I may be wrong but I think it should be deleted.
Derek B.

User avatar
aptanet
Site Admin
Posts: 66
Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:02 pm
Location: Waterlooville
Contact:

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by aptanet »

You're right Derek, and it has now been deleted, along with the user account that posted it. Unfortunately I've been far too busy to keep up with new posts here, even work has had to take a back seat for a while. Thankfully the effort of deleting spam posts has much reduced since I upgraded the forums software a while back, but they do slip through once in a while. I think with the old version the site would have needed a major clean up after being left for a while, rather than simply clearing two users and their two posts.
Paul Tansom
Sailsite Forums Administrator
BDMLR Marine Mammal Medic
--
https://www.plsa.org.uk/ | https://www.kyoa.org.uk/
https://www.aptanet.com/ | https://www.linuxlore.co.uk/

ss007
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:27 am

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by ss007 »

I have just bought an Otter that is 35yrs old and seems to have all the original bits. I would be interested in a copy of the Original Brochure for the Otter if anyone seeing this has one.
Thanks Steven
stevensherwood@sky.com

justin
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:43 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by justin »

ss007 wrote:I have just bought an Otter that is 35yrs old and seems to have all the original bits...
I am just wondering how you know the age? If you know this from a reliable source, and you also know the original sail number, maybe you could post it on this forum? It would help to answer some of the above comments about estimating the age.

In case anyone else is interested, our Otter is no. 427 and we think it is around the same age (we bought it in ~1987, and it was at least 10 years old then, probably more).

ss007
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:27 am

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by ss007 »

My sail number is 640 and I was told when I bought it that it will be 35years old this month, but I don't have anything to verify that. Steven

AdrianW
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:13 pm

Re: Otter, original brochure

Post by AdrianW »

My sail no. is 670. We bought the Otter end 2007, and it is in very good condition, however when we sailed it last summer '08, we had considerable problems with the raising and lowering of the centre board. It gets severely jammed in the casing and becomes immovable. The board is now very scored and we are going to have to repair it. Before we can use the boat we must resolve this - any ideas? It appears to be worse when it is wet, but don't think the centre board itself is swelling. As temporary measure we have been using a Mirror daggerboard - not ideal! I would also appreciate any further info. on rigging etc.

Post Reply