Getting started

Discussion forum for the Otter class of sailing dinghy

Moderator: aptanet

Locked
adrian1221

otter

Post by adrian1221 »

i have just been given an otter by my father in law,
the grp is ok and so is the rigging but all the wood is rotten which is not a prob as i work with wood .

i have never sailed before but i will take lessons ,poss at del quay in Chi
i'm looking forward to getting her wet !!

Adrian

Bognor Regis

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

Post by aptanet »

Good luck with the lessons, there's a good sailing school just next door to my own sailing club - the Portsmouth Outdoor Centre http://www.portsmouthoutdoor.co.uk/, but that's a whole extra harbour along the coast from you!

I've been sailing all my life and find that there's a good deal of withdrawal symptoms when you don't get the time. At one point I was doing 6 am starts at work, which in theory meant finishing around 2pm or soon after (although it often didn't work that way). On the days I did manage it I went sailing for the afternoon and early evening and returnging the following day to work it felt as though I'd had a weekend off - there's nothing quite like it to my mind.

I'm hoping to get my oldest son out at some point, although being 4 I'll have to break him in gently - not sure how he'd take to capsizing :)

I'm quite impressed to see a post on here so quickly. I only added the forum as a spur of the moment thing a few days ago! I've brought it in line with the rest by only allowing registered members to post though, hopefully that doesn't put people off, but it is the only practical way to keep the unpleasant posts off the forums (and save me a lot of hassle removing them). I'm going to have to make some time to actually get this Sailsite project off the ground if I'm not careful - it's been an idea kicking around for too long now!

Anyway, happy sailing :D

juls167798

Otter Dinghy

Post by juls167798 »

About 1100 of these dinghies were built and they were popular with sailing schools. Those built for schools tended to have a double thickness bottom. I sailed number 898 for many years and all my children started sailing in her. She can still be found at Weston sailing club where another family have been enjoying her. She sailed nicely but not very fast compared to out and out racers. Easy to row, and a 2.5 horespower outboard suited her very well. A really nice dinghy which eventually died out as sailing schools switched to tougher construction boats, and problems with finding a builder. The class association attempted to obtain the moulds but were asked silly money for them.

The original class name was Bubble which perhaps was not a good choice but does explain the insignia.

Masts were available as single piece and also split with a sleeve so as to make them easier to transport. Class rules prohibited many of today's adjustable and high tension devices so the boats were very easy to rig with all halyards being rope.

crow

otter dinghy

Post by crow »

Otters are fantastic boats for both begginers to learn in and those with more experience. I sail mine at every chance I get. The worst fault is the position of the jib sheets. They are not too fast in lighter winds but once it starts to blow a bit I can just about keep up with lasers(I do ache a bit the next day though ! ). Next season I hope to try a larger jib and repositioned jib sheet cleats . I also want to try a steel centre board to get more weight lower down to compensate for sailing without a crew most of the time. My otter has a two piece mast which means everything sits inside the boat for ease of storage and trailing . I have owned her for three years now and have slowly replaced/refubished everything. my otter is rather tackily called tarka(not by me) which I suspect is somewhat common for them her sail number is 482

Ced
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:40 am

How to Rig the Otter Dinghy?

Post by Ced »

I bought a dinghy Otter (number 337) a couple of mouth ago.
I am looking for some direction on how best to rig this boat, espacially the main sheet to mast.
The Otter is my first boat, I have done a couple of training with RYA and rented Topper, Wayfarer and Gamba (Spanish Made) and all have a different sail "setting".
I bought the boat with a missing pulley and I kind of guess how to put everything together but I am not sure of what I am doing to be honest.

If anybody could send me a photo of its rigged Otter, it would be very helpful.
Many Thanks.
Ced

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

Otter rig

Post by crow »

What Rig do you have? I could probobly rig mine at the w/e but I would need your email to send the pictures to you. My boat has a bermuden rig but the gunter rig should be the same.

crow.

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

Re: Otter rig

Post by aptanet »

crow wrote:What Rig do you have? I could probobly rig mine at the w/e but I would need your email to send the pictures to you. My boat has a bermuden rig but the gunter rig should be the same.
I've been thinking of doing the same after a similar request for details on rigging on another forum (I can't remember which off hand). If you do or have taken some pictures and want to do so you could send me copies and I'll put together a web page with details on rigging the Otter. I'm planning to do this with mine, but it'll be a while before I can sort out getting the photos done :(

If anyone has any other information on the Otter I'd love to have it. I did follow up on some details on another foruma a while back, but never had any reply. The posts were about a year old though!

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

Its bloody cold!

Post by crow »

I'm waiting for it to warm up slightly before I rig Tarka for some new photos. It is much warmer in the scouts boatshed, unfortunatly I have 12 boats to get ready for the end of April before I can play properly on the water :(

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

at long last

Post by crow »

I have finally got the boat rigged and have been sailing several times a week for the last few weeks :D . the bad(?) news is that I usually have several scouts with me but they all are enthusiastic and have all enjoyed sailing an otter. when there has been no wind we have been teaching them to row with varying degrees of success/hilarity.
I suppose I really should now take some pictures of the rigging ect. if people still want them.

Locked