If you could sleep fully inside, I might consider one... I know people have made passage in these, but I'd want a proper cabin and a self draining cockpit...
This little cruiser looks to be ideal for a boom tent for on board camping! I quite like the capabilities of the Gorfnik design which allows full control from within the tiny cabin which also has the space for cooking, sleeping and living! I always wondered why there doesn't appear to be many compact cruisers that have the benefits of the Gorfnik cabin, surely having shelter from freezing wind and torrential rain and a dry cabin are benefits over open boat sailing.
I've recently become interested in boat building as a hobby and I find the very very interesting. I never imagined this was a standard test. I guess it makes sense, you want to test safety features. That boat seems hard to capsize and easy to straighten up. Thanks for posting this. I wonder if you'll add steps to make it easy to board after this test and I see that the video is about 10 years old I wonder if that scamp still exist and how it's doing?
And now that I’ve read previous comments, I realise my observations were redundant and/or inaccurate, in parts. I didn’t realise the drop-keel swung down, so not a dagger. I didn’t put the “s” on the leeboard. That was (un)predictable spellchecker! I still like the cheeky little boat with it’s pronounced buttock lines...
Not really I much a leeboards so much as an offset dagger board. The asymmetry, aesthetically bothers me, but clearly not the scamp. A pair of leeboards would look nicer, I feel, but destroy the simplicity, and no doubt be far less efficient. I don’t doubt she may sail better on one tack than the other.
Jason, good to hear your boat recovered easily even without ballast. In the event you experience an accidental capsize, you'll want to keep that water from getting below the floor or remove it promptly. Although the extra weight would appear to add stability, the free surface effect of water sloshing from side to side could actually make the boat less stable ultimately. Thanks for the report.
i did my first capsize tests this week. i didnt tie my centreboard like this one and it fell back in. i capsized it with the centreboard on the low side. i didnta have water ballast in but had my anchor and camping gear stored in the boat. it only took me about thirty seconds to right it again. my skegs are a bit longer then the prototype and easier to grab. what was cool is all the water drained under the cockpit floor. it only took about a minute or so to completely drain. when i did sail it again it sailed a lot better with all the extra water on board. i love my boat. its fun. my brother in law did video tape me on his phone he may post it sometime. i have a cheap bamboo mast as well but it stayed in good. didnt seem to float as good as this sail though.
