The Tricorn dinghy was
designed by Illingworth and Primrose in 1962. Since theirs was one
of the most famous names in offshore racing yacht design at the time,
she came with some impressive pedigree. The design brief appears to
have been to create a low maintenance dinghy, capable of serious open
water passage-making, that would be better and faster than Ian
Proctor's well proven and famous Wayfarer class.
Back then in the early
60s there were very few dinghies purpose-designed for construction
in GRP. Almost certainly this was the first boat to be designed by Illingworth and Primrose for this type of construction,
and at the time the Wayfarer would only have been available in
plywood, so although Angus Primrose had certainly designed dinghies
before, the Tricorn brief must have come as a considerable new
challenge. His approach, in common with most other designers who
were learning to work with this little known material, was to make the
boat strong and not to spare on materials. When you examine the
layup of a Tricorn, you'll notice a predominance of woven rovings
throughout, and lots of reinforcement in areas where a contemporary
wooden or plywood dinghy might have had a tendency to develop stress
cracks or other weakness.
Very unusually for such
an early fibreglass boat, there is almost no wood, except for the
tiller, rudder, and some backing pads for deck fittings. This may
have been a bit too avant-garde for the times, since boat enthusiasts
in those days would have expected quite a lot of visible wood trim,
coamings, decks, floorboards, benches, hatches, etc. The all plastic
Tricorn might have been regarded as just too space-age and factory
produced, and this perception, as well as its price and the
narrowness of its marketing concept, may have seriously limited
sales. Eventually only 37 were built.
Not that there was
anything wrong with the performance of the Tricorn, nor its ability
to shelter its crew of 2 adults, plus maybe a child, for overnight
camping stops. Contemporary boat tests make it clear that Tricorn
had the edge over the Wayfarer in both departments, although
nowadays, after 50 years of Wayfarer class development, the Tricorn
would probably struggle to keep up on some points.
Almost certainly,
however, Tricorn would still show a Wayfarer a clean pair of heels to
windward, since with her centreplate fully down she draws
1.6m (5ft 3in) to the Wayfarer's 1.17m (3ft 10in). She is also a few
inches longer overall and carries around 1sqm more windward sail.
Compared to the Wayfarer, Tricorn is noticeably less stable at rest,
though she stiffens up when under way.
Tricorn's domed
foredeck and short cabin roof enclose a cuddy with sitting space for
4 adults or sleeping space for 2 (in quarter berths extending under
the cockpit side benches). There would be just enough space left
over in camping mode for a child of up to about 7 years old to
stretch out. There's a large watertight locker aft, and two capacious
cockpit side lockers, probably not really totally watertight in the
event of capsize, but which resist rain, spray, and even a fair
amount of solid water landing in the cockpit.
4 years or so ago, I
found and bought an old Tricorn. It was very scruffy, had a hole in
the bottom, and lacked its original moulded forehatch cover as well
as the original winch for lifting the centreplate. This 1963 example
had at some time been used as a sailing school boat and was fitted with a horrible
non-original rusty steel plate, weighing in at 50kg or more, double
the original design spec. In addition, the mainsail had been
reduced in area by cutting the foot off it to a depth of about 1m.
These modifications must have made her extremely slow and dull to sail.
Salvo is now back in
sailing order with a few minor changes to her original specification.
I changed the overweight rusty centreplate to one that weighs about
20kg, about the same as the original design, but mine is home-made
from a sandwich of steel, epoxy and plywood. I had to give up on
finding an original plate lifting winch and fitted a simple tackle
instead. I made a forehatch cover from plywood and clear
polycarbonate, and lastly, I changed from a transom mainsheet track
to centre sheeting for no better reason than I was scared the sheet
might foul on my outboard motor and cause a capsize. The old roller
reefing boom was replaced by one from a Fireball, to which I fixed
some fittings for slab reefing.
I made a new rudder
blade cut from the plywood centreboard from an old Miracle dinghy, but it
snapped in half in a fearsome tiderace in Brittany, so I have gone back
to the original which I might repropuce in aluminium plate.
There are still a lot
of niggling problems to sort out. For instance the original self
bailers let more water in to the watertight cockpit than they remove,
so my feet are always wet. The in-mast jib halyard emerges from the
mast foot in such a way that it is difficult to tension properly.
I'm considering making it external from a point just below the
spreaders so that I can swig it up tight. Most importantly, because
of the total lack of rowlocks, a rowing thwart, and a stowage space
long enough for decent oars, it's impossible to row the boat in the
event of flat calm and engine failure. Emergency propulsion consists
of a long paddle at the moment.
In spite of the age of
the design, and these minor shortcomings, I like my Tricorn. She is a fine,
strong, and capable boat - with one hell of a pedigree!
Tricorn Sailing Dinghy
Designed by Illingworth and Primrose, 1962
Built by Martin Goacher Ltd.
LOA: 16ft 6in (5m03)
LWL: 15ft (4m57)
Beam: 6ft 2in (1m87)
Draft: 9in (0m22) plate up, 5ft 3in (1m60) plate lowered.
Air draft: 24ft 6in (7m46)
Sail area: 139 sq ft (12.91sqm)
Weight in sailing trim: approx. 580lbs (263Kg)
Link: http://bursledonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tricorn-dinghy.html
Link: http://bursledonblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tricorn-dinghy.html
