Raedwald
Introducing an exciting new 15ft sailing dinghy from award winning boatbuilder, Sam Doman.
Inspired in equal parts by traditional East Coast work-boats and modern high-performance sailing dinghies, Raedwald is designed to be the ultimate do-it-all boat.
With all the head-turning charm and elegance of a real classic, combined with the benefits of modern materials; this boat will be low maintenance, lightweight, easy to sail and extremely versatile.
The spacious, ergonomic cockpit is ideally suited to family cruising, or dinghy camping trips, with plenty of space to stow all your gear.
Safety and seaworthiness are at the core of the double-skin design; a naturally stable hull form with a high bow and generous freeboard. With lots of buoyancy in all the right places, she is self-draining, and will even empty herself in the unlikely event of capsizing or swamping the boat.
The are 4 different rig configurations, which all use the same mast and mainsail. These range from a single-sail balanced lug rig (ideal for singlehanding or cruising with kids) to a high-performance gaff rig with furling headsail, asymmetric spinnaker and topsail, to challenge the pace of any modern racing boat!
Ultra lightweight carbon fibre spars and Dacron sails, keep the weight aloft to a minimum, this makes the rig very easy to handle, further improving the stability of the boat.
The Design
"As a boatbuilder and sailor, I often find myself wondering what my ideal do-it-all boat would look like...
With a background in high-performance sailing, a passion for traditional boats, and love for dinghy cruising; this boat needs to be fast, beautiful, seaworthy and capable.
I've been refining the design in my mind over the past few years, and a clear hulll shape has developed. Essentially, she is a fairly traditional shape above the water line, while the underwater shape is powerful and efficient, with a fine entry and low drag lines. Wide, flat mid sections encourage planing and making the boat inherently stable.
This form should also be very sea kindly, with a high bow and plenty of freeboard.
The first step towards getting the design out of my head, and becoming a reality was making a series of drawings and scale models to refine and finalise the shape, before making a set of full-size station molds to start building on."
Building a Prototype
Raedwald is built in much the same way a traditional clinker dinghy would be, except the planks are 6mm marine plywood, glued with epoxy, and reinforced with fibreglass & carbon fibre.
She is an approximately similar weight to the production fibreglass hulls, and will be finished and sailing this summer, ready for thorough sea trials.
Test sails will be possible by appointment.
Prototype to Production
Raedwald is the 'master copy', and great care has been taken to finish her to the highest standard, so a set of fibreglass moulds could be made from this original hull.
From these moulds, GRP hulls can be made, with a fully moulded interior. They will be laminated with a core material to enhance stiffness and reduce weight.
The boats will be fitted-out to an exquisite standard, in mahogany, with carbon fibre sheathed foils, and a carbon fibre mast and spars. The boats are to be rigged with equipment and sails of the highest quality, including Allen hardware, AeroLuffSpar furling gear, and sails and canvas work from East Coast Sailmakers (all made in East Anglia).
If you're interested in having a Raedwald of your own built in the near future, please enquire by email.
