Pint Sized Low Water Drifter
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Pint sized Low water Drifter This neatly designed trailer-sailer’s traditional looks and easy handling impressed Sam Fortescue rascombes have had classic look to them – hard chines in something of a split the hull, wooden spars, tan sails and personality since the a bowsprit and bumkin. She has a licence to use the name gentle sheer with a nice iroko toerail Dparted company from and rubbing strake. Her relatively the original moulds. high cabin top and cockpit coaming hese last are owned by Honnor give her a sturdy look. Marine, which produces its Devon In fact Stewart says she’ll heel to Originals line of luggers, while 72° before water laps over the side. Churchouse Boats in Hampshire owns We couldn’t test this in the gentle a later set of moulds (which it claims 8-10 knots on ofer in Chichester are better) and the Drascombe name. Harbour, but she should self-drain he very irst Drascombe was a 19t into the outboard well, as the cockpit (5.7m) lugger designed by John sole is above the water. Another nice Watkinson in 1968 and built in ply. touch is the fold-up washboard, which He took the boat to the London Boat battens down to the sole when not in Show, where it sold 12 times over, use, but hinges up to help keep water and he began producing glassibre out of the cabin on a sploshy day. versions the following year. More designs were launched, including the Simple interior 21t 6in (6.6m) Driter in 1987. Below, she is designed to a budget, but A few decades later and over 5,000 well thought through and Churchouse examples of Watkinson’s designs have will it her out to any speciication. been built. Churchouse has expanded here is generous sitting headroom the Drascombe range with several new throughout: Stewart is a tall man. The Drfiter 22 is a modern rework of boats, including the Driter 22. She A wooden inill at the for’ard end the original John was drawn in 2006 by naval architect of the cabin turns the twin seats into Watkinson- designed Drifter Paul Fisher, who was asked to create a a decent 6t 6in (2m)-long V-berth, that brings her into boat that itted into the range, but and there’s stowage beneath. On the the trailer-sailer age larger and with basic accommodation. port side, there’s a galley, with a sink “In reality, Paul started with a fed by hand pump from two blank sheet of paper, but we wanted jerrycans stored in a cockpit locker. people to look at it and say ‘that’s a here’s also room for a simple gas Drascombe’,” explained ex-director hob – Stewart prefers the one-ring Stewart Brown, who recently handed aerosol-powered ones. the business to a stepson. To starboard is another cabinet with here’s nothing fancy about these two top-opening lockers beneath. One ALL PICTURES: GUY FOAN GUY PICTURES: ALL little yawls. hey have a pleasing contains a little fridge, the other acts 72 sailingtoday.co.uk OCTOBER 2013 OCTOBER 2013 sailingtoday.co.uk 73 Drascombe as a larder, but could be used for anything. he top provides a lat space to unroll a chart and get to work with the dividers. Certainly, you could do some interesting navigation in this boat. Her gunter rig means she’s never going to break any upwind records, but she’s sturdy and easy to handle alone. Several of the Driter 22s built so far have been sold to Dutch sailors, while many have made long coastal passages and crossed the Channel. My only niggles were related to the running rigging. he main halyard and peak halyard are led back to the Above: With one hand on the helm, cabintop, but they are still hard work. it’s still simple to raise or lower the And though the lone single-speed drop keels, while the rudder plate is on a light line winch (on its binnacle in the middle Below: Her simple interior can be of the cockpit, itself an option) makes endlessly customised, but should do fine for weekending a good turning block for the jib sheets, it is still quite a palaver to stop them of into their cam cleats. For the uninitiated, the mizzen can in it. He also says a 6-8hp outboard be another source of diiculty in a provides plenty of power, mounted in blow. When the bow drops of a big her inboard well, although she could wave, shielding the headsail, the take a 9.9hp electric starter as well. mizzen has the tendency to make the boat broach. “If you’ve got the tiller Fully trailable he boat goes from trailer to rigged in about half an hour. You’ll need a ‘She’ll never break big family car or a 4x4, though, as her towing weight is just shy of 1,800kg. any upwind leeboards in a barge, and will happily Churchouse sells a swinging cradle records, but she’s pivot around one if you do dig in to trailer, which allows recovery of the the bottom. Each keel weighs 75kg boat without wetting the bearings. easy to handle’ and is raised and lowered by a simple he mast is tabernacle mounted, but clever ratchet mechanism. folding down fairly easily using a in your teeth and she’s still rounding Acrylic sight boxes inside the for’ard telescopic pole in an A-frame rig. As up, let the mizzen ly,” Stewart says. lockers allow you to quickly see Stewart says, all this matters because But these are small matters. She how far up or down each keel is. the boat is designed in part to appeal tacked and gybed well during our With keels and rudder up she to older sailors. he other key market test, even ater we ran her aground draws 1t 4in (40cm), and Stewart seems to be sailors with young on one of Chichester’s many shallows. reckons she will happily dry out families, keen to get aloat. She has twin drop keels, acting like horizontal if the mud has any give VERDICT DRASCOMBE DRIFTER 22 An elegant and fun boat to sail, LOA: 22ft (6.7m) she would make a slightly LWL: 19ft 3in (5.9m) spartan weekender for the basic Beam: 7ft 3in (2.3m) package price. A better option might be a cockpit tent. But for a Draught: 1ft 4in/3ft 5in (40cm/1.1m) few small niggles, the rig has Upwind sail area: 234sqft (21.8m2) been well thought out and she Towing weight: 1,800kg (3,970lb) feels exceedingly safe and sturdy. Price: £30,000 inc VAT (basic ex trailer) PERFORMANCE: H H H H H Builder: Churchouse Boats ACCOMMODATION: H H H H H Contact: www.drascombe.org.uk LOOKS: H H H H H 74 sailingtoday.co.uk OCTOBER 2013 .