Cropp 4.6

[cep32 4]

Has anyone had sailed a Cropp 4.6? It seems to have a Sunburst rig but a very different Hull of course.

[shedman 10]

I sailed a Cropp 4.6 a couple of times when I was down in Canterbury 5 or 6 years ago. I think the main is a bit bigger than a Sunny's - I used to have some drawings of the 4.6 but I can't find them right now.

The Cropp 4.6 is just a brilliant concept - a big waterplane dinghy that can carry a lot or a little weight, modest sized rig so it doesn't scare the s... out of new sailors, false floor so a capsize is a non event, lots of sails to play with, and goes fast enough to keep the interest of young sailors.

The whole idea of a large and relatively stable dinghy that you can pile 3 or 4 kids into and let them learn to sail by just hooning around in a fun boat, is magic.

The boats I sailed could have used a bit of detail development. Jack made a few compromises in order to allow the boats to be easily stacked on a trailer (cockpit shape), and the masts deliberately did not have spreaders, so were a bit "noodly" down low. We put check stays to the gooseneck on one boat and the mast behaved much better. The rudders were a bit agricultural too. All detail stuff, that doesn't take away from the overall excellent concept.

You don't say what you want to use the boat for - they are a bit tough on adults because the stacking position is not great, and the cockpit is very shallow. But for their designed purpose - letting kids have fun learning to sail in a multi person boat as an alternative to solemnly and solely being coached around in an Opti, the Cropp is an absolute tonic.