SEAHOPPER
There’s no doubt the boat is very carefully thought
through, and the component parts are well-made and
a pleasure to use. What’s more, with its woody finish,
it’s unexpectedly pretty and drew admiring glances
from several passersby.
The main limitation is the boat’s size when folded:
8ft 4in long by 20in wide and 5in thick. The version
I tested was fitted with a rope fender, which looks great
and protects the mothership’s topsides, but adds another
2in to the folded thickness. Finding deck space to
assemble it on board a small boat could also prove an
issue. My instinctive reaction was that the Lighter was
too big for our 26-footer, but I’ve since heard people
using it on much smaller boats and loving it.
What I was most impressed by was the boat’s
load-carrying ability, and her steady manner under way.
Even loaded with the whole family, there was still plenty
of freeboard and she never felt tippy. This would be
a great boat to have in a flat or house with limited
storage, or to put on the roof of a camper to give access
to the water while travelling. And, providing you can
find a safe place to stow it, it would provide a lot of
fun as a tender too. Just avoid trying to row down
a shallow river on an ebbing tide!Above left:
Author and
family tow the
Lighter down the
Avon at low waterAbove right:
Rowing with two
kids, an adult and
a dogBelow: Author
recommends the
gunter rather
than the lug rigfared better. Instead, we ended up wading most of the
way down the estuary, dragging the Lighter behind
us. Inevitably, the keel got thoroughly scratched in
the process – proving, if nothing else, that it was up
to the task of being dragged across a riverbed! Once
at Bantham, we experimented with the simple lug rig
provided, but struggled to make any headway against
the stiffening onshore breeze and incoming tide.
We had a better time on the way back when, laden
with two adults, two children and a dog (plus luggage),
the Lighter romped back up the river, well ahead of the
three other boats. Overall, it wasn’t the most successful
trip, but the Seahopper had shown its surprisingly good
load-carrying abilities, and at no point did it feel like it
couldn’t cope with the demands we were putting on it.
Our second test was more successful. The boat came
together much more quickly, and by now we had
exchanged the rather crude lug sail for the more effective
gunter rig. I also swapped the 5ft 6in oars that come
as standard (and which fit neatly under the thwarts)
for a pair of 6ft 6in oars, and the transformation was
complete. The Lighter maintained way under sail, even
in the fading breeze, and was fun to row. My seven-year-
old son was soon speeding along, performing spectacular
hand-brake turns.
The third test was even better. With a brisk Force 4
blowing, the Lighter skimmed across the river and never
felt overpressed or in danger of capsizing – which was
just as well as we hadn’t bothered fitting the buoyancy
bags supplied with the pack. It was just a good fun sail,
exactly what the rig was designed to do – even though
we later discovered the mast step was in the wrong
position for the gunter rig.
FINAL VERDICT
Let’s be clear, however, this is not performance sailing.
The Seahopper will never sail as well as, say, a Mirror
dinghy, or row as well as a conventional one-piece rigid
tender. But it will certainly row and sail a lot better
than any inflatable tender on the market. It also tows
extremely well. Under outboard, the inflatable probably
has the edge. Price wise, the boat is cheap for a hand-
made wooden boat, but a bit pricey compared to your
generic inflatable dinghy.
SEAHOPPER
LOA
7ft 10ins
(2.4m)BEAM
4ft 2in
(1.27m)WEIGHT
68lb (31kg)SAIL AREA
40sq ftCARRY
CAPACITY
716lb
(325kg)PRICE
from £1,849
(approx $2,360)
plus US$250
shipping to USA
& Canada