SAILING THE FOLDING SEA HOPPER

I always like to find a bright side to being late and when I finally made it to Exmouth in Devon on an extremely cold and windy day in January, the bright side was that I didn’t see a banana shaped plank of wood being unloaded from a car roof rack. Chez did, and I could tell from his expression that he thought I was in for a bit of a challenge with the test sail of the Kontender racer-trainer from Sea Hopper Folding Boats.

I have to admit the boat did look pretty basic as it sat on the pontoon in Exmouth Docks. I was glad that Gul had loaned me one of their new dry suits and a buoyancy aid, and I made Chez promise that he wouldn’t stray far away from me in the motorboat. I’m not very keen on getting wet and I wasn’t completely convinced that a folding boat would stand up to the buffeting from the gusty winds and the ever increasing white horses in the distance.

However, the boss at Sea Hopper is Steve Rea, and if I say that he looks like a prop forward you’ll understand why I didn’t bottle out. Moreover, he was prepared to row the Sea Hopper with both of us in it - a good 350 lbs (159 kg) all up - to the beach. He was just wearing jeans, a sweater and, dare I say it, a slightly too small buoyancy aid. I felt a little overdressed.

The aim with the Kontender, explained Steve, was to produce a folding boat which is also a good sailing boat. Sea Hopper has been building folding boats for 22 years, and there are already 7' 10" (2.4m) and 6' 8" (2m) versions. But why? I asked. The reason was demand for an alternative to the rubber dinghy, something which could be used as a tender with oars or outboard, but would also sail like a proper boat.

Over the years, Sea Hopper has built over 6,000 folding boats which have been sold worldwide, and customers then started asking for a larger version which would sail better. Initially Steve could not build them longer because he couldn’t get sheets of plywood longer than the standard 8' (2.4m) and due to the waterproof membrane which runs through the hull, it was not possible to scarph the ply. But now Robbins Timber of Bristol has started to produce longer sheets, so Sea Hopper has started to produce the Kontender.

When boat shaped, as opposed to flattened banana shaped, the Kontender looked simple and straightforward. The hull is made from 1/4" (6mm) ply, with 3/8" (9mm) reinforcing strips along the centre and middle of the hull, and around the sides. The pram bow gives that look of a Mirror, and there’s a small forward thwart, a centre thwart and aft thwart. A deep daggerboard sits into a square casing with elastic restrainer to stop it lifting. Two side seats, held in place with Velcro, straddle the centre thwart and rear thwart. Attached to the transom is a fairly deep square cut rudder blade, with neat locking wooden stock, tiller and aluminium tiller extension.

The mast is a simple aluminium extrusion, with a wooden bung in the bottom which sits in the round mast step on the hull. The side shrouds hook onto Holt cleats fitted to the outside of the hull, which are tensioned by the forestay which ties to two cleats on the front thwart. All very straightforward, and, well, simple. The 48 sq.ft (4.5 s.m.) of mainsail is gunter rigged, with a thin boom hooking onto the mast. It’s easy to reef, but Steve wants me to test her under full sail because they’ve just modified the mast and want to see how well it stands up to the pressure. So you mean you want me to try and break the mast? That’s unusual - but again I’m not going to argue with Steve. Chez chuckles slightly. The halyard for the mainsail loops down onto a cleat, and then is used as a kicker/downhaul. The mainsheet just loops from the stern, up the boom and back, and I insist that it is knotted off so it doesn’t pull straight out of my hands leaving me floundering without a main.

Steve starts to put the jib up. Another 13 sq.ft (1.2 s.m) of sail to contend with. Great - they’re really going for this mast breaking test. The jib has hooks to the forestay, and again the halyard is neatly tied off to a cleat on the front thwart. The jib sheets go outside the shrouds, and the jib cleats are positioned inboard in the centre of the boat.

We pull the boat into the water, and as it tries to sail away, I struggle to get the rudder down. It’s got one of those extraordinarily simple clam cleats which for some reason I just cannot master.

There’s no way I’m leaving dry land without that rudder firmly secured in the down position. Eventually it is down, and there’s no putting off the moment. We push off from the beach, the wind catches the sails and we’re away.

I’m stunned. This boat is great. If Sea Hopper want a good sailing boat, then they’ve got it. She skips across the water and to my absolute amazement, I find myself whooping with delight as we plane down the white tipped waves. I hope Chez is getting good photos because I’m really enjoying this. The flat bow just seems to pick up and go, and surprisingly there’s no water coming into the boat at all.

However, anyone can just plane up and down; how well does this boat go upwind? I harden up into the wind, and pull in the jib. It’s a bit awkward to cleat, as I have to reach across to the leeward side and pull it down into the cleat. At that moment, we are also hit by a gust and the boat is on her ear, but I don’t feel in any real danger of capsizing. I pull the main in and set off upwind. The boat points well and we quickly make progress even against the tide. I’m really impressed and enjoying every minute, and, even better, the mast seems to be holding out.

First of all, you remove the Holt buoyancy bags, which are held to the centre thwarts with webbing straps. Then you remove the flat bow to reveal the black nylon reinforced Polyplac, which runs through the boat as a membrane holding the locking chines and locking keel together. Stainless steel locking catches hold each side of the front thwart in place, and these are flicked open. The front thwart is neatly shaped so it cannot simply slide out, you have to ease it out one side at a time. I discover it’s little touches like this that make this boat so rigid.

Moving aft, we remove the rudder which is held in place using pintles and secured with a turnbuckle - simple and effective. The rudder slots onto a neat stem board which is held in place with a pin attached to the rear thwart. This rear panel can also be used to support an outboard. Again, there are latches on either side of the thwart to be released. A little wiggle and the rear thwart is also removed. This just leaves the centre thwart, which I discover is the main strength of the boat.

Two turnbuckles have to be twisted to release the centre seat from the dagger board case. On each side of the boat, sturdy wooden G-blocks are built onto the side panel, into which the thwart is firmly fitted. These, explains Steve, have to be really strong as they provide all the strength for the centre thwart. Flicking the latches on either side on the thwart, you then simply reach to the centre of the boat, gently lift the seat and remove it, and wow - the boat just collapses in half Amazing!

Steve explains that the boat owes its performance to its shape. Working up from the smaller versions, he has spent the last two years refining the Kontender, and incorporating both his own ideas and those of his customers. He’s built more rocker onto the hull shape, which is why it picked up on the plane so well and prevented the flat nose digging into the waves. There’s even the option to fit an external buoyancy collar around the boat. Steve tells us how Sea Hoppers are used all over the world; one owner modified his to include a clear panel in the hull so he can observe the reefs on his travels.

Based at Wellington in Somerset, Sea Hopper is a little success story hidden away from the usual boatbuilding centres and much of the equipment used by Sea Hopper comes from Somerset based companies - Boldscan in Wellington make the sails from cloth supplied by Heathcotes in Tiverton. When he’s not building or trying to destruction test the Sea Hopper, Steve is building punts for the inland waterways, or repairing boats. Finally we part and as I drive back up the M5, I overtake Steve with the Sea Hopper on his roof. Ironically, at that moment. I see a very flash powerboat coming down the other side on her way back from the London Boat Show - I know which I prefer!

Article reproduced by courtesy of Watercraft magazine.