The Rooster National Solo Dinghy - The Technical Details
Rooster Sailing has acquired the Ovington Solo dinghy moulds and are planning to build boats from early 2021 with their partners Ginger Boats. Phil Hodgkins of Ginger Boats used to work for Ovington and with his skill in building superb wooden GP14's you can be assured of a quality build.
During his time at Ovington, he worked on every aspect of the business, from composite construction, repairs, fit out and custom works. He was heavily involved in the build of 4 new all carbon International 14's and several other projects. He has a wealth of experience when it comes to construction or repairs in wood, FRP, epoxy foam sandwich and carbon.
Download here the Rooster Solo Order Form for costs and optional extras.
Steve Cockerill at the Solo Nationals
Steve is a previous multiple UK nationals race winner, and has been runner-up at the UK Solo Nationals three times.
If you not so familiar with the National Solo Class you can find more background information on the class at the National Solo Dinghy Class Association website.
The Specification
The Solo Hull
Moulded from epoxy foam sandwich, the hull is very light ( up to 3kg of correctors fitted) yet enormously stiff. They are jig-assembled (on a ridged steel frame) in the mould to ensure accuracy and consistency and the hand-layed epoxy added. The decks are resin infused, and all the hulls are post-cured which ensures rigidity across a wide temperature range. Resin infusion sees all the materials placed in a gelled mould, and using a vacuum, the resin is infused through the fibres. The results are stronger, stiffer and more consistent hull.
The hull colour is standard 'Solo Grey' - RAL 7047 Tele Grey 4
Features:- Moulded top deck cleat mountings.
- Wide load bearing floor toestrap anchorages.
- Wide load bearing mast step area.
- Single transom drainage bung and aesthetic inner transom finish.
- Contoured & comfortable sitting out gunwale area.
- Updated floor and centreboard case design.
The Harken Fit out
Our Rooster Race Specification Solo comes with the following as standard:
- Harken fittings as standard.
- Inhaul, Outhaul, Cunningham, and the Kicker - all continuous and made with the Rooster Easysplice rope.
- Centerboard uphaul and downhaul via the side decks.
- Rooster Pro Plus Padded toe straps adjusted/cleated by the thwart.
- Rooster small halyard storage bag.
- Harken Continuous Micro traveller System adjusted/cleated by the thwart - self adjusting so each side is the same offset, with one single adjustment.
- Lightweight, alloy Solo class compliant rudder stock and tiller, with a Rooster Carbon Tiller extension as standard.
There are also extra options you can include:
- Drop nose mast step pin.
- Rudder blade uphaul.
- Mainsail – from Rooster OD Sail, HD, Impact Marine or North Sails.
- Rooster Solo Rudder (padded) bag.
- Rooster Solo Mast bag (padded) bag.
- Rooster Solo Boom bag (padded) bag.
- Rooster Solo Over boom top cover (Deep skirts).
- Rooster Solo Nylon undercover.
- Rooster Galvanised Launching trolley-Twin cradle.
- Below is a typical Rooster Solo hull photo, showing the soft non-skid floor covering, centreboard uphaul/downhaul and the continuous control lines fitted as standard.
The Foils
The Rooster Solo rudder and centreboard. Foils are moulded for absolute consistency of shape, stiffness & are symmetrical, the moulds being taken from master CNC plugs, and manufactured by DM foils.
The Spars
The boat comes complete and rigged with a Selden Mast and Boom. The choice is a Zeta section for the light helm (70-80kg weight range) or the D+ for heavier helms 75-90kg. The Boom is the Selden Olympus section. The Super Spar M1, M7+ or the recent M2 Solo mast section is also an option from Rooster Sailing. Please contact us for more details if required on mast selection.
Rooster also can supply as optional extras both mast and boom padded bags to protect your spars when travelling.
The Sail
The Rooster OD Solo main, North Sails, Impact Marine or HD are all cut for the Zeta or D+ mast (or Super Spar masts option).