Campion Sail and Design

At around 11ft 9in and 4ft 9 in beam, the Iceni 12  is a four plank aside stitched seam * balanced lug dinghy, with recessed decking and side tanks; sheer and freeboard are moderate for possible car topping without detracting from her character; and a well-proven rig of moderate proportions provides the drive.  The topsides are well flared throughout, and the transom is well lifted to avoid drag under oars or sail, but still with enough bearing aft for a small outboard.  The lines have resulted in a fast, dry, well-mannered craft that is exceptionally manoeuvrable with reassuring stability, both initially and on heeling.  As a result of the underwater sections and flared topsides, she gains displacement very  rapidly, maximum designed displacement being around 230 kg.  Depending on layout, she is ideally suited to an adult with a  couple of children, or to a husband and wife, or to the singlehander with an occasional crew - she is after all only a few inches longer than a Mirror 11 - and the boat is easily dominated by the weight of a medium-sized helm. The Iceni 12 is a general purpose dinghy, but with the accent firmly on sailing.

* Offsets are given too for building conventionally over moulds and a building frame with battened seam construction, or she could equally be built glued clinker over stringers in the bottom and bilge.  The Megan in the photos below was built as an experiment in combining stitched seam construction in the bottom to avoid lands and glued clinker in the topsides for strength with light weight.  This produces an exceptionally strong and attractive hull, but requires an experienced eye to ensure the top seams remain perfectly aligned as there is not as much self-fairing ability with this method as there is with the completely stitched seam panels.

Plans are on three A1 sheets with 22 A4 sheets of keyed construction detail and outline building procedure, with separate offset and hull panel details.  Hull panels are nested for best ply use, as are bulkheads and decking.  Details are also given for the cambered foredeck version.

Price:  £53 Sterling

Postage and packing: £3 UK, £5 Airmail.

Email:

td@campionboats.co.uk

The photos below show Megan - an experimental version with the first two planks stitched carvel fashion and the second two overlapped clinker style - with an open cockpit and sealed bow tank under a small foredeck.  Constructed of 4 mm  ply doubled with 6 mm on the bottom to make a total of 10 mm, the complete hull, epoxy coated but not painted, weighed 51kg.  The Iceni 12 is built of 5 or 6 mm ply, with reinforcing floor stringers instead of the ply doubling, though that too could be used if wished as in the Megan.  The layout with the single midships thwart is for the lazy singlehander!

With fourteen and a half stone of middle-aged helm, the transom just kisses the water with the helm on the main thwart..

Never mind that the bow is out of shot, just look at how comfortable that is!  This picture taken during a minor gust also illustrates well the difference in pressure and speed of the air on each side of the sail: look closely and you will see that all of the relatively heavy reef points save the very last one on the lee side are streaming back - indeed the last but one and two are actually horizontal, whilst all but the first two on the windward side hang down vertically.

Turning into a tack at the bank.  There is little stern wake at these speeds.

Mid tack

Ample reserve buoyancy in the stern.

Lines and offsets only for larger versions with more beam and freeboard than the lightweight 12 or the 14 are available, including 16, 17 ft  and 19ft versions.  Full plans - consisting of 4 A1 sheets for a balanced lug half decked version of the 14 with an additional 2 for the yawl - with more freeboard and a maximum displacement of about 350kg or roughly 750 lbs, have been drawn up. Click here Iceni 14 for a link to the 14 or go back to the main menu.  A yawl rigged version of the 19 is under consideration.  

The 14's renderings are pictured below.