Corsair sailing dinghy value.

[zack268]

Hi, A couple of years ago my father bought a 16 foot (4.9 meter) corsair sailing dinghy for 750 Australian dollars and the guy said he was selling it cheap.

The sails that came with it had a Brand name on it with a phone number from the 70s... but the boat is in great condition.

This is the Wikipedia page:
Corsair (dinghy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For some reason I cant put images in

[tbodine88]

Heres one

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/img/phot...ng/3247339.jpg

[djaustralia]

Saw this thread and had to chip in. As a naval cadet in the 90's I learned to sail in the corsair, on lake burley griffin -canberra, jervis bay and lake wallaga in NSW and also on the tweed river near brisbane. I would probably estimate their current value at maybe $1500-$3000 depending on condition. Thats what i'd pay anyhow. One thing I learned to watch out for is a cracked centreboard housing, hard to diagnose untill you get in the water and it takes on water, even with the venturi open and the boat goin' 20 knots! My fellow cadets and I had 2 almost sink on us. 1 in the naval harbour on jervis bay and the other on the tweed (we actually had to jump ship and drag it to a beach). Super fun to sail and extremely stable, easy to step the mast but very heavy to lift, carry and move by hand on land. Us cadets always had a crew of 4. As a demonstration on jervis bay once (with senior naval officers watching on from a patrol boat) the 3 cadets and myself were given the task of capsizing the bloody thing and then bring it upright as fast as possible. It took all four of us to tip the thing over. 2 of us hangin' overboard from the guy wires, 1 on the jib forestay and the 4'th cadet doin' his best to steer it in such a way as to cause a capsize. It was clearly obvious that we were trying to do it deliberately but the damn thing didn't wana' tip. We got it done eventualy, I think it took a couple of tries!. On another occasion on lake burley griffin, we were sailing in very windy conditions with the boat tipped over so far that water was shooting over the gunnels, into the cockpit and straight off the stern again (who needs a venturi!), and almost washed 1 of the crew over the stern! Give me a corsair anyday. A very fun experience.

[zack268]

Originally Posted by djaustralia

Saw this thread and had to chip in. As a naval cadet in the 90's I learned to sail in the corsair, on lake burley griffin -canberra, jervis bay and lake wallaga in NSW and also on the tweed river near brisbane. I would probably estimate their current value at maybe $1500-$3000 depending on condition. Thats what i'd pay anyhow. One thing I learned to watch out for is a cracked centreboard housing, hard to diagnose untill you get in the water and it takes on water, even with the venturi open and the boat goin' 20 knots! My fellow cadets and I had 2 almost sink on us. 1 in the naval harbour on jervis bay and the other on the tweed (we actually had to jump ship and drag it to a beach). Super fun to sail and extremely stable, easy to step the mast but very heavy to lift, carry and move by hand on land. Us cadets always had a crew of 4. As a demonstration on jervis bay once (with senior naval officers watching on from a patrol boat) the 3 cadets and myself were given the task of capsizing the bloody thing and then bring it upright as fast as possible. It took all four of us to tip the thing over. 2 of us hangin' overboard from the guy wires, 1 on the jib forestay and the 4'th cadet doin' his best to steer it in such a way as to cause a capsize. It was clearly obvious that we were trying to do it deliberately but the damn thing didn't wana' tip. We got it done eventualy, I think it took a couple of tries!. On another occasion on lake burley griffin, we were sailing in very windy conditions with the boat tipped over so far that water was shooting over the gunnels, into the cockpit and straight off the stern again (who needs a venturi!), and almost washed 1 of the crew over the stern! Give me a corsair anyday. A very fun experience.

When my dad bought it it can with a bag of parts and he had to "Macgyver* with it a bit a we worked out ourselves how to attach the ropes to the boom ect.

the main boat is in pretty good condition, but the mast and boom are pretty ordinary. The sails are from the 70s but they have only been used a handful of times.

[djaustralia]

They're a really fun boat to sail, even for the youngsters teens and grandkids and such. Watch the venturi drain though, they're are a bugger to step on with wet bare feet. Also we cadets were told never to gybe the thing UNLESS the main was hauled in tight beforehand. The boom is very low and smacked a few cadets over the years, even while they were siiting down. You learn real fast in that respect. I also remember a capsize drill on lake wallaga, didn't go to plan though, our chief petty officer (also a NSW cop) and 3 cadets were too close to shore. Once capsized, they spent the next 35 odd minutes shoving the thing around trying to get the mast head out of the mud on the bottom!!! When it did come upright again they got bombarded by chunks of mud on route back to shore. The top 2.5 feet of masthead was loaded with silt and mud...mmm stinky!!!! MAN DID WE LAUGH!!!!! Also for those sailing on lake burley griffin, canberra, the mast only fits under the centre span of the commonwealth avenue bridge unless you keep it heeled over. Another hard lesson for some cadets is stay away from the captain cook memorial water jet. It'll fill your boat with one sailpast.