Key details
- Current boat name
- Pinafore
- Boat class
- 7448
- Function
- Sports and Leisure
- Type
Dimensions and specifications
- Length (m / ft)
- 3.66 / 12ft
- Beam (m / ft)
- 1.45 / 4ft 9in
- Leeward
- Centreboard
- Masts
- 1 Wood
- Propulsion
- Sail
Design and build
- Date of build
- 1937 c
- Place of build
- Rock Ferry, Cheshire
Current status
- Present use
- Museum/MMM
History
A traditionally built dinghy that is very similar to the Dreadnought class. Pinafore and her Dreadnought cousins were heavy, carried no buoyancy and could be driven under in a wind. But these old style boats were excellent training platforms for a generation of young sailors until after the Second World War and the introduction of radically different modern dinghy classes such as the Cadet. PINAFORE was built in about 1937 by Samuel Bond of Rock Ferry on the River Mersey and was sailed in the waters around Hoylake and Hilbre Island in the Dee estuary. She has also been used for shrimping with a small beam trawl. Pinafore changed ownership and name several times, including being called BELLEROPHON. Presented to the Merseyside Maritime Museum by Mr J Bain in 1980.