There have been 4, or maybe 5, GRP Mirrors produced in the UK over the years. They are, in order of appearance:
I understand Mark Rushall remembers a GRP Mirror from the time he was sailing with his sister Ruth, so that would be around 1975 (Mark & Ruth were National Champions in 1975), 1976..... Sail numbers from that era were 48000 and upwards.
We know that West Eleven Mark 1 dinghies (which was a look-alike) were in production during the 1970s
I have a photo of a GRP Mirror which was found with a mainsail number 62846. Assuming that this is the correct sail number for the hull (and this is a bit of an assumption), this would date the boat as 1979. From the photos it looks like a Holt GRP (the lip on the edge of the side deck is characteristic of Holt Mirrors, and the floor battens look similar to those on 67936 - Pointless . So it's possible Holt were moulding Mirrors much earlier than 1986 when Bell Woodworking started selling them.
I am still trying to piece together the exact history and provenance of early GRP mirrors such as the one above. We know Bell Woodworking started producing a GRP boat moulded by Ferranti in March 1986. However, boats similar to the one shown above were built and sold prior to March 1986 and differ from the Bell/Ferranti boat in some important ways.
We now know that Bell Woodworking were selling these boats at the 1986 Boat Show (January), before the Ferranti boat was launched. One boat they sold was 67936 - Pointless . We also know there were quality issues with the early hulls. I'm now of the view these were built by Holt (who were also Licence holders). We know that Holt made 70 GRP composite Mirrors (GRP hull, wooden interior) around the early 80s (again, exact dates are unknown), so it would be logical for them to have made an all GRP version. They are quite similar to the Bell/Ferranti with very rounded corners inside the hull where the topsides meet the aft and the bow transoms, following in plan view, the profile of the normal bow shapes and quarter knees. Constructed using chopped strand mat. Similar deck layout to most wooden Mirrors (i.e. Mk2 interior) but no inner gunwales, no bow shapes or quarter knees.The differences between the Holt boat and the Bell/Ferranti are:
Earliest sail numbers found so far are 62846 (? there is some doubt over the original sail number of this hull) , 67936 - Pointless & 67938 - Foxy.
These GRP Mirrors were produced from March 1986 onwards for Bell Woodworking by Ferranti. Just after, it would appear, Holt started to make an all GRP Mirror. At that time sail numbers were 68076 and above. They are easy to spot, they had hollow topsides (i.e. the hull sides above deck level) and very rounded corners inside the hull where the topsides meet the aft and the bow transoms, following in plan view, the profile of the normal bow shapes and quarter knees. Constructed using chopped strand mat. Similar deck layout to most wooden Mirrors (i.e. Mk2 interior) but no inner gunwales, no bow shapes or quarter knees.
Some of the buoyancy tanks may be connected via the hollow topsides (one boat had the bow tank connected to the stern tank !). The drip rail above the cuddies are wood.
Produced by TridentUK from around 2002. Constructed using foam sandwich (Foam Reinforced Plastic (FRP) = thin GRP skin, then foam, then another GRP skin). Identical deck layout to most wooden Mirrors (i.e. Mk2 interior) with a gunwale moulding to give inner gunwales, bow shapes and quarter knees. The deck mould stops at deck level.
From 2002 until 2007, this was the only game in town if you wanted GRP, so quite a few made and the "Mirror Race" version was pretty well down to weight, stiff and on the pace with the best wooden boats. Dave Gebhard won the 2002 & 2004 European Championships in one of these boats.
some low resolution photos of 70500 - 'Wind Whisper', the second Winder Mirror sold
In 2006 the International Mirror Class Association asked Phil Morrison to restyle the interior of the Mirror dinghy for GRP construction. The result is known as a Mk 3 interior which has no cuddies, dished decks, curved bulkheads, a raised platform for the mast step, and wrap over gunwales. The requirement for a hole in the skeg was also removed so the skeg could be formed as part of the hull mould. The result is a boat which can made from just 3 moulds - hull, deck and thwart/daggerboard case top.