"Take apart" dinghy ...

[wind_magic]

John,

"The cut" is part of what concerns me, to go to all of that trouble and then have it come down to lining up a cut with a carpenter's saw through the center of a piece of wood. I am not even that good at doing that with a band saw.

[IslanderGuy]

I really like the look of the Passagemaker, and what a great job John did.
The Spindrift fit our particular needs better, so my girls and I (7 - 9) built a Spindrift 11 Nesting dingy last winter. I have built a few boats before for other people and was amazed how much help the girls could actually be. And what pride of ownership they have now!

The sailing rig is not done yet, but the boat is set up for it. Hopefully it will be done by next summer.



Both halves will float independently, I can even be in them, and assemble or disassemble them in the water.



And here's the girls, enjoying the fruits of our hard labor...



Funjohnson, that's a great looking spindrift you have there. Good job!

Oh yeah, and the cutting it in half took quite a bit of psyching up, and few beers when it was over. Felt like I needed one before, but I did NOT want to mess it up! I just figured hey, if I goof it up, I can always build another one

[IslanderGuy]

Originally Posted by wind_magic

John,

"The cut" is part of what concerns me, to go to all of that trouble and then have it come down to lining up a cut with a carpenter's saw through the center of a piece of wood. I am not even that good at doing that with a band saw.

At least with the one I built, both bulkheads where already installed, with small pieces of cardboard as spacers between when glassing them in place. With a hand saw, the blade just goes between the bulkheads and guides itself, more or less.

Still hard to do mentally, very nerve wracking. But oh the joys of telling all your friends you just cut your new boat in half!

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by IslanderGuy

At least with the one I built, both bulkheads where already installed, with small pieces of cardboard as spacers between when glassing them in place. With a hand saw, the blade just goes between the bulkheads and guides itself, more or less.

Still hard to do mentally, very nerve wracking. But oh the joys of telling all your friends you just cut your new boat in half!

Okay, hey, if that is the case and the saw is guiding itself, I can do it, that makes me feel better. I wonder if the Passagemaker is done that same way ? I have had to make these cuts through a solid piece of wood using a bandsaw and they are not easy, but if there was cardboard in the middle, I can do that.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by wind_magic

Okay, hey, if that is the case and the saw is guiding itself, I can do it, that makes me feel better. I wonder if the Passagemaker is done that same way ? I have had to make these cuts through a solid piece of wood using a bandsaw and they are not easy, but if there was cardboard in the middle, I can do that.

Yeah, it's done the same way on the Passagemaker: There is a piece of cardboard sandwiched between the two bulkheads. The thickness of the cardboard is much greater than the kerf of the saw blade. In theory, the blade is guided by the sandwich, the only tricky part being navigating around the carriage bolts, which are already in place. The cardboard gets peeled away after the cut, and then the edges get tidied up with thickened epoxy and sandpaper.

I say "in theory" above, because if you are a congenital knucklehead like me and get a late start or distracted such that it becomes dark before you've finished "the cut", it's still possible to muck it up. Fortunately, this sort of boatbuilding is very forgiving of amateurs -- there's almost nothing that can't be repaired with epoxy, wood flour, and cab-o-sil.

[deniseO30]

can someone sell me their plans on the cheap? I was setting up to build a one off 11ft semi dory but really like the spindrift. Yes, I know I can buy the plans from B & B

[IslanderGuy]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

can someone sell me their plans on the cheap? I was setting up to build a one off 11ft semi dory but really like the spindrift. Yes, I know I can buy the plans from B & B

Actually, the plans are licensed for one boat only, so they should not be sold unless the previous owner never made the boat. With the work that goes into the plans, and the very small market for them, it is worth every penny to buy new plans. They are not much, the spindrift plans are only $56.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by IslanderGuy

Actually, the plans are licensed for one boat only, so they should not be sold unless the previous owner never made the boat. With the work that goes into the plans, and the very small market for them, it is worth every penny to buy new plans. They are not much, the spindrift plans are only $56.

Hear, hear.

It's intellectual property. Reselling the plans after you've built the boat is no different than pirating/sharing software or other copyrighted material. Except that you're typically stealing from a little guy, not a big business.

But I'm sure Denise was looking for a set of plans that never got built. There ARE many of those around, where folks purchased them but never got around to building for whatever reason. My understanding in such cases is that the license is transferable. Craig's list, perhaps?

[IslanderGuy]

Just a few more comment on building these boats for those interesting in doing so...

CLC's boats (Passagemaker) are well thought out, heavily tested, and the plans are drawn up with the first time builder in mind. I have built one of their kayaks, my first real boat building, and it went together well. I built that one from the plans only, purchasing all the materials and building from scratch. They have an excellent online forum on their website (CLC Boats) which their designers and builders spend time on as well as a huge builder community. They are very helpful.

I chose to build the first one from scratch, to learn as much as possible. I later built another one from a kit, so I could get it done sooner, and that worked out well as well. If you are not interested in learning all the little details of building, and just want to enjoy the build process, kits are a great way to go.


I enjoyed building the Spindrift from B&B Yacht Designs/ from plans. It is also designed for beginners, with lots of step by step instructions. There where a few places where I may have gotten lost had I not built before, but you get the phone number for the designer, and the freedom to call any time. While I never did have to call, my wife called them to order some of the hardware, and was very pleased with them. There is also a good B&B Builders forum with lots of helpful people who answered all my questions.

I think both of these companies offer a way for anyone to build a boat, all you need to add is LOTS of patience and a bit of work. It WILL take much longer then you think it will. You may make mistakes and have to redo something, but like was mentioned before, its hard to mess up so bad it can not be fixed. You do not need oodles of fancy tools, just basic hand tools will get you by, circular saw, hand saw, drill, sanders, etc. Of course, fancy tools can make it faster if you have them. I just learned the utter joy of a GOOD small block plane, the kind you can hold in one hand.

If you have a desire to build a dingy, go for it. Just remember it is like anything else in sailing, the trip needs to be enjoyed as much as the destination.

Bryan

[deniseO30]

Actually, I like to take the table of offsets from published works Like Gardner's or others. I can do some lofting on my own, although I probably will buy the B&B plans since I like the boat so much. On the other hand, pretty much any plywood boat can be cut in half. I'd like to work on a double ended type myself, dory or wherry type. The semi-dory I was going to build was more for an outboard and fishing boat then as a tender. I don't want anyone feeling guilty about selling off plans that the designer copyrighted though. If I had succeeded in becoming a small craft builder I'd feel the same way. Now of course Nooooo body would Evvvver build a boat for someone Else LOL!