08 A nested Dinghy

I want to have  a hard dinghy, that can be rowed well and also be sailed. A full dinghy does not fit on the deck, so I looked for a nesting dinghy, i.e. one the is in two pieces, one fitting inside the other. I found some plans for the Two Paw 8 from B&B Yacht design on the Internet, http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/

The design does not require scarfing of plywood, so it is easy to build. I set up shop in the garage and started to build.

Front and aft transoms need reinforcements.

The middle bulkhead needs to be double and is bolted together with spacers while the boat is built.

The dighy is built using stich and glue technique.

Starting from the inside, the seams are covered by epoxi and glass fibre. However, the boat must be level and square…

This ensured by measuring from corner to corner and adjusting until the distances are the same.

Then it is time for the outside…

The gunwales are  important in order to give the boat its lines. Both sides must be glued together.

Knees in all 4 corners also help to strenghten the boat.

Then came the moment for The Big Cut!

Done! Trying the nesting – Yes, it works!

Also at the transom side.

The surfaces of the big cut must be protected by epoxy and fibreglass…

Trying out the placement on deck before taking the mast down for the winter.

This is the status at the end of 2008. A few steps remains. Sanding and painting, mounting the twarths and centerboard case. I am waiting for a little bit warmer weather to start on that.

2009: The weather is warm enough to start working on the dinghy again… The aft section is getting floatation chambers. They are measured to fill most of the area not filled by the front part when nested. Before gluing the top on, I filled them with foam (they are supposed to be airtight, but …)

The front floatation tank will double as storage, so it needs to be bigger.

Here you can see the strengthening framework for the mast. Also the floatation chamber has got a coat of topcoat.

The foam goes in, but is not filling the chamber.

The lid goes on. The top goes down to the center board drum and works as a twarth to sit on when rowing. It has a gentle slope….

…which is visible here!

Testing the complete dinghy with the mast in place (to glue the bottom mast step)

Here the mast step can be seen

The whole dinghy again…

Painting…

… painting…

…and painting!

some parts are varnished.

Finally, on board the mother ship (only aft part so far…)