ACL - ACountryLife.Com - Smallholding & Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century

Do it Yourself - Build a Dinghy

You might be asking yourself, why an article on building a boat, on a Self-Sufficiency and Downshifting website...? Well, there are a couple of answers to this: The first is that I am a downshifter who also sails - building my own dinghy seems a much better idea than buying-in something 'manufactured' with its inherent mark-up. Secondly, it is not uncommon to have water on a smallholding property (we have 2 large ponds for example) and it could be a a useful way to go fishing for example, not to mention the fun diversion (from sheep, chickens and goats) on occasion to just have a paddle around. A full materials list is provided in the file (downloaded from the referenced website) called 'D4.txt' (a plain-text document that gives some guidance notes too.) West Epoxy Epoxy 'B' Pack (6Kg - includes catalyser) Fillet Blend 700gm (405A) Glass Tape 175gm x 75mm (50meters) Tools/Equipment Electric Jigsaw Claw Hammer Pliers/Cutters Handsaw Cordless Drill & Drill/Screwdriver Bits Electric Sander In the spring of 2003 I built a tender for my cruiser, I was looking for something that was cheap, simple to make and be durable. I scoured the Internet for 'free' downloadable plans, and eventually stumbled across the plans for a D4 dinghy, designed as one of a family of 'home-build' boats, by Mertens-Goossens Inc: www.bateau.com

Orthographic View	Side/Plan View

During Assembly	During Assembly

Finished!	Yes she floats too!

These plans are free and are great. The D4 is a 7' 10" x 3' 10" simple, but very practical dinghy. It is based on a dinghy that was built some years ago in the Caribbean by Mertens-Goosens and that gave many years of reliable service. Construction time is in the region of 20 hours and as it is based on the 'stitch & glue' method, only requires very simple tools. The small dimensions make assembly very easy in an average garage or shed (if you have an understanding partner, you could even build it on the kitchen/dining table, but don't come back to me if you get a rocket!) The plans come in a ZIP? file and are designed to be used under DOS on a PC (they may work in a DOS window under Windows? (not Windows 2000?) but they wont have a GUI front-end) you may find it easiest to unzip the archive into a folder on your C: drive and then restart your PC in MS-DOS mode. You are supposed to run the 'SHOW.BAT' file but I found that under Windows 2000?, that I got a runtime-error. As all 'SHOW.BAT' does, is run an image viewer (all the plans are in PCX format) it's not really a problem. Just about any graphics package can open PCX format images and this is great for anyone using a Mac or a PC running Linux etc. If you are using DOS then once you have run 'SHOW.BAT' you can follow the on-screen instructions to print out all the images, if you cannot do this and are opening the images in a graphics package, you will need to print out from there. Either way, the plans print-out onto 12 A4 sheets and are definitely not full-size, you will therefore need to 'loft' the plans out onto the plywood sheets. It takes a bit of getting used to but with care you should manage fine. I did and it's the first time I'd ever done anything like this. Instead of using polyester resin for the construction, I opted for West Epoxy - this is quite expensive at around ?100 for the quantity used but there is plenty of both resin and tape to do at least 2-3 boats. I wasted quite a bit of resin at first by not getting it mixed correctly and consequently is 'went-off' too quickly. I would recommend that you buy the dispenser pumps as they are very cheap and will make measuring-out a breeze, and with no waste! I used Epoxy as the dinghy was to be used on a rocky river estuary and I wanted to impart as much additional strength as possible in the event of a 'rough' landing! Also ensure that you don't allow any resin (neat or catalysed) to drip onto the roll of Glass Tape - if it sets, even a minute amount will make it very hard to unroll and can cause problems when being laid along the seams. Foolishly, I didn't take any photographs during the early construction stages (I was in a hurry to get her finished) so I have no images of the actual cutting-out of the plywood or the 'stitch & glue' process. Essentialy, what you do once you have cut-out the panels from the plywood, you drill a series of 2-3mm holes parallel (about ? inch (12mm) from what will be the adjoining edges, and then join the panels by 'stitching' with copper wire (salvaged from old household wiring) or 'Ty-Wraps'. The holes need to be about 4 inches (100mm) apart, closer where the panels form the curves and right angles. It sounds fiddly - and it is a bit, but it's much easier to do than it is to explain! If you don't have copper wire or Ty-Wraps, you can use other wire (which you must remove before you start to resin the seams) or some suggest fishing line as a good alternative. Once the panels are all stitched, small pieces of Glass Tape were cut and bonded to over the joins at about 12 inch (30mm) intervals. This first stage allows the boat to maintain it's shape as you start to remove the wires/Ty-wraps before you tape, fillet and resin the seams. It is not strictly necessary to do this, you can leave the wires (only if you used copper)/Ty-wraps in and tape/fillet and resin over the top of them but the finish will not be as good. The original plans didn't include any gunwales so I fabricated these out of 1inch x 2inch (25mm x 50mm) pine battens. They are easy to fit if you glue/screw one end (the stern) and then lead around to the bow, clamping with 'C-clamps' and brass screws as you go. NB. screw from the inside out. The seat sections, I sealed with a coat of epoxy resin and then I filled with as much closed-cell foam as I could find,to give the tender a fair degree of positive bouyancy. Once all the assemby was complete, I epoxied all panels (both inside and out) and then paited the exterior in yacht enamel. The insides and gunwales were varnished with yacht varnish (which oddly says on the tin, is not suitable for a marine environment!) Total construction time was about a month or so and total cost was around ?250, mind you, this included the cost of the resin/tape and I had plently left over to do at least another 1 and possibly 2. (I subsequently used both on another project - rebuilding a Mirror Dinghy!) The plans also show how to easily make her into a sailing dinghy (you need to modify the build - instructions in plans) and for kids for the summer, this could be just great. Places to Buy: CSL - Fibreglass Mertens-Goossens Inc - Boat Plans
Web Links:
HTTP://www.bateau.com HTTP:// HTTP://
Additional Info: