Anyone built a Mirror dinghy?

snowleopard

snowleopard

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I'm in the process of dismantling one to use as a template for a GRP replacement. The stitch & glue seams seem remarkably sound considering the rest of it has terminal rot. Did they use epoxy resin on the tape? I helped build one back in the 70s and vaguely remember it as being polyester but the stuff I'm grinding away now looks like epoxy.
 
as already suggested it's going to be a case of when built - cue sail number etc

60747 was polyester.......and subsequently fully skinned in polyester as the wood rotted away - finally dying 12 years ago :(

the rig lives on however - and the sails get occassional use as tarps!
 
38383

Built about 1969 by my (then) girlfriends farther and me......

Polyester and tape, great boat to learn to sail on.

There is a charity on the Wirral (for the life of me I cant remember the name) that rebuilds old dinghies and sells them on cheap, apparently they are given them and they are put back into use and the monies raised go to keeping the charity running.

Now what was the name ???? :(

Found it....:)
http://www.wirralark.org.uk/WirralArkDinghies.asp

Tom
 
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Yep, polyester back in 1975 when I built no 49074.

Still in good nick , but not sailed recently.

The number carved into the transom ( if original) should give you an idea of its age
 
MoodyNick said:
I seem to recall you doing the same thing about 3 years ago ....... or is it still the same project ? :)
Click to expand...

Yes, the same. Other things intervened e.g. spending two winters in Australia with new grandchildren. The rubber duck is now starting to fall apart so the incentive is stronger now!
 
Had a moment of inspiration...

...and found someone selling new kits on the web. The standard kit comes with polyester but there is an epoxy upgrade option!
 
snowleopard said:
I'm in the process of dismantling one to use as a template for a GRP replacement. The stitch & glue seams seem remarkably sound considering the rest of it has terminal rot. Did they use epoxy resin on the tape? I helped build one back in the 70s and vaguely remember it as being polyester but the stuff I'm grinding away now looks like epoxy.
Click to expand...

If it's any use, I have a full set of original (ca 1975-ish) building instructions somewhere.
 
The techniques for building in GRP are very different so I don't think the instructions for wood will help much.

I am surprised by how much framing there is inside the tanks. It's quite a bit more complicated than I remember but it was a very long time ago. I guess with the very thin and rather soft ply it needed a fair bit of stiffening. I was always a bit worried about standing on the 1/4" ply bottom. The new version should be stronger and hopefully lighter - approx 20 kg for the shell.
 
Gaffers said:
Even if the boat was built in the 60/70s they could have redone the tape with epoxy as part of a refurb but if the hull is rotten then they didn't do a good job of it.
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The rot wasn't associated with the tape. Probably the effect of allowing fresh water to lie in the boat by careless use (or non-use) of a cover.

As more of the panels come out I can see that the taping inside the tanks has been skimped with insufficient resin which smells like polyester. On the outside they may well have gone over the seams with epoxy later as it is quite thick.
 
That sounds an interesting way to build a dinghy. I'm quite keen on getting a rigid tender... and I have a few sheets of PU foam left over from a building project... how light, and how durable, does this construction end up being? Does the foam mean you can build without buoyancy chambers?
 
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