Bought a dinghy....

[BarryH]

........well the moulding sans woodwork. It was cheap at 140 quid for a new moulding. I didn't want to spend loads on one and all the dingies on E Blagg were going for around the same price and the condition could best be decribed as a "Bag O ****e", so I thought why not.

Its going to be left in the yard so I'm not looking for mega expensive hard wood, The cheaper the better really, I was thinking of using some cheapo Wickes hardwood decking, if it lasts a couple of years fine.

Now obviously decking is designed to be out in all weathers, What would be the best way to give it a little protection. Its obviously been treated in some way so I though a coating of oil or, God forbid, Burgess Woodsealer......thoughts?

 

[VicS]

Do Wickes do hardwood decking? I could only find pine on the website.

It's pressure treated but you'll need to treat all the surfaces you cut with preservative.

For overall treatment Wickes suggest deck seal, deck oil or deck stain.

You presumably only want a small amount of timber. Maybe one of the wooden boat specialists such as NIck Gates in Emsworth Marina or Tim Gilmore at Wooden Boats Forever in Birdham Pool could sell you some offcuts for not much money

That's how I got the hardwood for my dinghy, but from a boat yard on the Thames, and they cut everything to the sizes I wanted !

 

[BarryH]

I was just going to buy a couple of lengths and rip it down on the table saw. That should take care of the gunnels, knees etc. Theres no bouancy built in so exterior ply bulkheads encased in glass should take care of that and double as thwarts. I was going to top the centre and stern ones in a bit of teak faced ply. I already have a few half sheets of ply and the glass and resin knocking about in the garage.

Total cost should be around the 200 quid mark. Better than the piles of carp on e bay for the same money and I like the look of the traditional clinker dinghy. The moulds for this one were taken from an old dinghy of around the turn of the century, very quaint