Hard hull dinghy/tender

[RonPimm]

We are in need of a tender. Must be a good rower with plenty of seating adjustment and two rowlock positions to fit both my wife and me (who are quite differently proportioned) but with possibility of using an outboard or sailing rig when required. Must be hard hull. Must have good freeboard. Max length 8' (maybe 245cm) and max. weight 55kg.
Have researched the subject in literature and at boat shows and sale rooms but so far have rejected all possibilities (bar one) on grounds of low freeboard, poor rowing positions or suspect stability. Have done a search in Liveaboard Link and Reader to Reader forums back a year but didn't turn up any names I hadn't already discovered and rejected. The closest to our ideal seems to be a "Fatty Knees" used and loved by the Pardeys. I've never seen one in the flesh let alone tried one and it's a lot of cash to hand over for a pig in a poke. No disrespect to the Ps (should they be subscribers to this forum) but has anyone else out there had any experience of a "Fatty Knees" dinghy? How well do they perform? How well do they last? Anyone any other suggestions?
Ron

 

[Petercatterall]

Looking for something similar myself. Hopefully we will be moving from marina to mooring this season and I would like something other than the trusty Avon. Also to play with a bit. I had thought about one of those folding things or even building a pup from PBO plans.
A popular choice,however seems to be a really disreputable looking but still seaworthy GRP dinghy which you can just leave around as no one will nick it.
Good hunting

 

[Mirelle]

If you can go to 9ft, and don\'t mind a bit of maintenance

Malcolm Goodwin's "Nutshell" is a really excellent dinghy; it is a glued clinker ply stem dinghy with reasonable sailing performance. Rows well from both positions and is stable. However I think they are not now in production so you will need to find a secondhand one.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Ron,

Some ago a friend had the same the problem, he was longer than she was so rowing was a problem for her, after looking at many designs we decided to build one ourselves.

The end result is a small light cat hull, very stable and plenty of room, takes an outboard, can be sailed or rowed.

To accommodate the vast difference in rowers we built a sliding section into the normal seat, this allowed the smaller rower to be further aft and a little lower.

The construction was simple, we first cut closed cell foam and glued it together, sanded it to the required shape after sitting him and her in the rowing position to ensure it was an exact fit; then glassed inside and out.

The result is a very stable hull, no need for a keel box with a cat hull and lots of room alongside the outboard when motoring, built in buoyancy, mast mount, anchor locker, dry locker, and her name built into the transom. We also included 2 slots just below the gunwale on each side, these served as carry handles and are also used to secure the craft to the yacht by way of 2 stainless steel brackets on her transom.

Avagoodweekend........

 

[William_H]

I have built 2 Sabot sailing dinghies as tenders over the years. They are made of plywood 8ft long and have a transom bow and a really good underwater shape at least for a light load. it has carried 5 adults but is hard to row with that load but a joy single handed. Obviously you could modify for any amount of freeboard. I have plans produced free by a Canadian timber companyso you may be able to find it on the net.I find with tenders the problem is fore and aft balance with one person no probs with 2 people one in the stern it drags the stern so we tend to have 2 rowing side by side with 3 people one in bow one on stern no prob except for the amount of hull in the water due to load. Any more people and the water tends to slop over the sides. So a moveable rowing seat to provide balance with 2POB would be good but my main wish would be light weight. Aluminium would be great but so exopensive for a tender left tied up on the shore all its life. good luck will

 

[claymore]

Re: If you can go to 9ft, and don\'t mind a bit of maintenance

We have a Wright clinker dinghy - it fits all your criteria but as Mirelle points out you'd not have to mind a bit of maintenance.
I've just made it sound as if ours is for sale - that is not so!

 

[JAYEL]

Ron, what you are looking for is a Dabbler: double skinned, foam sandwich, unsinkable even when sawn in half (brochure talk). comes in a variety of sizes, I have a 10 footer, comes as a sailing dinghy,main and jib with detachable bowsprit. A centre board box on leading edge of rear thwart, forward is a locker come bow seat. Two positions for rowlocks, stout reinforced transom able to cope with up to 10 HP,or tiller, rudder when sailing. One piece ally mast with orange sails. Very stable even 5 up. Bought mine about two years ago, advert in Loot, for £400 complete with trailer and 4HP seagull. they out there! Good luck.

 

[JAYEL]

Ron: try used marine inboards site at hhtp://www.boatsandoutboards.com dinghy section good luck.

 

[Lakesailor]

Get a small ex-sailing grp dinghy. I paid £50 for mine and plonked the rig from a Heron I'm restoring on it.

Rig's a bit big for this dinghy (9ft) but in light airs it flies.

It rows a treat. You've just got to keep looking 'till you find one.

 

[sjohn_gibson]

I solved th problem by building a PBO Pup - delighted with it. Light, stable, easily rowed, good load carrying and we have had lots of fun sailing up creeks.

 

[trouville]

how big is that?why not post the plans hear?

 

[tugboat]

The plans are advertised every month in PBO. The 'Pup' is 7ft 8inches long and the plans cost £23-50p

 

[kds]

Gee Oldsalt - that sounds brilliant !
Don't suppose you have a photo ? Or approximate dimentions ?
Ken

 

[snowleopard]

isn't it amazing how often this comes up and still no manufacturer has filled the hole in the market. many of us would like to have a dinghy that's light, rows and sails well, can take an outboard and will carry 3 or 4 people without swamping.

the mirror is a fairly close approximation though a 6mm bottom skin is a bit flimsy for regular use. the walker bay looks close to the ideal though it's a bit short on freeboard. i do like the inflatable collar you can buy for the walker bay- instant fender and extra flotation.

the tinker tramp attempts to fill the niche but the low bow looks vulnerable and inflatables are useless to row.

there's a great business opportunity here- maybe i'll get out my drawing board!

 

[Lakesailor]

It's the production costs and the onerous legislation that spoils it. Everyone wants cheap, but where's the incentive to do all the work and take all the risks for a low profit margin?

 

[CharlesM]

Re: If you can go to 9ft, and don\'t mind a bit of maintenance

gosh - to have that name mentioned. I had a nutshell in my youf in South Africa - sailed it on Midmar dam. What fun.

I do suspect it may still be there - rotting away slowly... (for some reason the family stopped going out there every sunday)

 

[Petercatterall]

John,
I am interested in building a PBO 'Pup'. Can I ask what are the aprox build costs inc sails and what6 sort of time should it take?
Can it be roof topped?
Regards

 

[trouville]

ask PBO to post the plans

 

[RonPimm]

Many thanks for all your replies. I am in the process of following up suggestions.
I probably should have been a bit more explicit about requirements:
Dinghy has to be max. 245cm to fit on foredeck. We are too busy trying to sort everything out before moving permanently onto our boat some time this summer so no time to build a dinghy (otherwise would be a good idea). Must have a good rower as (a) we will try to use the outboard as little as possible (b) when outboard lets us down (as it will sometime) there's a better chance of rowing out of trouble. In my experience a good rowing dinghy will outboard satisfactorily but the reverse is not necessarily true. We expect to rely on it quite a bit as we hope to avoid using marinas where possible.
Catamaran style dinghies can be highly stable for boarding purposes but can be pigs to row in anything other than flat calm. In a chop or tide rip I'd even prefer a Redcrest.
Sailing capabilities were something of an after thought as we have a sailing rig, left over from a previous dinghy, which we might try to fit sometime.
Must say I was surprised that no-one out there has had (or will admit to) personal experience of a "Fatty Knees". Nothing similar seems to be made in UK (please correct me if I'm wrong). If they were available here we'd be down like a shot to give one a try.
Ron