John Welsfords Pathfinder

graham

graham

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Seasons greetings everyone I hope the mince pies havent left you with a hangover this morning /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have been thinking for a few years now about building a seaworthy large dinghy that can be towed behind a medium size car and live on its trailer.

The one design that looks right to me is the Pathfinder designed in New Zealand by John Welsford.

path2.jpg


She is about 17 feet and comes with a variety of rig options including a yawl rig which I think looks right and enables you to lie better head to wind when reefing the main.

Any one seen one sailed one or any comments on the designer etc?
 
Hmmmmm! NICE.............needs wooden spars though, I don't think the alloy ones do it any favours, but than again I am just an Old Fart! So what do I know? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mince pies? Hic!........burp! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
The alloy spars do look a bit out of place. especially with the yawl rig the spars are shorter so the weight aloft wouldnt be much to consider. Theres also a 14' 9'' version called the Navigator. looks very similar.
 
I built one of his smaller designs, the Golden Bay, a few years ago and he was very helpful. Good instructions with the plans as well. He has written a book, New Zealand Backyard Boatbuilder, which would be usefull for you to read.
As regards the comment made about alloy spars, I made the mast for my boat out of wood. The woood has to be high quality "clear" oregon pine (meaning knot free, tight grained), or similar, and it is expensive. I found the mast-shaping the most technically demanding bit of the whole build.
Overall, a very rewarding project but pretty time consuming. Takes up a fair bit of space as well - it being warm in Queensland I did the whole thing outside on the front deck, not always appreciated by management, and the family living across the road didn't always appreciate me starting sanding(by hand) at 10 pm when I got in from work.
 
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