Post Brexit, can we buy 2 stroke outboards now?

[Tranona]

I can see the attraction of the Spindrift. 40 years ago I went through a similar process, designing and building an epoxy ply clinker 8' pram with similar objectives to yours - tender, light, easily stowed and sailing rig. Very similar to the Barrow Boat which came later. I built a crude prototype then 3 to a professional standard two of which I sold and one I kept for myself. I have to say it did not come up to expectations in practice. It was not a good load carrier, tippy when getting on and off, did not motor well, and difficult to get to sail well. It did row well though. if a little skittish without some weight forward. Also the hassle of carrying the sailing gear around meant we rarely used it that way. I came to the conclusion that there were too many compromises for it to be the only tender so reverted to the Avon for that job. However I used it for many years when I was on a swinging mooring to get to the boat, then left it on the mooring while off sailing. Of course your Spindrift is much more substantial and sophisticated, but the compromises are still there. You can't expect one boat to do several things well and the danger is that it ends up not doing any of them well.

To my mind a tender performs a specific function - the taxi to and from the boat at anchor and an inflatable (or RIB for larger boats) is far and away the best tool for the job. Stable, good load carriers, good performance under power, particularly V bottom types, can be folded up when not in use, low maintenance, long lived. Only downsides are often poor for rowing and are not pretty compared with a wooden dinghy - but then a London cab is not pretty.

On the motoring front, don't think you can expect anything more than pottering speeds with your Spindrift. Even the 12' is limited to 5hp, so might just lift with one person, but the 9 and 10 ' versions are limited to 2.5. Compare that to a 3m Hypalon Seago which has a capacity for 5, a payload of 560kgs and can take up to 15hp. Look around and you will rarely see a solid dinghy used on a cruising boat. Inflatables are almost universal.

No doubt you have had fun building your boat and a great deal of satisfaction and I hope you get it to work in practice.

 

[geem]

I can see the attraction of the Spindrift. 40 years ago I went through a similar process, designing and building an epoxy ply clinker 8' pram with similar objectives to yours - tender, light, easily stowed and sailing rig. Very similar to the Barrow Boat which came later. I built a crude prototype then 3 to a professional standard two of which I sold and one I kept for myself. I have to say it did not come up to expectations in practice. It was not a good load carrier, tippy when getting on and off, did not motor well, and difficult to get to sail well. It did row well though. if a little skittish without some weight forward. Also the hassle of carrying the sailing gear around meant we rarely used it that way. I came to the conclusion that there were too many compromises for it to be the only tender so reverted to the Avon for that job. However I used it for many years when I was on a swinging mooring to get to the boat, then left it on the mooring while off sailing. Of course your Spindrift is much more substantial and sophisticated, but the compromises are still there. You can't expect one boat to do several things well and the danger is that it ends up not doing any of them well.

To my mind a tender performs a specific function - the taxi to and from the boat at anchor and an inflatable (or RIB for larger boats) is far and away the best tool for the job. Stable, good load carriers, good performance under power, particularly V bottom types, can be folded up when not in use, low maintenance, long lived. Only downsides are often poor for rowing and are not pretty compared with a wooden dinghy - but then a London cab is not pretty.

On the motoring front, don't think you can expect anything more than pottering speeds with your Spindrift. Even the 12' is limited to 5hp, so might just lift with one person, but the 9 and 10 ' versions are limited to 2.5. Compare that to a 3m Hypalon Seago which has a capacity for 5, a payload of 560kgs and can take up to 15hp. Look around and you will rarely see a solid dinghy used on a cruising boat. Inflatables are almost universal.

No doubt you have had fun building your boat and a great deal of satisfaction and I hope you get it to work in practice.

I guess your experience of cruising is limited to the Med. Hard dinghies in the Caribbean are a lot more popular. This is due to the fact that you are far more reliant on your dinghy. The distances traveled are significant. Dinghy docks can be rough concrete or timber with nails sticking out. There are lots of beaches with coral. This all takes its toll on a dinghy. If you have a soft bottom dinghy it wont last. You would be lucky to get a season out of a Seago dinghy unless you are very careful. Most people in the Caribbean have a rib. The next most popular is a hard dinghy. Roll up dinghies are in a minority.
Most people arrive in the Caribbean with an inappropriate dinghy and soon buy a rib and large 2stroke engine. If you are cruising there for a few years many convert to a hard dinghy.
With regard to to a Spindrift, a 12ft version will go surprisingly well with a 5hp. I have seen it. Its all about waterline length.
Here is a 12ft hard bottom boat with a 5hp fore stroke doing 17 mph

For me the main concern with the Spindrift would be durability of plywood as a tender. To build it strong enough to take the bashing of a full time tender it will be heavy. There is nothing wrong with the design but I would rather own a grp version that can be be light enough and strong enough to take the inevitable abuse of liveaboard life

 

[Kelpie]

I've been through all of the mental gymnastics around choosing a tender, and the decision is made- nesting plywood sailing dinghy.
If it turns out to be a flop, we will have to revert to a roll-up, or even buy a RIB for the time we are in the Caribbean and then ditch it before we do our next ocean passage. I really hope it doesn't come to that!
The only way of storing a RIB on deck would involve a major re-rig, or an absolutely tiny RIB. Or maybe an expensive PVC folding RIB. Like I say, I've been through all of these options and made my decision.

Thinking about using the Spindrift under motor, I can't help eyeing up the three identical 3.5hp 2 strokes I already own. It's probably a ridiculous idea but sticking two of those on would be a laugh. And when you actually think about it, the loads at the edges of the transom would be much kinder on the boat. You know I'm going to have to give it a go....

 

[Kelpie]

For me the main concern with the Spindrift would be durability of plywood as a tender. To build it strong enough to take the bashing of a full time tender it will be heavy. There is nothing wrong with the design but I would rather own a grp version that can be be light enough and strong enough to take the inevitable abuse of liveaboard life

I started investigating various composites for this project, but I chickened out- I simply don't have enough experience with glass work, let alone composites. The design can and has been built using a Nidaplast core, but you can't really use more than a 5mm core because thicker hull sides would prevent the dinghy from nesting. And using different core thicknesses on the sides and bottom make the joins between panels trickier, apparently. From the little I know about composites, getting the best out of the material is all about thicker cores and thinner skins. That's how you get stiffness without weight. For this design you struggle to really meet the sweet spot.

I'll be taking the plans and some tools with me when we set off, so perhaps I will one day be rebuilding, or starting from scratch, on a beach somewhere.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Thinking about using the Spindrift under motor, I can't help eyeing up the three identical 3.5hp 2 strokes I already own. It's probably a ridiculous idea but sticking two of those on would be a laugh. And when you actually think about it, the loads at the edges of the transom would be much kinder on the boat. You know I'm going to have to give it a go....

That's daft. Why leave one unused?

We await the video.

 

[Tranona]

I guess your experience of cruising is limited to the Med. Hard dinghies in the Caribbean are a lot more popular. This is due to the fact that you are far more reliant on your dinghy. The distances traveled are significant. Dinghy docks can be rough concrete or timber with nails sticking out. There are lots of beaches with coral. This all takes its toll on a dinghy. If you have a soft bottom dinghy it wont last. You would be lucky to get a season out of a Seago dinghy unless you are very careful. Most people in the Caribbean have a rib. The next most popular is a hard dinghy. Roll up dinghies are in a minority.
Most people arrive in the Caribbean with an inappropriate dinghy and soon buy a rib and large 2stroke engine. If you are cruising there for a few years many convert to a hard dinghy.
With regard to to a Spindrift, a 12ft version will go surprisingly well with a 5hp. I have seen it. Its all about waterline length.
Here is a 12ft hard bottom boat with a 5hp fore stroke doing 17 mph

For me the main concern with the Spindrift would be durability of plywood as a tender. To build it strong enough to take the bashing of a full time tender it will be heavy. There is nothing wrong with the design but I would rather own a grp version that can be be light enough and strong enough to take the inevitable abuse of liveaboard life

I thought I had made it pretty clear that the requirements of the Med and Caribbean were different and that a simple inflatable was adequate for Europe the Med , but a RIB and bigger motor for other parts of the world. BTW the first time I sailed on a cruising boat was out of English Harbour and subsequently spent 3 years in the US marine market for tenders and outboards.

The Seago is a Hypalon Dinghy and just like the old Avons will give years of good service even in hot climates. Not to be confused with the cheaper PVC boats. It is a reasonable compromise if he does not want to carry the tender on his davits when on passage.

Like you, having owned and built plywood boats for over 50 years, It would not be my choice for a cruising tender. While the 12' version of the Spindrift will perform well with a 5hp because it is long and light, it would be a pig to stow, even in nesting form and not in my view fulfil the main requirements of a tender.

Anyway it is a nice idea to try it and hope it works out.

 

[geem]

I started investigating various composites for this project, but I chickened out- I simply don't have enough experience with glass work, let alone composites. The design can and has been built using a Nidaplast core, but you can't really use more than a 5mm core because thicker hull sides would prevent the dinghy from nesting. And using different core thicknesses on the sides and bottom make the joins between panels trickier, apparently. From the little I know about composites, getting the best out of the material is all about thicker cores and thinner skins. That's how you get stiffness without weight. For this design you struggle to really meet the sweet spot.

I'll be taking the plans and some tools with me when we set off, so perhaps I will one day be rebuilding, or starting from scratch, on a beach somewhere.

The hull on our nesting dinghy uses a solid glass hull but has cored bulkheads and transom. We have carbon/core stringers in the hull bottom to provide some stiffness. The hull is four layers of glass on the under water section but only two layers on the sides. The beauty of GRP construction is the gunnel detail can be tailored to suit life as a yacht tender. Lots of hard dinghies have inadequate fendering so you get bumps and marks on your hull and any other yachts you visit. Our gunnels are made from a 1.25”OD grp tube glassed in place. It is a great detail and well designed. Over this grp tube white sanitation house is slit and slid on to the tube to act as a fender. The sanitation tube it nice and soft. We have then sleeved the sanitation tube with hard wearing fabric since the sanitation hose soon gets tatty banging in to concrete jetties and docks. The fabric sleeve can be replaced easily every couple of seasons. It might be worth considering the fendering detail at the design stage. Easier now than solving the problem once its built?

 

[LadyInBed]

That's daft. Why leave one unused?

We await the video.

? Two fixed for power and the other in the middle for steerage.