wingless' 1994 Edey & Duff Columbia Dinghy

[wingless]

This is my 1994 Edey & Duff Columbia dinghy.

This is based on the Herreshoff Columbia dinghy.

It is a fiberglass hull, w/ teak bench seats, teak floorboards, teak inwale and outwale, teak daggerboard, teak daggerboard plug, teak skeg, two sets of bronze oarlock sockets, bronze oarlocks, bronze rudder pintle and bronze rudder gudgeon.

This has a two piece mast and a varnished wooden boom. The mast, sail and boom stow nicely in their bag, within the boat. The centerboard, rudder and tiller also stow nicely in their bag in the boat.

Mine has the white Dacron gunnel guard. Mine has the Harding Sails tanbark sail.

Mine has the 7½' varnished Shaw & Tenney spoon oars.

It had some issues when I purchased it, but I've been able to restore it nicely. The blemishes, cracks and gelcoat have been restored.

I designed and created a very nice storage cover. I also designed and created LED NAV lights.

This rows like a dream. It sails very nicely.

As-purchased

Repair and Restoration

 

[wingless]

Here are images on the teak restoration.

Before and After Teak Cleaner

Before and After Teak Brightener

Before and After 400 Grit Sanding

First Coat Oiling

Cleaned

Brightened

Sanded w/ 400 Grit

Teak Oiled

 

[wingless]

Here are some more images...

Replacement Gunnel Guard Leather End Cap - Cut to Shape and Softening in Water

Replacement Leather End - Stretched and Formed Over Gunnel Guard

Setup for Rowing then Sailing

Boom Damage then Repair

 

[wingless]

The LED NAV lights were purchased off eBay. I then designed and fabricated custom mounts to permit sliding them in between the inwale and outwale and into the tiller gudgeon, to permit rowing at dusk or after dark, when required.

The red and white light are also used on my bicycle that I carry in between the engines, when required.

 

[wingless]

The oar leathers wore out, so I purchased new oil tanned leather stock on eBay, then fabricated and installed new leathers and buttons.

 

[wingless]

Here is the factory brochure.

 

[wingless]

This boat has lots of teak, that I keep oiled, so I want / need a storage cover to protect the boat from the elements.

The first step was to design and create blocks to hold the bows that support the cover. The dinghy has two sets of oarlocks, so I designed blocks w/ ½" pins to fit into the oarlock holes. These blocks have upward-facing slots to hold the fiberglass bows. There are also holes that I use w/ rope loops to secure the blocks to the inwale, so these cannot be lost by falling overboard.

The bows are tall to shed water, even during a downpour. The bows are tall enough to permit sitting on the bench seats w/ the cover in-place.

The cover system was designed so that I did not need to drill into the boat, or attach fasteners to the boat.

The cover is attached to the boat w/ 1" polyester webbing and white 1" polyester hook and loop Velcro. The Velcro is on the ends of the webbing and the webbing is looped around the inwale. There is also a strap to the eternal bow eye and to a external stern eye.

The polyester was selected for UV immunity. I also use Gore Tenara thread to be impervious to sunlight.

The cover is very secure.

The cover overhangs the gunnel, tapered-in for a snug fit. There is a second layer of fabric on the bottom 4" of the cover, w/ binding to hold these layers together.

There is a vent on the cover.

The cover has a zipper door to permit entry when the cover is in-place. The zipper door is larger than the cover opening, so the zipper is covered w/ fabric, to shed water.

The boat is currently stored on vee davits on the swim platform of my 2000 Searay 380 Sundancer. The boat is easy to deploy or retrieve.

The only cover fit issue is from the power cord for the Searay. I need to run the power cord diagonally across the top of the dinghy gunnel, so the cover does not hang down properly at those two places.

The cover is made from the same Sunbrella Supreme Captain Navy / Linen that I used when I made the covers for my Searay.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Very informative...

 

[wingless]

Here is an image showing the dinghy under sail.

 

[Iain C]

Nice job, looks great.

 

[dancrane]

Stunning bit of work. I've never seen such attention to detail dedicated to so humble a boat.

That 'cover' is a lot more than a cover, it looks more like an Antarctic meteorological outpost shelter. :encouragement:

 

[wingless]

Stunning bit of work. I've never seen such attention to detail dedicated to so humble a boat.

That 'cover' is a lot more than a cover, it looks more like an Antarctic meteorological outpost shelter.

Thank you.

Right now I'm testing the cover in the tropics, hence the screened vent.

It is definitely doing the job under strong wind, under torrential downpour and under intense sun conditions.