Choosing a hard dinghy

[Nomad Willy]

rslifkin,
By your admission it looks like you’re not a good candidate for boatbuilding. Mostly re motivation building probably won’t fly well.

But there’s CL, e-bay and many other sources for used dinghies. You’ll find one if you throw some time at it. Sounds like you know what you need/want too. Let us know what you find

 

[mvweebles]

When I owned my Willard 30 Searcher, the space for a dinghy was constricted. So I built a Nutshell Pram (plans are available, though I did it the old fashioned way by measuring offsets from a magazine article), shortened it slightly to fit my available space. Took me a good part of the winter to do it, was a lot of fun too.

It was not a great dinghy though. Sort of fun to sail around, but not very stable. I'm a lot fatter now - would not end well for me if I were to repeat.

Peter

 

[boathealer]

I built a nesting, sailing dinghy about 10 years ago. It was a great experience, and a fantastic dinghy.

It was a Spindrift 9N from http://bandbyachtdesigns.com.

I had a small sailboat that I needed something that nested to fit up on deck when underway. The sailing characteristics were really great with the Spindrift models - there is even a racing class for them.

Each half of the hull weighed 35-40lbs.

Some photos below.

 

[rslifkin]

I built a nesting, sailing dinghy about 10 years ago. It was a great experience, and a fantastic dinghy.

It was a Spindrift 9N from http://bandbyachtdesigns.com.

I had a small sailboat that I needed something that nested to fit up on deck when underway. The sailing characteristics were really great with the Spindrift models - there is even a racing class for them.

Each half of the hull weighed 35-40lbs.

Some photos below.

The 10 foot version of the Spindrift is definitely attractive to me. And the hull shape is pretty similar to what I was picturing if I were to start out on my own for a build.



Any input on how it rowed and how stable it was for getting in and out of?

 

[mvweebles]

OC Tender

I've only casually monitored this thread so maybe I missed it. I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the OC Tender out of NZ. It's probably more capable than you're looking for, but it's a rock-solid hard dinghy. They are expensive - they ship to the US via a container so presumably, you'd have to wait until they have several orders.

Likely rows better than an inflatable, but not nearly as well as a Trinka, and no sail option of course. But sure looks like a decent option for a hard core cruiser

https://octenders.co.nz/

 

[boathealer]

The 10 foot version of the Spindrift is definitely attractive to me. And the hull shape is pretty similar to what I was picturing if I were to start out on my own for a build.


Any input on how it rowed and how stable it was for getting in and out of?

It rowed very well for a flat-bottomed skiff - rowed it with 2 people over 3 miles one time when the outboard quit

You might be able to improve it a bit with a little taller keel-strake.

It was pretty stable (flat bottom, again) for bieing just 9ft.

The stitch and glue build is very simple and forgiving for a first build (mine was).

 

[rslifkin]

I've only casually monitored this thread so maybe I missed it. I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the OC Tender out of NZ. It's probably more capable than you're looking for, but it's a rock-solid hard dinghy. They are expensive - they ship to the US via a container so presumably, you'd have to wait until they have several orders.

Likely rows better than an inflatable, but not nearly as well as a Trinka, and no sail option of course. But sure looks like a decent option for a hard core cruiser

https://octenders.co.nz/

I have seen those and the design, weight, etc. is all attractive. But for the 3 meter (10-ish foot) version, I'd be looking at over $9000 for one. So I ruled them out on price alone, as I know I could get a dinghy I'd be just as happy with for less than half of that. And the less I spend on a dinghy, the more I get to spend on davits and other useful upgrades.

 

[tomdove]

If you are considering building a dinghy, be sure to look at what Chesapeake Light Craft offers as kits. They're good designs and excellent kits with plenty of "Factory" support:
https://www.clcboats.com/

-- Tom

 

[OldDan1943]

No matter which dingy you choose, check the shipping costs.
That cost just might double the price of the boat.

I lean towards the Pudgy. Unsinkable, everything fits inside dry storage. Can double as a life boat too.

My concern is, will the transom support my Honda 6.5hp while in use and the hanging davits. Advertised weight of the outboard is 57pounds.
The only way to get the advertised 4 people in the boat is IMO, everyone is a very close personal friends. LOL

 

[NowhereHome]

I looked at building a dinghy, the OC tender, and everything else. Best bang for the buck I have found is a Livingston with their great stability, if you want to get creative and build, refurbish one. For the cost of an OC tender alone I can get a used Livingston, refurbish it to better than new, and a motor.

I'm looking at the wide 12' if we end up with a beamier main boat next, building a folding front windscreen with attached Bimini, downriver pads, and an ePropulsion Navy 6.0 for fishing away from the big boat. They go down to 7' long and 45" beam at 70 lbs.

 

[rslifkin]

No matter which dingy you choose, check the shipping costs.
That cost just might double the price of the boat.

That is a good chunk of why my plan is to only buy things (at least for used) that are within driving distance unless I'm just buying parts.

 

[Sealife]

If you building, these have always intrigued me:

https://www.spiriteddesigns.com.au/ripple_tenders1

 

[rslifkin]

If you building, these have always intrigued me:

https://www.spiriteddesigns.com.au/ripple_tenders1

I do like that. I'll add it to the list of designs under consideration.

 

[rslifkin]

To add to the ideas, I spent some time playing around in the free version of Delftship this afternoon and came up with the design in the attached render. I'd consider trimming the freeboard down a little, but the numbers say it should have good carrying capacity and I expect that out of glass over 1/4" ply I should end up at or under 100 lbs by the time I build in bulkheads, seats, etc.



At 100 lbs weight, it looks like light ship draft would be about 3.5 inches. Add me and a set of oars plus a few odds and ends and we're looking at around 300 lbs for single person rowing, which puts the draft at just under 5.5 inches. The design waterline depicted in the render is shown at 6 inch draft, which would occur at a total weight of 400 lbs. If we figure 9 inch draft to be the limit, that would give a total max weight of 875 lbs, so 775 lbs carrying capacity, which is plenty. I figure 9 inch draft at full load should be fine with the fairly high freeboard, although due to shape, rowing drag will increase noticeably at that point unless I add more rocker or load it bow heavy to avoid dragging too much transom.


Any thoughts on the general idea of something like this?

 

[Bryant]

hard dinghy

I still haven't bought a dinghy, so I think it's time to bring this one back from the dead. The Dyer Dhow is still high on the list, but so far, I've been having trouble finding any that aren't either very expensive, or far away.

So I've had another idea. What's the general thought on building a dinghy? I'm not really sure I want to. I've yet to find a set of plans that I really like, but I haven't looked all that hard.

But especially if I sacrifice sailing ability to keep the build simpler, what's the thought on just doing it from scratch without plans? I'd be intending to build something resembling a rowing skiff, but with a V bottom rather than flat and a little bit of rocker, but not so much that it couldn't potentially plane under power. Target would be about 10 feet long, probably 4 - 4.5 foot beam.

If I did a scratch build, I'd probably do a cold molded fiberglass over plywood construction. From what I can find, keeping the weight under 100 lbs for a 10 footer shouldn't be particularly hard.


On this note, the PT Spear looks to be the ideal build, but it's probably more money than I want to spend for a first build.

Walker Bay 10' dinghy directly from Walker Bay or West Marine. Plastic lapstrake dinghy. Looks good, indestructible, light weight, inexpensive, sailing kit available, inflatable collar which makes it a RIB available from Walker Bay. My 8' version of this boat is 25 years old and still going strong.

However, if you want a show piece, contact the Wooden Boat School in Brookings, Me. They sell wooden dinghies that are made in their classes. Very nice but they are: 1. Wood 2. Heavy 3. Expensive 4. Maintenance intensive.

 

[rslifkin]

Walker Bay 10' dinghy directly from Walker Bay or West Marine. Plastic lapstrake dinghy. Looks good, indestructible, light weight, inexpensive, sailing kit available, inflatable collar which makes it a RIB available from Walker Bay. My 8' version of this boat is 25 years old and still going strong.

However, if you want a show piece, contact the Wooden Boat School in Brookings, Me. They sell wooden dinghies that are made in their classes. Very nice but they are: 1. Wood 2. Heavy 3. Expensive 4. Maintenance intensive.

Those are on the list of options as well. The 2 strikes against them are weight and stability (unless you add the $$$ inflatable collar).

 

[Bryant]

hard dinghy

Those are on the list of options as well. The 2 strikes against them are weight and stability (unless you add the $$$ inflatable collar).

Which ones are you referring to? The Walker Bay 10 weighs 125 lbs. The new 8' weighs 71lbs. They are as stable as any monohull dinghy of this type. The collar for the 10 is around $900. You can have a very good looking and indestructible rowing, motoring, sailing RIB for not very much money. The hull will last forever. if the collar fails, replace it with a new one.

As you might surmise, I'm a fan.

 

[rslifkin]

Which ones are you referring to? The Walker Bay 10 weighs 125 lbs. The new 8' weighs 71lbs. They are as stable as any monohull dinghy of this type. The collar for the 10 is around $900. You can have a very good looking and indestructible rowing, motoring, sailing RIB for not very much money. The hull will last forever. if the collar fails, replace it with a new one.

As you might surmise, I'm a fan.

The WB10 was what I was referring to. My goal for this whole exercise is to keep it as close to 100 lbs as possible, so by that metric, it's a bit heavy. I also worry a little about the plastic hulls warping while hanging in davits, although that's probably not a big concern. The 450 lb weight capacity is also at the lower end of what would be adequate, as 2 people and a dog is already pushing 400+ lbs, so not much capacity for any stuff to come along for the ride.


And to make it worse, the Walker Bay website no longer lists the WB8 or WB10. I'm still seeing them listed for sale in some places, but I wonder if they're being discontinued?

 

[Bryant]

Hard dinghy

The WB10 was what I was referring to. My goal for this whole exercise is to keep it as close to 100 lbs as possible, so by that metric, it's a bit heavy. I also worry a little about the plastic hulls warping while hanging in davits, although that's probably not a big concern. The 450 lb weight capacity is also at the lower end of what would be adequate, as 2 people and a dog is already pushing 400+ lbs, so not much capacity for any stuff to come along for the ride.

I see.

I think finding a 10' dinghy at 100 lbs might be difficult. With the inflatable collar the capacity of the 10' increases to 600 lbs, I believe. If you can live with an 8' dinghy, the capacity of that, with the collar also is about 600 lbs and it only weigh 71 lbs.

I don't know about the davit issue as mine either rests on a cradle on top of my aft cabin or is attached via a hook and loop system from Defender to my swim platform and is raised up by the bow so that it is resting on it's transom and attached to the swim platform.

 

[Alisske]

Hey. Been a long time. I originally offered to sell my 10foot sturdee dory a while back, but amazingly enough, when you showed interest, it had broken loose from my mooring in the hudson river in NYC. (I was commuting back then via boat during the pandemic.)

Long story short, the harbor patrol found it. An our lock was ripped off and one of the rub tails was worn thin.

I just had it in the garage and was prepping for new rubrails (i use oak or teak and copper rivets). Real simple work). I had acquired some dyer row locks and was planning on over building the rowlock mounting blocks. (My whole family are fairly big beefy guys and we are murder on oars, oarlocks, and row locks)

If your still interested, I was planning on refinishing and selling. But if you want it without refinishing, or want the rubrail/gunwales redone, we can talk now so you can get it the way you want. My pop is retired from commercial fishing, so maybe we can arrange transportation with him. (Fits right in the back of a toyota tacoma.)

I got a minto hull I am redoing and that will be my new dink.

Just took the pics a few minutes ago. (You can see the minto to the left of the picture frame)

Anthony

 

[rslifkin]

Hey. Been a long time. I originally offered to sell my 10foot sturdee dory a while back, but amazingly enough, when you showed interest, it had broken loose from my mooring in the hudson river in NYC. (I was commuting back then via boat during the pandemic.)

Long story short, the harbor patrol found it. An our lock was ripped off and one of the rub tails was worn thin.

I just had it in the garage and was prepping for new rubrails (i use oak or teak and copper rivets). Real simple work). I had acquired some dyer row locks and was planning on over building the rowlock mounting blocks. (My whole family are fairly big beefy guys and we are murder on oars, oarlocks, and row locks)

If your still interested, I was planning on refinishing and selling. But if you want it without refinishing, or want the rubrail/gunwales redone, we can talk now so you can get it the way you want. My pop is retired from commercial fishing, so maybe we can arrange transportation with him. (Fits right in the back of a toyota tacoma.)

I got a minto hull I am redoing and that will be my new dink.

Just took the pics a few minutes ago. (You can see the minto to the left of the picture frame)

Anthony

I'll send you a PM to discuss, as out of the off the shelf designs I've found, I like that one a lot. They're just pricey new and seem practically nonexistent used.

 

[Bryant]

Hard dinghy

The WB10 was what I was referring to. My goal for this whole exercise is to keep it as close to 100 lbs as possible, so by that metric, it's a bit heavy. I also worry a little about the plastic hulls warping while hanging in davits, although that's probably not a big concern. The 450 lb weight capacity is also at the lower end of what would be adequate, as 2 people and a dog is already pushing 400+ lbs, so not much capacity for any stuff to come along for the ride.


And to make it worse, the Walker Bay website no longer lists the WB8 or WB10. I'm still seeing them listed for sale in some places, but I wonder if they're being discontinued?

I just checked the West Marine and the Walker Bay websites. They are still available. The Walker Bay website is kind of hard to navigate as they are obviously pushing their higher end center console RIBs, but if you look hard you can find a tab for "rowing and sailing" dinghies.

 

[rslifkin]

I just checked the West Marine and the Walker Bay websites. They are still available. The Walker Bay website is kind of hard to navigate as they are obviously pushing their higher end center console RIBs, but if you look hard you can find a tab for "rowing and sailing" dinghies.

I see it now, looks like they split it to a separate site.

 

[Bryant]

hard dinghy

I see it now, looks like they split it to a separate site.

Yes.

For under $5k you can get the Walker Bay 10', an inflatable collar, sail kit and a Suzuki 2.5 hp 4 stroke engine. That's pretty hard to beat.

Anyway, good luck with your search.

Regards,
Bryant

 

[jgwinks]

Looks like getting my hands on the West Marine Classic Dinghy might be a challenge. My local West Marine is closed, and it can only be ordered / bought through a store. They won't ship one directly to me and the nearest store that has one is 200 miles away. So I don't know how I'd get one right now (although I'm not in a big rush). The Walker Bay and Water Tender can be shipped to me. So that might end up impacting my decisions a bit.

Does anyone know how well the Water Tender thing rows? I'm finding mixed reviews on that. It seems like the most practical option (even though the part of me that's attracted to pretty rowboats with a nice, slim shape is screaming to get the West Marine thing).

I have both a Walker Bay 8 and a Water tender 9.4. The WB rows well and is light, but quite tender (tippy). I've rolled it a couple times. Any quick, off center moves and you get wet.
The WT rows ok imo and is a lot more stable. Good oars help, the plastic and aluminum ones that came with the WB didn't do much. Now using 6' wood oars and it's ok. Both boats probably suck compared to a real rowing boat like in post #3, but I've never rowed one of those so I can't compare. I am using a 4hp two stroke on the water tender most of the time.

 

[FF]

An aluminum "john boat" ab0ut 10 ft makes a great dink.

Can be dragged up a hard beach with no problem, powered with most any outboard or oars , and does really well in a dink mash where ignorant boaters have too short a painter on a shore access dock.

They are seldom stolen and easy to spot.

 

[rslifkin]

An aluminum "john boat" ab0ut 10 ft makes a great dink.

Can be dragged up a hard beach with no problem, powered with most any outboard or oars , and does really well in a dink mash where ignorant boaters have too short a painter on a shore access dock.

They are seldom stolen and easy to spot.

I've found some of those (both new and used) that I like the design of, but most I've found have been in the 12 - 14 foot range. The 10 footers seem to be rare, and 11 feet is about the limit of what I could hang in davits without it getting annoying while docking. Swim platform is 11 feet across on my boat, deck level beam aft is about 12.5 feet.

 

[jgwinks]

An aluminum "john boat" ab0ut 10 ft makes a great dink.

Can be dragged up a hard beach with no problem, powered with most any outboard or oars , and does really well in a dink mash where ignorant boaters have too short a painter on a shore access dock.

They are seldom stolen and easy to spot.

Of the 50 or so boats in my mooring field, probably half of them are using aluminum rowboats of some sort. 10-15 Watertenders, newest of which were made here in Muskegon so that might be a factor, it was with me. A couple Walker Bay 8s. One using a canoe, another with a kayak. The rest various inflatables. Most do not cruise though, local use only, and I don't think any of the tin boats leave the field at all. As said above, a rowboat is cheap and ugly so nobody's going to steal it. Biggest downside is you need really good fenders on the rowboat, the aluminum will tear up anything it touches. Several here have pool noodles slitted over the gunnels and that seems to work pretty well.
On my sailboat i tow the Watertender behind or hoist it up on the fore deck. Haven't figured out what to do on the new trawler yet, and we will be cruising.

 

[Seevee]

I've found some of those (both new and used) that I like the design of, but most I've found have been in the 12 - 14 foot range. The 10 footers seem to be rare, and 11 feet is about the limit of what I could hang in davits without it getting annoying while docking. Swim platform is 11 feet across on my boat, deck level beam aft is about 12.5 feet.

I had a 10ft one. Aluminum, light weight and would haul a ton of stuff. And they are all over the place... easy to buy cheap. I'm mad at myself for selling it and will probably get another. They track MUCH better than the AB aluminum bottom AB I have (at 10x the price) and plane with much less power.



What's not to like about them?

 

[FF]

Rub rail is easy to install that wont harm the mother ship, just pri$y to purchase .

Long term the best seems to be fabric covered 3/4 round heavy black foam that is screwed in place .

Yes, mechanical fastenings are longer to install than glue on but after a few hours in a dink mash they will still be attached. When its really rough they are still there and working.

For the 13ft Boston Whaler a set of 4inch fenders attached to each other & strung all around also works well.


Polyester Gunnel Guard / Dock Guard, Three-quarter Round

Mfr: Taylor Made Products

$324.40 to $341.75


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