Tender Years

The 2013 sailing season is over as the long grey tightens her grip on Seattle.  The successes of this past year's maintenance efforts substantially whittle away my list of excuses for not going cruising, but there remain several.

Foremost: Ripple lacks a proper tender.

This has been an issue from the start, and in fact I actually bought a dinghy several years ago -- A Fatty Knees fiberglass dinghy (a highly respected dinghy with a good reputation for functionality and build quality).  In my enthusiasm for having found such a gem at a decent price, I failed to realize the boat was too heavy for me to handle and too large to fit on Ripple's smallish foredeck, as inevitably will be necessary at times.  The boat was advertised as an 8 footer, but turned out to be 9.  Oh well.

Soon after I purchased plans for an Iain Oughtred design dinghy, the Auklet.  Oughtred is well known for capturing the essence of traditional small wooden boats in glued-lapstrake designs that are light, strong designs build-able without training as a shipwright.  My colleague, Thom Hickey, and I built a canoe using these so-called ultralight techniques some years ago,with pleasing results.

I got out the plans recently, inspired by the recent discovery that another colleague from my metadata days, Michael Crandall, is embarking on a similar project here in Seattle.  The time is right.

Comments

  1. TerryNovember 5, 2013 at 6:26 PM

    Beautiful looking boat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ThNovember 7, 2013 at 9:29 AM

    http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/details.asp?Name=Auklet
    Very nice, sounds like fun. In spite of previous experience, I predict it will be done by spring. Also guessing both the stem and knees will end up laminated!
    --Th

    ReplyDelete
  3. ThNovember 7, 2013 at 9:31 AM

    Of course, that end date is predicated on you actually starting this fall!

    --Th

    ReplyDelete

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