Anyone interested in home-built sailing dinghies?

[jamieduff1981]

ConnectionError said:

Well I think it looks great,

Thank you, that is very kind

I've now got the stainless steel rubbing strips dry fitted to the keel. One or two countersinks need to go a bit deeper ideally but I've now spent more on 5mm drill bits and HSS TIN coated countersink bits than I did on the flat bar. I think I mentioned before that I hate working with stainless steel. I'm not sure any of the countersink bits have any more to offer as despite going slowly and keeping the work oiled to minimise heat, the stainless steel is savage on the tools. The TIN coating vanishes and the bits are blunt in no time...

Anyway, here we are. Next I'm going to remove these along with the dry fitted stainless steel fittings such as the chainplates etc, get the top plank painted the final contrasting colour, then reassemble all this stuff with appropriate sticky gunk to prevent water ingress along the screws and into the wood.





I thought that was it, then, and it was ready to turn upright finally but fortunately I remembered that I forgot I have to make a gasket for the daggerboard case and fit that, so I'll be on the sewing machine next I think...

[jamieduff1981]

I've had a bad run with cars recently which has soaked up a lot of time (I'm still not done actually). Still, I have cut some plywood bits this weekend which was enjoyable.

I started by making a template for the thwarts.



The template looks and indeed was pretty rough, but I'm pleased to say the thwart fit nicely with minimal fuss. You'll see that unfortunately we've had a soaking in the rain which isn't ideal but it's drying out nicely and as a strictly short term thing shouldn't hurt marine ply overly much. (the boat's place in the big shed is currently occupied by a sick car but that'll be done soon enough - I need it working - and the boat can go back indoors.)



I've started cutting the pieces of the aft deck from what ply I have left too.



I need to make lockers for storage under the thwarts and will frame these out before gluing the plywood down. I've been thinking for months now about the advantages and disadvantages of different ways to do this, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

[S600BSB]

That looks fantastic - you are very clever and the thread is a great read. Thanks!

[Disastrous]

That’s looking tremendous.

Love the paint job and am especially envious in the sailmaking course.