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Rdubs

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  1. That’s a great video and very helpful. Thanks Steve. Right now my dink doesn’t have a sailing rig, row / motor only, but watching how it does under sail on your video has me yearning now a bit. It’s just expensive to piecemeal the parts, even used on Craigslist. Great job job docking it under sail btw.
  2. Didn't know that thanks Chick. Do you think a 4HP would move it along at a pretty respectable speed? Even though the boat doesn't truly plane, I'm sure there is some threshold where above it the boat skims more than slogs. Thanks Rich
  3. Hi everyone Did a search and found a post from 2014 where they were discussing what outboard they were using on their Spindrift. I’d reply there but a lot of people don’t like resurrecting threads from the dead so posting new. Most seemed to be using a motor in the 2-4 hp range. But I couldn’t tell if that was sufficient to get the boat up on a plane. I built a 10N, using regular 1/4” marine plywood (so a bit heavier than the nice stuff) and then reinforced the hull with glass and epoxy on the outside and epoxy on the inside. So it’s a bit heavier than some have built. I’m wondering if I might need a 5hp to get it up on plane, assuming it was carrying 200 pounds of passengers. Saw a YouTube video of a kiddo using an 8hp on a Spindrift, needless to say it was on a plane but it looked like the stern was really weighed down. Thanks for any thoughts ’dubs
  4. Hi everyone Been a while but thought I would report back, and had a question. Regarding stopping leaks out of the nesting bulkhead bolt holes when the boat is in the water, I did a version of PAR's idea and I ended up coating the back of the bolt hole washers with 3M 4200 and then adhering them in place to the bulkheads. With just light finger pressure, there was a meaningful thickness to the adhesive layer, and so when the bolt and wingnut are installed and under tension it, just like PAR said, created a very tight seal around the bolt shaft. After one day of testing, not a drop of water has shown up in the bottom of the boat, it is bone dry. It's also really nice having the washers permanently installed. Now for the question: I want to leave my main boat's slip at the marina, but I'll normally go (especially in the winter) a couple of weeks between checking on it. Has anyone created a cover for their dinghy and been pleased with it? Did you use a pole in the center to "tent" the water off to the sides? How did you fasten the cover down to secure against the wind? I wouldn't mind making my own just for the fun and customization. Amazon has one for sale for $60 ("Komo Covers Inflatable Boat/Tender/Dinghy Cover") but the reviews say the elastic is flimsy and would need another method to keep the cover from flying off. I don't care about looks, I'm fine with a tarp, just not sure how to set it up. Any ideas appreciated. Best 'Dubs EDIT: I looking into creating a little self-contained battery-powered solar-maintained bilge pump kit, it would be fun to put it together and would let you tie up the dinghy and be off instead of having to install the cover, but then I realized with the nesting dinghy you'd have to have two separate pumps, one for the bow section and one for the stern. Might work nicely with the non-nesting version though.
  5. Hey all, thought would provide an update. Unfortunately, I didn't see Graham's response until after I had already installed the bow eye. When I didn't get a response I figured all the pictures of dinghys with bow eyes was giving me a clue. Too late now, but I read a few stories of a dinghy being towed coming up on the mothership from a wave so Graham's method of avoiding a bow eye is pretty smart. I had previously mentioned a concern about water leaking in through the holes for the mating bulkhead bolts. PAR have a great idea to create a gasket donut on the washers. I modified that a little and just used 3M 4200 to glue the washers right on top of their holes, using a thick bead. That wat the washers are always mounted and I only need to collect bolts and nuts when disassemble, but also the 4200 should stay a little flexible and when the bolts are tightened down, the compression of the gasket will seal off the shaft. Will get the boat in the water and test it out but for right now, thanks PAR for that great idea. I ended ded up using that polyeurethane-fortified paint from Lowes for like $25/gallon. Used about 2/3 of it to put two coats on. I didn't use a primer just to see if I would need one, I just scuffed up the epoxy surface coating. The paint definitely stuck to the epoxy, but it comes off pretty easy. If I move or scrap something up against the hull, the white paint will come right off. So there's a data point for anyone considering skipping the primer. Looks great as long as nothing scrapes up against the boat, then you'll be doing touch-up. 'Dubs
  6. Gents - quick question. What's the best practice regarding making the dinghy able to be towed? The plans looks like you just drill a hole right above the front seat deck and run the toe line through that. Other pictures I have seen have used a full metal tow eye, mounted further down (about halfway down the length of the bow). I will probably use the dink towed behind the mothership carrying one or two kids for fun. Thanks, 'Dubs Edit: also, what effect does height placement of the tow eye have? It would seem that placing the eye lower would raise the angle at which he boat is towed, but too much angle would bury the stern in the water and probably cause a lot of drag.
  7. Very helpful thanks PAR. Other closeout item: What is a good placement for cleats, and the size of cleats? 6" cleats look like they would work for holding dock lines without being too tiny. I imagine good places would be at the aft end on either side, but should you try to bolt them into the gunwale or the quarter piece at the back corner? For the bow, is it better to have just one on the centerline (I guess bolted into the breast piece), or one on either side of the bow, or none at all since the eye towing U-bolt could be used to take the place of the bow cleats?
  8. Thanks for the input everyone. I think I wasn't clear...where I'm having trouble is that centerline 1/4" hole which holds the two halves together. I think there is a small amount of water seeping through that bolt hole. Tested the dink in my pool and over the course of hours some water would materialize in the rear aft section. I think part of it may be my washer isn't fully seating due to the fiberglass seams I put in, so I can sand those down more level. But is there a best practice on how to increase the watertight-ness of the bulkhead mating bolt holes? I'm thinking just put some caulk in the hole and around the bolt before tightening down, then tighten, let it sit/dry, then when I remove the bolt the clearance around the bolt shaft will be a lot tighter.
  9. Thanks for the thoughts PAR, good things to think about. I'm fortunate that there isn't anyone else in my slip, so it would just be the mothership and the dink. I'm thinking about building a floating platform / barge to store the dink on when not in use, but haven't figure out a concept I like yet. The spectrum ranges from (at the easy end) just pulling the dink up onto a piece of floating rigid insulation foam and that's that, to just strapping some plastic barrels together with a cradle on top, to a full-blown legitimate mini-dock/barge. But back to the dink itself for a second, anyone have any best practices for reducing leakage around that bottom center bolt hole set? Should I just try to use some caulk around the area before assembling the parts (similar to RTV), and then once dry even if I back out the bolt the water-tightness of it would have been improved?
  10. I glassed my Spindrift 10N. Partly because I didn't use Okoume, rather I just used generic marine plywood ($50/sheet vs. ~$200/sheet), and I wanted it to be on the tougher side. Well, the thing is tough as nails, but is a fairly heavy beast. Haven't weighed it yet but don't think it would be possible to lug it around in the assembled configuration by myself. The individual halves are carry-able, but not easily due to the bulky size and extra pounds. I built mine mostly for my kids to play in, so I wanted something a little more sturdy. I also like the extra protection the glass offers in keeping water out - maybe not as big a deal for Okoume but didn't want to have much water in contact with the budget marine plywood I used. Edit: Just as a data point, my glassed 10N, when in the water but without any people or cargo in it, still sits sufficiently high that neither of the side bottom corners contact the water. I'm pretty pleased with it, it's already planing and it's not even moving!
  11. Hi everyone Put the boat in the water for the first time today. Well, my backyard pool, but still its first float test. Was neat to see it all finally come together. Two quick questions: 1) I may just keep the dinghy tied up, afloat, in the corner of my slip next to my main boat (a 47' Jeanneau Sun Odyssey). Since the Spindrift is the nesting version, that lower centerline through-hole (where you run the bolt to marry up the two halves) is under water. As a result, even though that 1/4" bolt is a very tight fit, I think water is very slowly (over hours) seeping around and into the aft section of the boat. Is there a way to use some caulk or something to create a better seal at least for this lowest centerline bolt hole? 2) If I did end up just keeping the dinghy tied up in the slip (as opposed to storing it on a mini-barge), any best practices to keep rain out of it? Obviously one can put a tarp over it, but not sure if that buys you much without some kind of center support or way of making the center higher than the sides, otherwise rain will just pool in the tarp. Thanks, 'Dubs
  12. Hi everyone Nearing completion of my Spindrift 10N. The slip where I keep my boat does not have a "build-out" where I can store the boat, and I don't want to store it on the boat's deck. So the best solution seems to be obtaining or building a floating dock / storage barge which I could keep the dinghy on. The plan would be to tow the dinghy behind the boat (I am on a lake). It would be neat to have a dock that would make it easy to get the boat into and out of the water, so was thinking about maybe putting some carpet on it and maybe a fender at the front which would roll, but those are refinements. I did some research and doesn't look too hard to build a basic one, but thought would reach out here to see if there are any ideas forum members have seen to improve upon a basic design. I looked into buying one but any decent-sized one available seemed to be a few to several hundred dollars. There is a fellow near me who is selling 19"x12"x12" styrofoam blocks for $1 each, I'd need about 20 to do a 4'x8' surface, so when you add in the ability to customize the design for neat ideas it may be worth it to try and build one. Thanks, 'Dubs PS I know I have a nesting dinghy which would open the door to just storing it nested and needing half the storage float size, but to be faster getting in and going out I may just want to leave the dinghy in the assembled state.
  13. Thanks everyone again for the help. Holes are cut and looks like a good tight fit. For the first cut I used the removable access plate to draw the circle then measured an additional 3/16" onto it (the width of the lip), it took a while to file down to size but got there. Second hole I was smarter, I flipped the removable plate over and the lip on the top was the same width as the extra width on the fixed part, so drew that circle and cut that. Fit first time. One tip I read on a different thread - before you cement the fixed ring pieces into place, do it with the removable piece inserted to force the ring into a perfect circle shape. Someone I read installed the ring part and without knowing it, the ring part was pushed in slightly on one side which prevented the removable plate from threading in. So they had to rip out the ring part and re-seat it after removing the material causing the off-center shape. Just passing that along. Say, what do you guys recommend for some type of sealant for the ring piece? Should I try to find some RTV like from an auto store, or just regular caulk from Home Depot? Thanks again. She's almost done. Will post some pics when she's together.
  14. Hi everyone, quick question. I ordered a couple screw-type deck plates so I can get to the bottom bolts needed to mate the two nesting halves together. I totally forgot when I made those side seats for the bow section that I'd be covering up the bolt through-holes. But what's the best way (or a good way) to make the required cutout where the deck plate seats into? The most basic approach would seem to be trace out a circle, drill a few starting holes then run a jigsaw through to make the cut, but not going to be pretty since jigsaws work better in straight lines. It's not really worth buying a 6.5" hole saw attachment even if I could find one. Any tips from those who have done this? Thanks all, 'Dubs
  15. Meester - many thanks for the tip on that thread. I read it and it looked like there was a paint which would fit what I'm looking for: these "Polyurethane fortified" porch / patio paints. I swung by Lowe's and picked some up. First coat is on, looks like going to need a second coat to get it thick enough to make it bright white, but so far so good. I also did a little research to see which version would be better, the satin or gloss...the idea of gloss sounds better, but the consensus was that it's a bear to maintain and the gloss only comes out after lots of coating and sanding, so if you want something relatively low-effort to put on and low-effort to maintain, go for the satin. A gallon of this was only like $27. Edit: Odd, the Lowes website only shows this as coming in Gloss, but the store had Satin as well. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Valspar-Base-2-Tintable-Gloss-Interior-Exterior-Porch-and-Floor-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-124-fl-oz/3343622 Will let you know how it turns out, and over time, holds up. Question for you all, I managed to get some old fire hose which the plans recommend using the inner liner of as a fender around the outside of the gunwales. When folks use a fender like this, how do you address the area where the oarlocks go? The obvious answer is make a cutout for them, but I imagine you don't want water getting in under the fender which would happen if you made just a cutout, so it would need to have some kind of seal to it. Thanks again 'Dubs
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