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My apologies for the long post. I have been thinking about building a Spindrift (10 or 11, non-nesting) with a few modifications. Background and intended use: I live in southern Quebec and am freshly retired, so I have lots of plans for sailing in summer and boat building in winter. We have recently moved to a house with lake access with a hand cart/dolly at about 200-300 yards distance. There is a little hill on the way and testing with a weighted canoe on a cart showed me that I should not go over a total all-up weight of about 60-70 kg (130-155 lbs). I want a sailing/rowing dinghy that rows well with one passenger in the stern and also sails well (mostly single handedly). I am also thinking about possible camp cruising with the possibility to sleep aboard. The boat should also be very easy and quick to set up for a quick sail, when I don’t want to go to the trouble of trailering my main ride (an Iain Oughtred Caledonia Yawl) to the sailing club and rigging her, which takes me about an hour all told. I am also dreaming of cruising in Maine and using the dinghy as a tender for my CY would be very practical. I have looked at many different designs and on my shortest of shortlists it comes down to the new Duckworks Scout and the B&B Spindrift 10 or 11. First, what I like about the Scout: It’s featherlike weight of 75 lb (empty hull?). I would probably be able to single handedly cartop this weight, but it's at the limit. Mobile thwarts that can be positioned at will to balance the boat for rowing with or without a passenger. Offcenter daggerboard Due to the mobile thwarts and the offcenter DB, the cockpit is open and it is possible to sleep in the open footwell. What I don’t like about the Scout is the fact that there is an awful lot of fiberglassing in the construction that uses ply and foam to keep the weight down. I have watched the “Magic Carpet” Youtube videos documenting a Scout build and I don’t think I would enjoy it very much. I have to admit that so far, my fiberglassing experience is very limited. However, this winter I am going to build a CLC S&G kayak, so we shall see how the fiberglassing goes. Now to the Spindrift What I like about the Spindrift: It is a very well-proven design with an impeccable reputation as a tender/sailing dinghy. It is still fairly light. The B&B website gives the weight (again, is this bare hull weight?) for the S-10 with 90-110 lb and for the S-11 with 110-130 lb. This would still be in the weight range I would consider acceptable for towing on a handcart/dolly to the ramp. Single-handed cartopping would only be possible with a contraption that takes half of the load during loading I have seen such a thing somewhere, can't remember where). This adds some complexity. The build looks also fairly easy and I am interested to try the B&B “butterfly” method because I am considering a Coresound in the more distant future. The problem is of course that the fixed thwart does not permit longitudinal mobility of the rower to balance the boat and thwart and daggerboard prevent sleeping on the cockpit sole. By now you’ll be able to see where this is going. Looking at the plans and pictures for the Scout and Spindrift, it is evident that it would be relatively easy to do a “Scout treatment” on the Spindrifts. That is, have the longitudinal bulkheads run parallel and straight and move the daggerboard offcenter into a side bench. This would free up the footwell for eventual onboard sleeping and allow free positioning of the thwart to balance a passenger in the stern. I don’t think these modifications should have any impact on the weight of the boat. Offcenter boards are standard in the mk3 series of B&B boats and are found in many other designs (SCAMP, to name one). I saw parallel bulkheads on a Spindrift in an older thread here on the forum (Greg Luckett). Maybe they were a standard feature in older versions of the plans, I don’t know. So I would like to consult the wisdom of this forum to see what you think of these modifications. I think they are both quite conservative and should not negatively affect the stellar performance of this design. It is of course quite brazen for a complete newbie to want to outthink an extremely experienced designer, and I apologize in advance. On the other hand, building your own boat gives you the possibility to get what you want (within reason). Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Viktor

Greetings fellow builders, ... Last Saturday I sold my Penobscot 14 ("Anna") and "Chessie's" tender ("Catnip') to my nephew. I already miss them, but at least they are still in the family. Next will be "Chessie" herself (Core Sound 20 Mk 3 [#4]). I'm still cruising her and she's available for demo sails and inspections by interested buyers. If not sold by October, I plan to bring her to the B & B MessAbout. Maybe a buyer from the south could take delivery at the messabout. We'll see. I'll be placing ad's this week. As soon as "Chessie" is sold, my plan is to order a kit for a Spindrift 10 and have her ready for the 2021 sailing season. Being only about 100 pounds, it should be much easier to launch, row or sail, and recover. This will be my 11th boat-building project. My other boats: 1 -- 1963, "Outcast,” an 11 ft 1 in sailing dinghy from plans by Popular Boating. 2 -- 1971, "Sandi," a Sailfish from a kit by Alcort. 3 -- 1972, a DN Iceboat (sail # 2141) from plans. 4 -- 2003, a 15 ft cedar-strip canoe (a Bob's Special) plans from Canoecraft by Ted Moores. 5 -- 2005, "Anna," a Penobscot 14 sailboat from plans by designer Arch Davis. 6 -- 2008, "Copycat," a 7 ft 7 in Nutshell Pram by J. White, kit from WoodenBoat Magazine. 7 -- 2009, "Tattoo," a 14 ft 10 in PocketShip sailboat, a kit by Chesapeake Light Craft. 8 -- 2011, "Pluto," an 8 ft "nesting" sailing dinghy, a kit by Chesapeake Light Craft. 9 -- 2017, "Chessie," a Core Sound 20 Mk3, a kit by B & B Yacht Designs. 10 -- 2019, "Catnip," a 7 ft "nesting" dinghy, a Two Paw 7 kit by B & B Yacht Designs. 11 -- 2020, "Seabiscuit," a Spindrift 10. #1329 . . . Name suggestions for the Spindrift 10 would be welcome. For the selected name -- a nice SURPRISE !! At this point I'm searching the internet for a light-weight trailer. Recommendations from other Spindrift 10 builders and owners would be appreciated.

First time boat builder here with a few questions, getting ready to build a Spindrift 10. First, does anyone know of a lumber yard in South-central Louisiana that carries 6mm Okume plywood? (I am in Baton Rouge) I have contacted a few so far. Riverside Lumber in New Orleans carries Meranti, but I was hoping to save the weight by building with Okume. I haven't found anyone else who even carries Meranti. I will be transporting the boat on top of the family van, and eventually it will become my kids' boat, so light weight is important. Second, has anyone used Cypress for the solid wood parts? It seems like it would work fine and give the boat a nice Louisiana look. And it is easy to find around here...