photo of catspaw2 nesting on my alberg

[vinegar joe]

the switch to the connecting hardware suggested on this forum (instead of the 5 bolts used in the building plans) made all the difference in the world.

joining the two halves together is now an easy one man job versus the two cussing guys that were required to join her with the bolts. thanks. v.joe

[Hirilonde]

Looks good up there. Hoping to see my Spindrift nested on my boat this spring.

Would you direct me to this connecting hardware reference? I've never wrestled with a nesting dinghy before, but would like to consider all options.

[Garry]

Joe,

Are you talking about this kind of connector?

[vinegar joe]

yes, garry!!!! that's the hardware. it works so well and the schematics are really easy to follow....well done, sir.

i remember that someone suggested that he was going to use the five bolt connecting method based on the "KISS" theory (keep it simple stupid). that sure wasn't my experience. but with your connecting hardware, you can sit in the aft section (in the water, of course, and in fairly rough conditions, too), pull the forward half to you, push down, and bingo, you're 90 percent of the way home. the all bolt system requires assembly and disassembling on land, and really requires two people.

thanks again. (sorry about the poor quality of the original photo, perhaps the attached will be better). v.joe

[Garry]

I'm glad they worked well for you. I designed them for a nesting dinghy I built years ago and used them again on my Spindrift. In my experience, they work great.

If anyone else is interested, you can get more info at:

http://www.pbase.com/onceagain/connector_design

Garry

[Hirilonde]

Your design looks ingenius Gary. I am definately considering it for my Spindrift 9 N. I will be using mine as a tender to a 27 foot cruising boat and will very likely be putting it together and taking it apart a lot. My cruising range will be Long Island Sound to Maine, and towing may often not be a good idea.

It is hard to tell from the photos exactly how you added layers to the bottoms and nesting bulkheads to reinforce for you hardware and add the needed thichness for your mortices. And did you add an entire layer to the forward nesting bulkhead? Any description of what you did and where in the process of building it occured would be appreciated. I will be opening my butterfly and wiring the hull tomorrow.

And thanks Joe for bringing this up.

[Garry]

Take a good look at the sketches and you will see that I added "patches" to the interior for the reinforcing. You can just make out one of the patches in this photo.

[Steve Day]

Hey guys,

I opted to use the five bolt setup for my Spindrift rather than Garry's clips. I assemble the boat in the water by crouching in the after section and bringing the forward section to me as I slip the first (bottom) bolt into the mating holes. It is a bit intimidating the first couple of times you do it and you get a little water in the boat, but it is now quite simple to connect the boat.

Would I do it this way again? Yep. Would I consider the "clips?" Yep. Depends on what you want to do, where you are sailing, and how often you assemble and disassemble the boat.

Steve

[Garry]

I've never had a nesting dinghy with the bolts but I always felt that even with the bolts, assembly in the water is so much easier. I didn't know how much water there would be to deal with but apparently Steve has no big problem.

I have wrestled my dinghy together a number of times in the garage while I was building it. That was difficult enough, I can't imagine trying to do it on a boat deck.

Both sides float high and the stern easily supports one person. It is easy to pull the bow into position and easy to make the fine adjustments to get it to line up. So either method would work well enough.

When building the Spindrift, I considered going with the five bolt method as designed since I guessed it would be simple and reliable. I decided to go with my method reserving the bolted method as a fallback if it didn't work out. My hook and clamp method has worked out well and seems reliable. I would hate to lose the stern while towing, but it hasn't happed yet! A couple of safety bolts or a line might be considered.

I have found that there is force required to pull the tops of the two halves together. The bottoms naturally come together first because of the flotation forces on the two halves. And I've never found a situation where the water supports the two ends more than the middle enough to change this relationship. If I was using the bolted connections, I would leave the bottom bolt out - I don''t think its needed. I tried to illustrate how the flotation forces work in this sketch.

[Steve Day]

Garry,

I have to add that as soon as the bottom bolt is slipped in, I put the top two bolts in and get the nuts on them. I probably over-simplified the process, but it is harder to describe than to do.

How are you doing down there in Crystal River? We were down that way in Leesburg last week, but we were on a tight schedule and could not even try to get over to the coast.

Steve

[Hirilonde]

Garry,

How many connector pairs did you use? 3 to replace the bottome 3 bolts? Or just the 2 at the chines?

I have glued in all the backer patches/reinforcements. And am starting to fabricate the metal pieces.

I will probably only assemble/disassemble this thing a couple times a year while cruising. I am sure I will opt to tow whenever possible. I bet the 5 bolt system really isn't that hard with practice, and this hardware does add complication and time to the fabrication process. But, they look cool and I'm gonna make 'em

[Garry]

There are only the two connectors at the chines. There are two buckles at the top but you could replace them with bolt HOLES and use bolts. You can't fix the bolts permanently in one half because they need to slide down on the hooks.

[Hirilonde]

Thanks for the reply Garry. I will probably go with bolts for the top at first anyway. I made 3 sets of hardware. I had already glued in the 'patches' for a center one as well (well, slightly off center, mine is a sailing version). I may skip installing the 3rd one. I wonder if it adds difficulty in alignment while bobbing around trying to fit the halves together?

[Garry]

The hardware looks good Hirilond