Spindrift 11N Curved Rear Seat Design

[Guest Bill Brown]

Has anyone drawn up a set of plans for the curved back seats I see in some of the pictures for a Spindrift 11N? I know I could figure it out but I don't see any reason to reinvent the wheel.

Bill Brown

Bill.A.Brown@Shell.com

[rlchenry]

I just eyeballed my 9N, sorry.

http://seaweed.thebilge.com/spindrift

[Garry]

Hi Bill,

I fitted mine by taking measurements between the two halves when nested, then cutting some cheap luaun to fit by trial. I wanted a snug fit thinking it might make it more stable when stowed on deck. I also added a couple of small blocks on the bow section to rest against the top edge of the seats.

I would be leery of using other's dimensions since it could easily be affected by slight variations in construction.

This sketch shows my dinghy nested during construction. I also added a couple brackets to spring a pvc tube to hold some of the smaller pieces for stowage.

The plastic hatches are from SoPac, an austrailian company. They look great and they are sturdy but the rubber o-rings are NOT waterproof.

[Hirilonde]

If you are looking for a snug fit to the curve when nested then plans would be dangerous I would think. Even though we are all building our boats from the same plans; because they are not lofted they all come out slightly different. Scribing a pattern to the actual halves while nested is the best method.

I will be installing waterproof screw type access ports into the sides of my stern quarter seats. So even though I wanted the curved seats I opted to go with straight panel ones.

My plan, had I chosen to go with curves was to install the cleats according to the dimensions in the plans, then scribe a pattern to fit the shape of the bow section while actually nested. Another good pattern stock is door skin plywood. It is barely 1/8th'" thick, can be cut with tin snips and quite inexpensive. I was going to scribe the door skin to the bow curve, then attach this curved piece to another scribed to the stern section on the cleats using hot glue. By making each fit separately the pattern comes out very accurate. And by gluing them together after makes the overall dimensions accurate.

Regardless of the methods you use, the overall process is scribe, fit, check, and repeat. The curves look great. Were it not for my pragmatic requirements I would have gladly invested the additional time it takes to make them.

If you check out Garry's web site you will discover he wanted to maximize the storage space in his. So making them as large as would still fit the bow section nested was a good choice. In my case I want to minimize the tank/seats to maximize open space for people and stuff while transporting to and from my Renegade. That and mine is a 9 vs. 11. Ah, decisions decisions, and we thought Graham figured this all out for us :wink:

[John Turpin]

I added a couple of custom flotation chambers to my TwoPaw 8 to replace the simple cleats in the plans. While nested, I trimmed some cardboard until I found the largest trapezoids that would fit in that area. It was all trial and error. I filled the chambers with ping pong balls and capped water bottles for extra flotation. My chambers even left room for a couple of cup holders for the captain and crew. Those holes were cut to hold plastic cup/bottle holders from West Marine which were set in place with 4200.