Day 19 of my APPLE PIE build.

There is sun, there is wind, GONE SAILING!! No work on the dinghy today!

Checking the position of the oarlocks. I've taped them to the boat and checked that it's right. There are 2 sets of oarlocks to allow for different weight distribution.

These are the oarlocks I'm putting on. Bought them at Canadian Tire. They are made of an alloy called ZAMAK, I checked it out on Wikipedia and it's a zinc, aluminium, copper, magnesium alloy. These are chromed and very handsome. I don't suppose they will be stressed much in their life.

The 2 sets of oarlocks have been installed and seem solid. I predrilled and coated the inside with epoxy. I used 2 x .75in screws in the top because the wood is only .75 thick. On the side I used one inch screws.

Attached the U ring to the front. Epoxy to seal the inside plus 3M 4200 to seal and seat the ring. It's strong so I expect I can tow the dinghy from this spot. The vertical placement made me think, If the boat is to be towed it has to be low enough to allow the boat to keep it's bow high, however, I did not want to ring to end up going under water too much. I may have to move it.

I also installed 2 cleats on the mast, I had made a bunch when I was making the Skerry. I also attached a ring to the front of the seat to attach the line from the sail. I tied a small block onto the bottom spar. I've never used a balanced lug so I will have to experiment to find the right attachment points and placement of the sail to the mast. Area of the polytarp sail is about 27 sq.ft. Probably no chance of being overpowered!! In fact after trying out the rig, the sail area is not sufficient to move the boat in anything resembling upwind.

First trial of the sail. The rudder assembly is just hanging there, the pintles/gudgeons have not yet arrived. The Polytarp sail is not evenly spaced on the spars so that will need to be adjusted. Seems generally OK.
After a final weight in using my somewhat suspect Ikea scale is 80 pounds including hardware and painter. I think That is quite heavy for a dinghy tender, but I was aiming for solid! Benches and sailing rig are heavy half inch plywood.

My little tender has finally been launched

Today I have worked 3 hours on the boat. This brings the total to 125 hours. There is not much left to do except install the gudgeons and pintles and put a coat of varnish or two more on the woodwork, mast and spars.

email: Christine

This web site reflects my personal ideas and doesn't represent anyone else's point of view. I'm not an expert boat builder and don't suggest that how I'm doing this is the best way, use your head.