I just saw that WEST marine is clearing out their Sportyaks and I expect that at $349.88 it's just about the cheapest dinghy you're going to find. Granted, a Bolger Tortoise would be both cheaper and better to build but if you're averse to cobbling your own dinghy together the Sportyak is not a bad choice
Sure, I know that there's a helluva lot of peer pressure to adhere to consumerist dogma but, just for a moment think about what you can afford rather than what you think others will opine on what you need to spend to be accepted.
I see a lot of folks selling the idea that "price is no object" but buying boats that are a fraction of the cost and pretending they're following the party line.
Know something?
They get away with it because most everyone is doing the same thing and no one's going to bust them because most everyone is part of the con.
The sordid truth is that most boat folk, by their very nature, have their asses firmly planted in the cheap seats. The problem only arises when they're not honest about it.
Worse is when they use the cost of stuff as a means of letting you know how much every-damn-fucking-thing-on-their-boat cost in a misguided ruse to impress you. As someone who has sold a lot of marine gear to these wankers I'll let you know that, more often than not, they lie about what they paid for those winches or top-of-the-line electronics.
Maybe it's just me but there's something pretty off when it reaches that point.
Know what impresses me? When someone comes up with a way of doing things that involves common sense and thought to make the whole sailing off into the sunset more comfortable, affordable and sustainable. On the other hand some guy bragging that he spent lots of money to impress me or as a put down just hits the pity note.
The other day when I mentioned that I was building yet another Tortoise someone pointed out that He'd spent $12K on his dinghy but if I can only afford a two sheet dinghy maybe I shouldn't bother until I could afford something better.
Yeah, it sorta/kinda pissed me off. Still, the Tortoise makes more sense for me than a 12-foot RIB with a 25HP outboard and it would be real dumb in a world where gas costs $5.50 to have such a beast.
Over on Boat Bits today I mentioned a Newport 28MK2 that's selling for $2.5K and appears to be in pretty good shape. Researching the design a bit more the Newport appears to be one of those designs that seems to have a pretty good price and is firmly in the "good bang for the buck" price niche. Plus it would make a very good cruising boat. What's not to like?
The important thing to keep in mind is that hardly anyone cares what sort of boat you cruise in. No one who isn't an asshole is going to ask you what it costs and, as long as the boat is shipshape, you'll still be invited to potlucks and suchlike (if that's your thing).
So, how low can you go?
While I know that the overall consensus is that the best cruising dinghy is an eight or ten-foot RIB with a 9.9/15 HP engine but I'll just have to disagree.
For a long time I'll admit that I thought the best cruising dinghy was Phil Bolger's Tortoise as it did everything we needed it to do, no one wanted to steal it, and it was the most boat you could get out of two sheets of plywood.
Sure it could have been bigger and prettier but any reasonable attempt to do so would result in a boat that would not work as well and cost more.
A while back I noticed that the late and much missed Dynamite Payson had included a "Big Tortoise" in his "Instant Boat Building with Dynamite Payson" and that while a lot bigger it still only used two sheets of plywood so we built one.
Being longer it rowed better, carried a bigger load and was even more stable than the smaller Tortoise. Plus it's homely looks meant no one ever felt compelled to steal it. The only downsides are that it's a bit heavier and takes up too much room on the deck.
I've have built a sorta/kinda nesting version of the little Tortoise so I could fit it into a space I had on the deck of LM2 but it was a crude hack and, while it worked, the kludge factor irritated me.
I've been working on a couple of ideas on a replacement dinghy for our Big Tortoise where it would nest but keeping its qualities at the same level while still only using two sheets of plywood. Funny how tiny changes on a very simple boat seem a lot like rocket science.
More on the subject soonish...
It just came to my attention that West Marine currently has the Sportyak on sale. You know, this boat...
It's a great design as it's light, pretty much indestructible, unsinkable, and cheap. It rows well and can carry two people with gear or groceries which is really all most people actually need in a dinghy. Lastly it's light enough to carry up a beach or get it up on the boat from the water by one person and it has a very small footprint so most folks will find it easy to store on deck..
That said, you can build a better dinghy for less but for those folks not inclined to wood butchery of the dinghy building sort this is just about the best bang you'll find in a ready made dinghy that floats right side up.
Just sayin'
I know everyone says that when using plywood aboard a boat that one should always use the best marine plywood you can get.
So here's where that advice does not quite add up.
Some time back I built a hard dodger with marine ply, saturated it with epoxy and glassed then painted it. I was content that it was both bombproof and would last forever.
A couple of years later I built a Bolger long Tortoise dinghy and used cheap exterior ply because it was a very temporary boat and just a quick build to use until I built a different boat. I did use epoxy but because Raka had introduced a new UV resistant epoxy I did not bother to paint it using it as a test bed to see just how long the dinghy would last in the tropical sun.
Years have gone by...
A while back I noticed some issues with the dodger. A few soft spots developed in places they really should not have. I cut away the soft wood and replaced it with new marine ply using epoxy to glue it up coated with more epoxy and glassed it. Problem solved I thought to myself.
Meanwhile the temporary dinghy still got used every day the glass and epoxy on the boat was becoming a sad sight to behold but the boat still worked but there were bare spots exposing end grain and I pretty much accepted that the boat would be toast in a few months or so.
A couple of years later...
The dodger seems to have developed some sort of fatal infestation. The soft spots are back with a vengeance and the spread is now so widespread that it makes sense to just build another one to replace it. Actually not a bad thing at all is I've always thought the proportions were not quite right and I've been wanting to do another one for ages. Still, I had expected better from the marine ply in question.
On the other hand, the dinghy is still with us. All of the interior glass and epoxy coating has gone leaving bare plywood and exposed end grain. The dinghy was also sunk in hurricane Maria, abused on various dinghy docks, dragged up on sharp rocks, and just generally abused but is still in surprisingly good shape in spite of me purposely doing everything I could to get it to fail.
Over the expanse of time I've done a lot of ad hoc testing of ply and lumber offcuts to see just what would or would not rot and how they'd hold up to various tropical insects. Almost always the best results of such tests have leaned towards the opposite of what passes for common knowledge as to what works best on boats in the tropics.
So, now that "H" season is almost passed it's time to get with the program and build a new hard dodger as well as a new dinghy for "So It Goes". Doing either project in marine pretty much doubles the price of the dinghy or dodger so I'm inclined to just go with pressure treated exterior ply for both. Once finished, glassed, and painted no one is going to know what sort of ply it is and considering the experience I've had it will last as long or longer than what passes for so-called marine ply these days.
A quick update on the self-steering project. I now have all the various bits on island with the excepting of the needful wood which is just a dinghy row away.
So, hopefully, in the next few days I'll be getting the wood for the project along with a few sheets of plywood for a new dinghy build and be able to sort out the actual cost.
More about the actual self-steering design tomorrow...
OK, I get it. "Everyone" says that if you buy a fixer-upper sailboat with the goal of turning it into a cruising boat it will all end in tears. Some will tell you that you'll wind up with nothing but an expensive disaster that you'll have to pay someone to dispose of it in some landfill.
I could go on but I expect you've already heard it all before and it's boring...
What I will do is point out that the disaster or failure scenarios of this sort have a lot to do with people who have made stupid mistakes in choosing their projects, have little in the way of an intelligent plan for the needful work involved in the enterprise, and a poor skill set where boat building and repair are concerned. Which is another way of saying that if the boat refit project failed it's because the person doing it screwed up big time.
Every once in awhile I'll point out what I think is a possible project boat like the Ericson 26 so we'll use that as our crash test dummy. Which brings us to the question of whether or not an Ericson 26 is a good choice as a cruising boat for you?
So, you'll need to put away the rose colored glasses to do some research and a bit of math. Seriously if you don't properly research the project and work out the costs you're in clusterfuck territory. For starters you really need to research the market for the Ericson 26.
With me so far? Most boat projects fail simply because someone did not ask and get real answers to those four simple questions. Let's say you've answered the previous questions, got your answers and think it's time to move to the next level which requires a few more questions.
Some of you may have noticed that none of these questions involve the actual fixer upper in question. My advice is to always do your homework before not after viewing a possible project as the more you know about the boat the better your advantage you'll have when you actually look at it.
In fact I'd recommend, before you go boat project shopping, that you build a dinghy as a proof of concept that your abilities are up to the task. My advice for most folks is to build the Bolger Nymph from Dynamite Payson's "Build the New Instant Boats" As it's a great dinghy, does not take a lot of outlay in materials, and pretty much shows you if you have the needful skills and mindset or not to take on a much bigger project like the Ericson. No pressure but if it takes you more than 24-hours of labor to build a Nymph rowing version you might want to forget the idea of anything larger than a dinghy refit projects.
We'll get into how we handle looking at a fixer-upper in the next bit...
"In traditional boating circles, it is a long cherished tradition to rail against inflatables, and there are some good reasons. Because rowing them to good effect is not possible, inflatables almost invariably wind up with an outboard on the transom. Outboards produce several varieties of pollution – sound, air, water – and have a tendency to foster questionable skylarking by bored youngsters. And recently, mankind has discovered that burning petroleum might just have another big drawback as well.The guy makes a lot of sense...
"The new generation of rigid bottom inflatables, or RIBs have some additional vices. They abandon what used to be the most powerful argument for inflatables – that they can be deflated and stored aboard for longer passages. They feature deepish vee bottoms, which make rowing even more impossible, and only really show any advantage with the application of lots of petroleum. When you try to use that horsepower, a RIB will first plow itself into a deep trough, then jump up onto a plane with unnerving rapidity – they have no sweet spot between the two.
"My hunch is that the rush to RIBs is driven by the fact that we baby boomers (the flower children who were going to bring us to the age of Aquarius, remember?) are losing our balance, muscle mass, joint mobility (and a bunch of other functions too embarrassing to mention), and are happy to have a dinghy that is as stable as a church, can be driven like a bumper car, and gives us an airtight excuse for not rowing. Come on Flower Children, let's take back the high road!
"Inflatable boats have some undeniable advantages. First and probably foremost is their tremendous stability. They also have wonderful built in fendering – no worries about coming alongside your perfect topsides when things are a little lumpy. And when you get alongside, you can stand up on the inflated pontoons to get a boost for climbing aboard the mother ship. OONAGH is my attempt to combine some of the best qualities of inflatables with the advantages of a traditional dinghy, and put it into a package that is a little less hostile to the planet."
