Building the new dinghy...

I love building dinghies... There is something so easy and direct about building a small boat in a few days that has all the fun and accomplishment without the mind numbing complexity and mayhem that a big cruising boat build entails.

I actually have a list of dinghy projects I have been itching to get to and the biggest problem is which one to do first?

I have a couple of plans from Wooden Widget that I have been waiting to build but admit to having difficulty choosing between the two as they are both excellent, One being the Hobie Mirage powered Deckster that I was ready to build (and still will)... But in talking with Wooden Widget I also discovered their neat folding Origami which is also very nice and makes all kinds of sense... I mean, What's a poor boy to do?

Throw in the fact that all this time I have been very interested in the Portland Pudgy concept of a lifeboat/dinghy but as no one seems to have designed a lifeboat/dinghy for us DIY folk the only solution was to design one myself. Not needing to re-invent the wheel as there are so many great dinghy designs out there already, the sensible solution seems to be using an available design and then designing the needful modules to make it into a lifeboat/dinghy which has been my approach and I'm now at the point of building the first prototype based on one of Phil Bolgers designs (available from Dynamite Payson). I'll be updating the progress soonish...