Some seriously skewed/deranged logic, a depressing point well made, and in the "Anger is still the appropriate emotion" department...
Phil Bolger's Tortoise and Big Tortoise don't quite cover all the bases but do have the advantage that they are easy to build. give the most bang for the buck in terms of displacement, row easily, sail well, and are incredibly stable.
So, what do we have to do to make them better?
First of all as the basic design lends itself quite well to stitch and glue and I long ago adapted the Tortoises I've built to that construction method.
Secondly, I've also learned, after rowing hundreds of miles in Tortoises, that the side panels of the dinghy could use a bit of reinforcement by adding a pair of stringers (1" X 2") located at seat level to the side panels. These serve double-duty as they also provide a place to put transverse thwarts which will suit our purpose better than Bolger's longitudinal thwart.
The aft deck on the Tortoise (aft and foredeck on the Big Tortoise) are very important design features and it makes sense to turn them into buoyancy/storage chambers. Since I'll be building the smaller Tortoise I'll also be adding a second deck and buoyancy/storage chamber to the bow as well.
Otherwise the design remains pretty much the same as far as construction goes and most folk should be able to put one together in twelve to sixteen hours of actual labor and the expenditure of between $200 to $300 out of pocket for the row only version.
Of course, we want a more dynamic lifeboat so we'll need a sensible sailing rig and I have a couple changes on that front which we'll get into next.
Listening to a whole lotta Caroline songs
So it goes...
