Some news about Guam, a 3D printed prosthetic leg, and a podcast site well worth listening to...
Small Craft Advisor sent me an email this morning about their new issue as well as a link to a survey on dinghies they want to have filled out. They also had a link to Duckworks Portage Pram which, in my opinion, is a very interesting, attractive, and workable design.
At 6'10" and 35lbs (more or less) it makes a lot of sense as a tender for a smallish sailboat crewed by a couple. The bottom line is that it will get you to shore and back by oar, carry the sort of loads a cruising couple needs, and not take up an excessive amount of space on the deck while making passages.Better yet it is quite attractive and has a lot of character.
Truth be told, it's a dinghy I'd really like to build and am looking forward to the day when someone wants me to build one for them.
As it happens, I'm just about back in dinghy building mode as we're getting back into full-time cruising ASAP mode and I'm caught between three dinghy designs...
The first is the old standby Bolger Tortoise which at 6'5" does pretty much what the Portage Pram does while admittedly a bit less pretty. That said, I've rowed hundreds of miles in all conditions with the Tortoise and have never found it wanting in terms of performance. The added bonus is with a Tortoise as a dinghy you also don't have to worry overmuch about someone stealing it.
The second dinghy on the short list is an eight-foot B&B designs Two-paw nesting dinghy which is no slouch in performance and only takes up about a 4' X 4' space on the foredeck while nested.
Lastly the the third choice on the list is a Bolger Nymph but widened by six inches for a bit more stability because I might want to be able to fly fish from it.
Did I say three designs on my shortlist? Maybe it's four...
Reuel Parker has a couple of dinghies that recently caught my eye, his PRAM
8/9 a quick build minimal material arc-bottomed pram that appeals.
Another Parker dinghy that really got me excited is his PERIAGUA 14 design which at 14-feet is way too big to store on deck but cries out "Build me!" in spite of what common sense dictates.
So many good designs and so little time...
Listening to
So it goes...
