3 meter HDPE sailing dinghy

Hi, i will be uploading pictures of the progress of the building.
The boat is being build entirely in welded HDPE sheets of 15, 8 and 6mm of thickness, mast will be Ø50mm hardware aluminium tube.








Saludos desde Chile.

 

Welcome Sebastian, interesting project, will follow you carefully. Good luck!

Btw, what is your cost per m2 or kg for the panel material?

 

Hard to tell but a 2.000 x 4000 x 15mm HDPE sheet cost me 566 euros plus shipping 2 years ago, where you can fit 2 complete kits of the ribs.

 

Interesting project.
Isn't the HDPE is near impossible to glue?
You wrote about weld, how do you weld this?
Do you have an idea of the final weight?
Thanks

 

HDPE is a thermoplastic that can be welded with a special heatgun, there are many boats made of HDPE just google tideman boats or skarsvaag boats.
I´m not really sure about the weight, once finished i will post it.

 

Beautiful, clean design. At only 3 meters LOA, you probably don't need the ribs. I'm thinking the transom, thwart, deck, a keel board and chine stringers, should keep her stiff enough with less weight then the frames. The real benefits will be in crew comfort and ease of movement while working the sails. Plus, drainage will go better.

-Will

 

Hi Will, good observation.
Actually the original design it´s made in plywood the way you say but since i changed to plastic, which bends with heat, i prefered to add those ribs for extra stiffness, since it will be black the plastic gets hot in no time.

Also to show off the cnc cuts.

Pictures attached are not mine.