Small dinghy

I have a small, 25' FB convertible boat. I would like to build a small dinghy for it. Ideally, I would like to have a dinghy that could be perched on the fore-deck. Unfortunately, my foredeck is quite small. I would guess that I might be able to fit a 6' punt on the foredeck. Anything much larger than that will not fit.

Is it possible to find a design for a punt that is that short, and yet still rows acceptably well and is practical for use as a tender? What is the logical limit? Could one build a 5' boat? A 5 1/2' boat? I'd hate to build something that was effectively useless.

Regards,

Brian

 

Phil Bolger has a 5'6" "breakdown punt" in "Boats With an Open Mind" in three pieces: a narrow hull/cockpit with two side sponsons. I've also seen a two-piece tender somewhere that's probably lighter: the forward/bow piece fits inside the cockpit/stern piece.

 

Brian,

Look at my Halfling design which is a 7'-10" sailing pram that breaks in half and stows in a compact place. The whole boat is made from 4 sheets of plywood. Plans are $20. Go to www.sponbergyachtdesign.com, go to Boat Designs, Stock Plans, and scroll down to Halfling.

Eric

 

Eric's Halfling looks like a nice nesting tender.

One feature usually overlooked in tenders is the ability to balance the boat with varying loads like one, two or three people aboard. Often seen are tenders with one rowing, the other in the stern and the bow way up in the air. Makes for difficult rowing and steering.

Having two sets of oarlock sockets and a long central seat (or a sliding one) will get rid of this problem. Tenders, regular and nesting, set up this way can be found in the Catspaw series at: http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/

 

There are a bunch of them in a google search of

"nesting dinghy" OR "nesting tender"

http://www.liqwood-design.com/tender.html
http://www.niccollslite.net/page3.html
http://www.cabbs.org/Vicenti%20nesting%20pram.htm
http://www.boatplans-online.com/proddetail.php?prod=FB11&PARTNER=Rondune
http://cruisenews.net/db/pagetemplate.php?cat_id=12

Bolger's design would also be a good candidate for the sliding or moveable seat. Actually, I think it can be rowed in both directions. One way alone, the other way with a passenger.