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Dk Dinghy Question

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:33 pm
by john the pom
Morten,
I've just purchased plans for your 15' Dinghy. Haven't even had a chance to look them over yet because of work and stuff. I'm wondering if it would be possible/sensible/advisable to change a few things?
Namely substitute 4&6mm ply for the 6&9mm ply IF I instead used full fibreglass inside and out and did NOT use tape. In this case would fully fibreglassing inside and out be necessary?
Would there be any weight/strength/cost gain or advantage? Or would I end up back where the plans started with regard to weight and strength?
The boat would probably never be fully loaded. I'm not a large person and at most two adults of small to average build, plus electric motor, battery and fishing gear would be the most asked of it.

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:18 pm
by Boatplans.dk
Hi John,

Thank you for buying the plans.

You could substitute the plywood and add fiberglass fabric instead. You could do with covering the outside completely and the inside bottom only. The remaining seams inside will the have to be taped.

My guess will be that you will end up having a boat with almost the same weight. The ratio between weight/stiffness for the plywood and fiberglass is almost the same, so therefore you will not save much weight.

You will then have other advantages by covering the entire outside.