I want to build a plywood core dinghy this winter to keep myself away from the computers.. I work and do just about everything else on these damned machines. I plan on buying an Alberg designed boat under 28 foot in the next two years. The free plans I found for the "ApplePie" dinghy make a 7 foot dinghy. Although I think I can tow the dinghy in most cases on Lake Michigan, when the seas get taller, I'll have to pull her aboard. What's the longest dinghy you'd recommend for say a 26 foot boat?

I've always thought that it's not so much how long a dinghy is but how well she'll tow. Some dinghies tow like a sea anchor others ride up on you on every wave while others a really well behaved. I'm still trying to figure which design is which myself.

I picked up a H. Payson designed, home-built, Car Topper a while back just to test out how it tows, but haven't repaired it enough to do the test yet.

You can pull a dinghy up on to your stern, in some cases (if you have very little freeboard), and let the dinghy's stern drag behind when the seas get too big if you can't get the whole dinghy on board.

I was also considering building my own dinghy. Where did you find the plans? Can you ginve me a link to the site or the plans?

Hey Wayne,

Here's what I found. I am seriously considering building the "ApplePie" design. It seems the simplest of all the designs and they say that most who try this design, even first-timers wind up with a usable dinghy.

Here's the URL to a guy who built one:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrwizard/sail/dinghy/dinghy.html

He referenced the site called duckworks magazine which actually has a lot of really cool little projects on it. If you look in the designs section of the archives from 2002, 2003, they have a lot of free plans for boat building.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/

I'll probably be building my sawhorses and prepping the garage for the project this weekend. Let me know if you get started on one, it would be cool to share insights as we go along.

Here's the file for the applepie design

http://www.boatdesign.com/applepie/ApplePie.zip

Todd wrote:
I've always thought that it's not so much how long a dinghy is but how well she'll tow

So it's not the size that counts

Thanks for the links. It looks like a decent dinghy, and it doesnt look too difficult to build. But I think I have to get more clamps.

Yeah, it's the motion.

Chris,

the dinghy I always liked was the Chesapeake Light Craft Passagemaker . They have a Take-a-part version of this and it can even be fitted with a sail.

I have heard some good reviews.

That one looks very nice, but definitely beyond my skills. The Apple Pie design is attractive to me because it's very simple and can be accomplished with my limited tools. Skillsaw, jigsaw, clamps, and elbow grease.

I may find that after building one I want to continue on to bigger and better, but I have to start small and simple or I never finish.