Modern wooden dinghy - temptation!

I’ve found this boat on Blocket, in Stockholm. Size is approximately the same as my Glypto but this boat is a modern wooden boat: build in wood-epoxy technique. It’s been on Blocket for a while so finally I contacted Per and arranged meeting to try her.

This is teak plywood boat, encapsulated in epoxy. Planks are 5mm thick, transom is 10mm. No ribs - the whole strength comes from thick fillets of thickened epoxy. Contrary to my old Glypto this boat is absolutely dry and weights half as much: around 30kg. I can lift it easily and transport on my shoulder.

It’s in perfect shape, hardly used. It comes with small mast, sprit sail, nice oars, centreboard and rudder. Small sailing dinghy.

The asked price was like I paid for Glypto but after some negotiations it became even more affordable.

We’ve put her into water and jumped in: me and Per. I wanted to check if she can carry two adults. She can - as long as the water is calm. She is equally unstable as Glypto.

I’ve left Pålsundet almost sure that I want to buy her but such decisions are better taken after a while so Per agreed to wait one day before I decide.

Temptation was strong - she is beautiful, does not leak, is brand new and very light. And has a mast with sail so why do I hesitate???

Well, in the end I haven’t bought her.
Why in the world not?

I need to write it down so that I don’t have to go through this next time I spot such a beauty.
The problem I want to solve is to have a dinghy which I can take with me when I sail Meritaten to some nice spot and want to explore shallows and small islands. Glypto was bought for that purpose.

The problem with Glypto is that she leaks and most ribs need to be replaced. She is heavy but that does not really matter since she is too big to put her on deck. Or, Meritaten is too small to have such dinghy on deck. This teak dinghy is of equal size, just lighter - so still it will not fit on the deck.

I was thinking about building davits and have dinghy hanging behind Meritaten but again - my boat is too small to have it, she will be too heavy on akter so the trim will be bad.

Glypto, being traditionally build, needs to stay in water the whole season. This new dinghy, in contrary, should not be kept in the water all the time - otherwise I need to paint it with antifouling and be very careful about epoxy layer. This epoxy encapsulation has, in fact, put me off the whole idea.

It’s a good thing on a big, modern wooden boat - epoxy isolates wood from water so the boat is dry and wood never rots. On dinghy however it is very easy to destroy this epoxy layer - when one drags a dinghy onto beach or enters shallow water. Once water gets behind epoxy barrier the wood - or plywood - will get wet and water will be trapped there. Then problems begin…

If my old Glypto gets scratches or lands on stone - no worries. It’s just wood which will get some dents. It will not rot because of that.

Stability of these boats is another concern: they are very wobbly. I have no problem with that but to transport safely my family on such a dinghy is no option. Flat-bottom boat suits us better here. Or rubber dinghy - ugly but stable.

The last thing was that I could sail this tiny dinghy. At least theoretically. After talking with Edgard we came to conclusion that this is indeed just a theory. In practice such small and wobbly dinghy would be very difficult to sail in any wind but fordewind.

So in summary - the answer to my problem is a boat which can carry 3 persons, safely and steady, looks nice, rows well and can be stored on deck of Meritaten. There is such a boat to buy - Nautiraid coracle.

They cost a bit but I’m thinking about building similar boat. It folds flat and can be stored along hand rails on deck. Unfolds in few minutes. A Brompton bike in boat world!

So - either I save money to buy one or I build one. Meanwhile I’ll renovate Glypto to have her in the Archipelago and as a pub boat in Norrtälje - rowing up the river into the city, to have a pint in the evening!