I know … I have lofted this dinghy before! Well, almost.

Having bought the Paul Gartside 10ft clinker dinghy plans, I lofted her on the garage floor last year. Then, there came a pause, initially, because I had some projects to do for friends; and then I rather lost confidence, having heard that the students at IBTC had run into some problems with the lofting/design.

Anyway, during a visit to the college a few months ago now, I realised that the issue they had had was a misunderstanding of one of the comments in the plans. Armed with that information, I felt confident in the design, and set about lofting the dinghy once more. Of course, doing it a second time around, I found that I was able to do a better job this time.

Plotting the profile of the stem.
Plotting Station 3 on the Body Plan.
Transom expansion completed
Stem sections completed, setting out the rabbet and bearding lines.
This book was an invaluable aid!

With the lofting completed, it was time to make some moulds. The five moulds represent a cross-section of the boat at intervals from bow to stern, and for a framework against which to plank the dinghy.

This is a technique for transferring the shape from lofting floor to wood that goes back centuries. Nails laid, so their heads are on the line to be transferred …
… leave a series of impressions in the wood placed on top, which gives the line to cut the correct shape.
By “book-matching” the boards before they are cut, the opposite side of the mould is produced, creating a mirror image.

I have also made the strong-back, the trestled T-bar structure that the boat is built upon.

So, at last, it’s time to start the build.

Here, I have placed a piece of Mylar sheet – a stiff plastic sheet that will keep its shape – and drawn on it the lines I need to make templates for the three pieces that make up the “built stem.”

Today, I cut the templates out of the Mylar and used them to cut the pieces for the stem:

Mylar templates and …
… the initial stage of making this jigsaw.

Now, I need to clean up the opposing edges – which is tricky where a bench plane cannot be used – to get as near-perfect a fit as I can. Careful Stuart!!

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