Stuart's D5 Dinghy.

[OneWayTraffic]

Plenty of places in NZ where a 2 or 3 pound is a good catch too. It all depends on food supply, water quality and habitat.

[OneWayTraffic]

I have put a fairing coat over the inside, and just a couple of rough patches on the outside. 120grit over the whole lot and a wet sanding sponge and wash with a wet cloth. Holes drilled and filled for all fittings. It's not perfect, but you need to get up close to see.

Today I will seal with a final roller coat of epoxy then undercoat once sealed.

[Eric1]

Good progress!

[OneWayTraffic]

Three coats of paint (two undercoat) on now. Up close you can see the bits where I skimped on fairing. Looks good from a couple of meters though.

[OneWayTraffic]

And it's all done. The finish is more workboat than yacht, but I am quite proud of it overall. Very satisfying project.

Getting it wet in a local lake (large pond really in a local subdivision this weekend.)

[OneWayTraffic]

[pee wee]

Congratulations, you're a boat builder! You ought to be able to have some fun with that.

[OneWayTraffic]

Splashed it in the Waimakariri river yesterday. This is a few hundred metres wide, shallow in places and calm.

My thoughts:
Some of the paint on the exterior sides scratched off while on the trailer. I am not sure how much of this is due to poor prep work or not fully cured paint. The epoxy Aluminium powder coating underneath is just fine.

I may remove the exterior paint completely at some stage as this boat will be kept inside.

The boat itself handled fine once I learnt how to handle it. With just me I can move around more or less as I please in calm water, with my 30kg son we need to be more careful. Two of us on one side causes an alarming lean. We had to learn to treat it like a kayak, rather than an inflatable dinghy.

The clamping board was too narrow for the outboard. I had doubled it up but still needed to add a loose scrap piece of 6mm ply just to get it to stay on. I will fix this, probably by bolting on a plastic clamping board. I want the clamps to dig in somewhat as the outboard would move a little as I had it.

Outboards without a neutral are a pain in the ass! I have a 2.5hp Mercury 2 stroke, but it is light and easy to move around.

I wasn't happy trying to row it I much preferred outboard and using the oars as paddles. It is possible that my shortish skeg contributes to the difficulty in rowing or just that I am out of practice.

Water leaked into the back compartment. I will remove the wheels (again!) completely epoxy seal the lower bolt holes and drill a new hole for the bracket above the seat level. The bolts will be a little close together, but the load is almost vertical so they shouldn't torque the bolts much.

I need to drill a hole through the front of the middle seat. When cleaning it with the wheels extended water pooled underneath the seat. A drain hole at the front will allow this to run to the front of the boat where I can sponge or bail it out.

Overall quite happy with it. It will do what I need it too.

[Jeff]

Congrats OneWayTraffic!! I hope you enjoy her!! Jeff

[terrulian]

I wasn't happy trying to row it I much preferred outboard and using the oars as paddles. It is possible that my shortish skeg contributes to the difficulty in rowing or just that I am out of practice.

In a boat this small, you will not be able to row easily without weight being distributed evenly. Best just one person on the main thwart. With two people it will be down at the head or the stern and will be sluggish. If you were rowing with the outboard installed, this will have the same effect, in addition to adding drag with the prop in the water.

It is possible that my shortish skeg contributes to the difficulty in rowing

Don't know what the designed skeg length is but if you built it according to plan this is probably not the problem.

Another issue is your oars. If you use oars that are too short you will not be able to maintain a good, rhythmic stroke. There are formulas online--don't have one in my memory--that will help you figure out the proper length, but my guess would be about 7 or 7 1/2 feet.