D5 Seat Arrangement

[KlondikeBay]

Hi, I’m new here and to boat making.

My question has to do with changing the center seat to a lengthwise position. I’ve seen this in other pram designs, with the centerboard box through the seat. In my (inexperienced) mind it might make changing rowing position and balancing a load easier. How might that work out sailing a sprit rig

Could the structural strength across the beam be maintained with a rib? Would there be much unused material if I build from the CNC kit?

THX

[OneWayTraffic]

I built a D5. With all the seats in place the boat is incredibly strong and stiff. It is also short on room unless going one up.

I'm not sure that a lengthways seat would work in terms of building the boat, but a 3" rib down the hull side would give enough reinforcement. Depending on the use you might even be able to omit some framing.

[KlondikeBay]

I built a D5. With all the seats in place the boat is incredibly strong and stiff. It is also short on room unless going one up.

I'm not sure that a lengthways seat would work in terms of building the boat, but a 3" rib down the hull side would give enough reinforcement. Depending on the use you might even be able to omit some framing.

OneWayTraffic, your thread was very informative. How do you like your D5 so far?

Essentially what I’m pondering is replacing the center seat box with ribbing of some sort to provide the same support for the hull, sides, and centerboard box.

[TomW1]

You can do it but your ribs need to be 3" tall where any frame is now. Then for your lengthwise seat just cut the two seat frames out to hold your new seat. When you make a corner cut do not make it square, use a can or something like a can to get a curved corner.

Tom

[OneWayTraffic]

I built a D5. With all the seats in place the boat is incredibly strong and stiff. It is also short on room unless going one up.

I'm not sure that a lengthways seat would work in terms of building the boat, but a 3" rib down the hull side would give enough reinforcement. Depending on the use you might even be able to omit some framing.

OneWayTraffic, your thread was very informative. How do you like your D5 so far?

Essentially what I’m pondering is replacing the center seat box with ribbing of some sort to provide the same support for the hull, sides, and centerboard box.

In hindsight I probably built the wrong boat. It's a nice little tender for getting to a mooring, or a beginning sail boat. I use it for tooling around on local lakes fishing for trout.
As a sail boat there are better performing boats you could make for similar coin. The rigging costs more than the boat anyway. Unless you really want an optimist type boat.
For fishing it's fine for an adult or two kids but a canoe would have served well and go on the roof of my car better (lighter). Since I put it on a trailer, I could have built a 12' dinghy for the same cost almost.

It is a very nice introduction to boat building. I taped all seams with 400g and put a light cloth on the bottom. It weighs 35kg +5kg for the wheels. I could probably have shaved 10kg weigh off it building lighter.

[KlondikeBay]

OneWayTraffic,

Thanks for your input!

I’ve been snooping around thinking and sort of come to the same conclusion. I want a small rig to cartop and get into the water easily; but the sound out here is fairly open and I think I’ll be better of with something that will cut through the chop and row better. So I’m going to back up and start a new thread.

[Netpackrat]

My question has to do with changing the center seat to a lengthwise position. I’ve seen this in other pram designs, with the centerboard box through the seat. In my (inexperienced) mind it might make changing rowing position and balancing a load easier. How might that work out sailing a sprit rig

Could the structural strength across the beam be maintained with a rib? Would there be much unused material if I build from the CNC kit?

I built a D5 which I sail with a sprit rig and you ask a very good question which I didn't know enough to ask before I finished it. Yes, longitudinal seating would be superior to the as-drawn arrangement, at least for comfort. Part of the problem is that it's just a very small boat and there's not a lot of room to begin with, but the bigger part of the problem is for good weight distribution you end up trying to kneel or sit in the area between the mid and aft seats. 20 or 30 years ago that would have bothered me a lot less.

The D5 is a great boat but it would probably be easier to build one that is designed the way you want it in the first place. My personal preference would be for narrower seats down each side, rather than one down the middle, which I think would get in the way of switching sides when changing tacks. One good thing about the D5 as drawn, is there is nothing to get in the way of the sailor when tacking, so from a sailing point of view the transverse seating may be better, even if comfort is lacking.

[KlondikeBay]

Netpackrat,

Points well taken. I’m currently thinking I need a whole different boat, maybe the D12 which is similar to Sam Devlin’s Mudpeep. Right now it’s all dreamtime. A new thread may be coming.

[TomW1]

KlondikeBay can you give us an idea of what the uses you want to get out of your small boat. Is rowing the primary or sailing the primary use. Are you willing to trailer as anything over 6-7' is hard to car top unless it is a canoe. There are several boats that meet your requirements. Take your time and select the one that really suits your needs The waters you will be usiing it in and how you you want to use it.

Tom

[Netpackrat]

Yeah if I had it to do again, I would have built a bigger boat. It's great being able to just load it in the back of my pickup truck (especially since I can load a canoe on the rack at the same time), but sailing it is mostly a solo proposition. Right now is kind of that in-between time where my kids are getting too big to sail with me in the D5, but they are still too young to go out solo in it, although my oldest is maybe almost there.