Shallow Draft: Tiny Tenders You Can Build

by Marty Loken

If you’re a typical reader of Small Craft Advisor, you probably own a trailerable boat that’s capable of overnight cruises…something like a Montgomery 15 or 17, a Com-Pac 16, or another camp-cruising design.

Maybe you’ve had countless cruising adventures, or you’ve been restricted to weekend overnighters. Wherever you’ve cruised—or for whatever length of time—you’ve likely mused about the omnipresent “what-kind-of-dinghy?” subject, maybe wondering how you might tow some kind of dink behind your small boat, since there’s no room on deck for a traditional yacht tender.

Many of us have dabbled with different approaches to the challenge: How to get one or two people safely ashore and back with groceries and maybe also the family pooch. You’ve perhaps experimented with blow-up kayaks, small inflatables or even SUP’s, but the kayaks have been terrifying to board from your sailboat and maybe impossible to tow in rough water; the inflatables have been embarrassing when rowed or drogue-like when towed, and the stand-up paddleboards…well, how do you get two adults, groceries and your golden retriever aboard, ashore and back without becoming the subject of a viral YouTube video?

Maybe the answer is a lightweight, compact wooden dinghy you can build at home with modest skills and a simple toolkit: An attractive little boat you can be proud of, and that’ll carry up to 400 pounds of passengers, gear and groceries.

In this category—tiny tenders you can assemble from plans or kits—we’ve always leaned toward pram designs, since they offer the greatest capacity per foot of length or pound of weight. (A 7-foot pram tends to be as stable as an 11-foot pointy-bowed skiff. They row better than you might believe, and you can pick from among hundreds of different designs.)

We’ve written about small pram designs in a past issue of Small Craft Advisor (See “In Pursuit of the Perfect Pram,” SCA #106), and today we’d like to celebrate a six-pack of flyweight dinghies that might be ideal when towed behind your small camp-cruising boat.

Here are some personal favorites you can build from plans and/or kits:

DINGO

by Alex Bogdanov

We’re starting with this little 6' 6" stitch-and-glue tender because it’s the lightest and perhaps one of the easiest to build, requiring only two sheets of 6mm marine plywood and weighing a mere 28 pounds.

With a beam of 48 inches, Dingo has a surprising capacity of 400 pounds. Clearly, it would be a featherweight to tow behind any modest cruising boat.

Designer Alex Bogdanov, of Canada, provides a 28-page instruction booklet along with three pages of drawings—available for $40 from Duckworks.

EASTPORT ULTRALIGHT

by John Harris

One of the most popular pram designs is Chesapeake Light Craft’s 7' 9" Eastport Pram, but at 65 to 70 pounds it’s a bit heavy for some little cruising boats. CLC’s flyweight alternative is the adorable Eastport Ultralight, a 6' lapstrake dink with 40" beam and max payload of 400 pounds…weighing a scant 38 pounds.

As the accompanying photo shows, the Ultralight can carry two adults and three little kids…if only for a photo op, since rowing might be tricky with such a crowd.

Plans and patterns are available for $89, and complete CNC-cut kits cost $950. For those who already have epoxy products and other extras included in the complete kit, wood parts only go for $740, all from www.clcboats.com

FLIPTAIL 6 & 7

by Woodenwidget

Folks at the UK company, Woodenwidget, are clearly having too much fun, conjuring designs for all sorts of super-innovative, flyweight items—from wooden bicycles, to folding, bike-towed camping trailers, to the amazing little Fliptail folding dinghies.

We’re focusing here on two models, the 6' and 7' Fliptails, designed by Robin Benjamin. The smaller, at 6' 2" and weighing 33 pounds, holds two adults and collapses down to a flat, stowable package that’s 6' 2" long, 10" high and 24" wide. The larger Fliptail tips the scales at 39 pounds, holds up to three adults, and folds to the same height and width as the smaller model…just a foot longer.

And, incredibly, both models can also be outfitted with simple sailing rigs featuring a single leeboard.

Plans for the smaller version are $42, or $48 for the larger Fliptail, both available from Duckworks.

PIANKATANK RIVER PRAM

by Dave Gentry

Dave is a leading designer of skin-on-frame boats, and his PR Pram is worth considering if you’re looking for a slightly larger dinghy with good carrying capacity. This one is 7' 11" overall, weighs 55 pounds finished, and features a design inspired by an original from L. Francis Herreshoff, later modified by John Gardner.

Weight capacity is 400 pounds, beam is 47" and plans are available for $64 from www.duckworks.com Complete $749 kits can be ordered from www.gentrycustomboats.com

PORTAGE PRAM

by William Peterson

I’m a big fan of the little Portage Pram, having built the prototype kit (pictured). The 6' 10" hull was directly inspired by a traditional 1970s plank-on-frame design by Bill Peterson at Murray G. Peterson Associates. (The original weighed about 60-70 pounds, but the flyweight stitch-and-glue PP hull comes in at only 35 pounds and is amazingly capable under oars or an optional sailing rig.)

A nice review of the design came from the late Dick Wagner, founding director of The Center for Wooden Boats: “I’ve always preached that a short, fat boat cannot be good at rowing, but yesterday I rowed this little Peterson-designed pram and it was a great boat. It accelerated quickly, tracked better than a Gloucester Gull, carried well between strokes and made no wake at hull speed.”

Plans for the original plank-on-frame pram are available from www.duckworks.com for $100. Building kits, including all CNC-cut parts, are offered for $899, also from www.duckworks.com

SCRAPS

by John Welsford

This tiny but burdensome micro-pram, designed by John Welsford, was so named because John built the first one from leftover bits of plywood and lumber. The dink is only 6' 3" in length, with a beam of 45" and weighs about 48 pounds. (We think the boat could be lighter if built using nothing but 4mm ply, but that remains to be proven.)

Plans for Scraps are available as instant PDF downloads, for $45 from www.duckworks.com

So, if you’re thinking about a little tow-behind dinghy, one of these might be just the ticket. •SCA•