Danny green chameleon nesting dinghy

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Any feedback/thoughts on steering the sailing version with one of the oars would be welcome. Worked for the vikings I suppose.

I used this on my old dinghy, it had no CB so it wasnt all that good to windward, though I could make ground to weather by heeling it and digging in the chine.

I found I prefered to have the rowlocks set to port and stb of the transom. That way they where clear of the outboard if I had it fitted, and I could sit down in the boat with the oar to leeward out of my way. Tacking meant shifting the oar across to the other side, but it made for comfortable downwind sailing with me sitting amidships.

Often I would put the oar in the normal rowing position on the leeside for reaching where it acted as a bit of a leeboard and I could sit further forward to use my weight to help steer the boat.

Its certainly worth a try. Though if I had a CB I probably would have fitted a normal rudder as well with a hiking stick so I could steer comfortably from any position without shifting the oar about.

[Delancey]

Here's a photo of I think the same boat sailing. That's what I'm going to do now, see ya!

[Kim Gregory]

Just finished mine. Tested it in the pool before adding seats and gunwales.

[Delancey]

Well, that was fun. Great dink. Could manage three people just fine on flat water.

I have noticed we seem to ship some water in through the dagerboard trunk even though I ended up making mine a bit taller than the design calls for.

Might make some kind of seat thing to shove in there to save on the wet ass action.

[Delancey]

Eventually I'll make a cradle to stow it midships below the boom, in the meantime it is a perfect fit on the foredeck.

Also, somehow it lays just right on the foreward hatch and lifelines so that it was super easy to assemble on the foredeck. In a pinch I could just throw it over the side by myself but will rig up a bridle for launching and recovering with a halyard.

[Delancey]

Threw a five pack of PDF's in the stern. Made a nice passenger seat. Gave me a thought about trying to secure them back there to add additional bouyancy.

[AMFE]

Looks great Delancey!

I spent twice the hours on mine then plans say and it was mostly only due to construction upgrades such as oversizing the holes and filling like you spoke, and other odds and ends that I thought could be done better for longer life of the boat. I have not been in a hurry with mine and enjoy the build so the time spent is enjoyable for me. My biggest time consumer it seems has been trying to perfect the fit from one half to the other. only because It doesn't look right to me without a perfectly even fit.

I am at the prime and paint stage currently. White kind of paint did you use Delancey?

[Delancey]

Meh, looks okay in photos. All I see are all the flaws. Thank you for the compliment though.

Regarding paint, I would recommend using a two-pack epoxy primer, and if you were looking to make it perfect plan on doing two coats. Up until now any fairing you have done has been against a background of different colors. Once you get a first coat of primer one you will be able to see all the little things in the surface you missed or that need more work.

Now is your chance to sand down any high spots or fill in any remaining low spots before you do your second coat of primer. Apply a uniform coat and be carefull to avoid sanding through when you sand the second coat of primer prior to your first coat of paint.

One thing you should be doing anyway is putting a nice round-over on any edges before you epoxy coat the bare wood. Then when you come back and are sanding between coats of primer and paint you want to keep the sandpaper away from the edges to avoid sanding through. Just kiss them lightly with a scotchbrite pad will be sufficient for recoating.

As far as paint goes, two pack LPU if you want fancy. I used a single part oil-based yacht enamel since I know it is going to get beat up and will need retouching. If I had to do it over I might skip the yacht enamel and just go with a gloss oil based house enamel since they are basically the same thing but one is a lot cheaper than the other and also comes in any color you want.

Not saying the yacht enamel isn't good paint, it is, just that depending on the source you can get house paint that is almost as good for a lot less. Happy painting!

[Kim Gregory]

I modified Danny Greene's plans, making the bow storage locker shorter, to allow the forward hatch in the v-berth to open a couple of inches when the dinghy is on deck.



With two people, the 3.5 hp motor pushes it to 4 knots with half throttle, 5 kts at full throttle. With just me, it can do 10 kts.


The weight of the motor brings the chine down to the water, and is quieter at anchor. Without the motor, the chines are about an inch out of the water, and the dinghy rocks and slaps the water in little waves like this.

[rb1685]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

The centreboard case "key" instructions and drawing

Attachment 113680

Attachment 113681

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm about to embark on building this dink and found it in a search. Reading through the plans last night, and the section in this post had me totally vexed. Does OP or anyone else have some photos of what is being described here? Thanks!

[AMFE]

Here are some pics of my interpretation of the key way. You can see the "key" sticking out of the front of the mating bulkhead in painted boat pic, the other pics are all i have of the key way during construction. (opens into the the daggerboard trunk) hope that helps.

[rb1685]

Originally Posted by AMFE

Here are some pics of my interpretation of the key way. You can see the "key" sticking out of the front of the mating bulkhead in painted boat pic, the other pics are all i have of the key way during construction. (opens into the the daggerboard trunk) hope that helps.

THANKS! This makes so much more sense now.

[Captain Obvious]

funny how things go. I started this thread some time ago and for reasons beyond my control I had to put my dinghy building on hold. (sold our house, travelled around australia by Caravan). I got so close, one final coat of hull paint. The mast although glued etc still needs shaping and the sprit needs to be shaped as well. I started working on the mast and sprit today and thought I would google to see sprit dimensions as my plans are in storage still. My search brought me to this thread which was great to read again thanks for all the input, comments and pictures. I am determined to get my boat finished and will post some pics etc once done. I am currently renovating a house so it will have to be done between other jobs.

[Vinny]

Has anyone built one of these using foam and carbon fiber with vacuum bagging? I’m wondering if you could build it a bit lighter.

[AMFE]

I haven't seen anything on the web of anyone building with those materials. I am tempted to build my second one out of aluminum. I think it would dramatically reduce build time.