Sunday, October 9, 2011

Sneak Preview

We have a new small sailboat taking shape in a remote workshop in rural North Carolina. It is a performance dinghy with a twist. It will be an exciting boat with a trapeze or two, or a ballast bulb can be added to the daggerboard to make a more docile small sportboat or family funboat. This is the first time that we are showing it anywhere public because it is not yet ready for plans sales. The design has taken a backseat due to pressure from other designs, so it has gone rather slowly


This hull shape was requested by my client, in preference to a simpler hard-chine or multi-chine hull form of stitch-&-glue hull construction. It is a direct development of the Didi Mini Mk3, scaled down to a smaller size.


This is a project that is suited to builders who have already built a stitch-&-glue boat or two and want to develop their skills further. It is built mostly with sheet plywood, to a shape that comes very close to those used for the latest breed of Volvo and other high performance raceboats, with a chine above a rounded bottom.


In these photos we have clamped the flat sheets to the framing on one side of the hull, to check that all fit correctly. This is a CNC kit, so we need to be sure that it goes together properly. The turn of the bilge will be skinned with two thinner layers laminated together to form a compound curve.

This first boat should be ready for the Wooden Boat Show in June 2012, at Mystic Seaport. Make plans to be there if you want to see her in the flesh.

See our design range at http://dixdesign.com .

8 comments:

  1. Looks brilliant. cant wait to see the complete boat

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cool this looks like the next boat I want to build. I will be watching closely for progress on this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I "Like" will this boat be in the Open 5.70 range?

    ReplyDelete
  4. This boat is only 4.5m LOA, so not in the Open 5.70 range.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Any more spy info on this little 4.5 Mimini? Will this just be in kit or kit and plans?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The owner took a break for a couple of months but is now working on her every weekend. I have seen some more recent photos, with the skin panels going on and looking very nice. They were only clamped to the stringers in my photos. I will make another post about her in a few weeks, with more photos.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry Nick, I forgot to answer your other question. It will be available as plans only, plans and full-size patterns or kit.

    ReplyDelete