FIBREGLASS DINGHY
This is an account of how to build a fibreglass dinghy. Most people start with a mould taken from an existing dinghy as the way to produce many other dinghies. However, some others build the mould from stratch, which is a more time consuming way. The advantage of building your own mould is that you can design the dinghy shape to suit yourself. I believe there are plenty of existing dinghy shapes out there already to chose from without going to the bother of designing and building a new shape of fibreglass dinghy.
So let us assume you are looking to find a suitable dinghy to use as a mould. You can choose from traditional stem dinghies with either round bilge - in clinker or smooth carvel construction. Pram dinghies also in clinker or plywood, although most plywood pram dinghies tend to be hard chined rather than round bilged. Plywood hard chined dinghies are the easiest to construct so there are plenty to choose from advertised in your local paper or on ebay. You should consider the shape of the dinghy in two ways - ease of replicating the shape and aesthetic appeal. In other words is it going to be relatively easy to make and will you be proud of the dinghy when it is finished! For these reasons I would tend to stay away from the boxy looking hard chined pram dinghies and instead look for round bilged dinghies that are a pleasure to see out on the water. Lots of people admire traditional looking dinghies and often cannot tell the difference from a wooden or fibreglass dinghy, from a distance.
I bought a fibreglass dinghy mould from a retired boat buider, last year. I had a choice of two moulds, one 10 feet and the other for a 8 foot dinghy. I decided on the smaller dinghy mould because it would produce a dinghy that would be light enough to lift onto a car roof rack or roof bars, easily.
Pictured below are several photos of the first fibreglass dinghy produced from the mould.
You can see even with three adults and an outboard motor, the fibreglass dinghy has plenty of freeboard.
The photo below demonstrates how stable the dinghy behaves with some 14 st. bloke (me) moving around!
With three adults and an outboard motor aboard, the dinghy trim is ideal for rowing!
If you are interested in buying the fibreglass dinghy featured above, then send me an email at - dinghies98@hotmail.com
and I will contact you with a price and delivery information.
If you would like detailed, step-by-step information on how to produce a fibreglass dinghy from a mould then why not consider buying my guide.
A Guide to Building a Fibreglass Dinghy from a Mould.
In this guide you will see how to make a mould from an existing dinghy hull - with all the tips and advice you need. Once you have the mould you are then shown how to strenghten it before using it to mould the shell of your first dinghy hull. All the steps are given in detail - nothing is missed out! Photos accompany the information so you can see the progress as it happens! Every step from beginning to the finished dinghy is shown with handy tips and do's and don't explained for you.
All of this information is available for a very reasonable £4.95 including post & packaging.
So if you would like this guide please click the paypal button below.