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Building Our Own Dinghy
in a Weekend Workshop by Mary Kay Benjamin and Anthony Flores We had always flirted with the idea of building our own dinghy. One day we noticed a sign at the local YWCA: "Build Your Own Dinghy in One Weekend". A course description mentioned some details: "Bring a friend, pliers, and a pair of scissors. Begin Friday evening, and row out Sunday afternoon." After examining a sample dinghy exhibited in the Y's lobby, we decided this was it, and registered for the next session.
On the appointed day, we were instructed to go to the woodworking shop where we met our instructor, Redjeb "Reggie" Jordania, designer of the UQBAR family of superlight 7, 8, and 10-foot prams to row or sail. We were lo build the 8-foot rowing model. There were a1so two other couples who were going to build their own boat alongside us. We started work immediately, as Reggie had pre-cut all the wood to exact shape and gave each couple the pieces to their kit.
When we saw all those pieces, our hearts sank. We'd never be able to assemble these into a real boat by Sunday afternoon. But Reggie was very confident. He had run such workshops before. We just plunged into it, under his direction. The amazing thing is that in a very short time -- 2 hours -- the boat was assembled, ready to be glued. First, we chamfered the hull panels' edges, to help align them properly. In 15 minutes we were done, and the hull assembly began. This was done by threading 6" lengths of copper wire through matching, pre-drilled holes, twisting them on the outside, and then tightening the whole thing. It was very convenient to work in pairs, since as each side plank was attached to the hull, one of us could push the wire through while the other would hold the still-wobbly assembly to counteract the bending moment
It was a bit difficult to tighten the wire at the forefoot, and we could not finish bridging small gaps. But to work under the direction of a professional is reassuring: Reggie explained that small gaps there, of less than 1/4", were of no consequence, as long as they're even on both sides. These would be filled in with epoxy putty when filleting, for a 100%-strength bond. Of course, in conventional boatbuilding, it would have been unthinkable to leave those gaps. As Reggie says, epoxy is indeed kindly to the amateur boatbuilder! Since we had time left that first evening, we glued on the seat risers and the keelson. There were not enough clamps, all three dinghies being built at the same time, so we simply held the risers in position, after applying the glue, with temporary round-head screws (#6, 5/8 ") driven through the side and transom panels from the outside. No pre-drilling was necessary, as Reggie showed us: a simple pilot hole punched with an awl was enough, since the risers were only 1/2"x3/4", and bent readily to conform to the curvature. As for the keelson, it was simply laid down, centered, on the bottom panel (after applying epoxy glue, of course), and held in position with some weights. Any weights will do. Had we been building at home we could have used anything from a pot of water to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Epoxies, Fillets and Old Clothes
The evening hours had slipped by, so Reggie asked us to return the following morning bright and early, wearing clothing that could stand to become "acquainted" with epoxy, as he promised us a real messy gluing session. He also asked us to bring empty cat food or tuna fish cans, and rags, rags, and more rags.
Saturday morning we proceeded to spread an epoxy fillet over the copper wire, on the inside. We learned to mix small quantities of resin, hardener, and thickeners to a puttylike consistency, and to apply it as smoothly as po ssible. This is not easy, particularly because we had to work relatively fast: institutions such as the Y are always overheated, and the wood shop proved no exception, despite two fans. We saw first-hand how rapidly epoxy-hardening time diminishes at increased temperatures. But Reggie again reassured us. He explained that the resin hardens faster in the pot than it does once spread, and that one can always add epoxy to already hardened resin with no loss of strength. But he also noted that if you do let it harden, you’ll then have to sand it smooth, instead of just shaping it in its gooey state. Some of us proved more talented than others at fillet shaping, but we were all done, nevertheless, by noon, --with epoxy on our hands, face, clothes, and even hair, as Reggie had promised. After a thorough cleaning of tools and selves -- Dobbie pads and white vinegar are very useful for that -- we took our lunch break. The plus side of our overheated work space was that by the time we came back, the epoxy had hardened enough so that we could proceed without fear of shaking it loose prematurely. The next step was to install the seats, a straightforward process, since supports and seats were pre-cut. We had to shave a little from the forward and aft seats to make them fit. We dry-installed them first, then removed al! parts, coated matching surfaces with epoxy, and glued them in place. We went home Saturday evening quite tired -- backs really stiff from bending all day over the boat, -- but very happy. Our own dinghy was indeed well on its way to becoming the real thing, and not a dream any longer.
Finishing and Fairing
The last day of our weekend project started with snipping off the copper wire-ties and pulling out whatever pieces would come free, and then fairing the seams and rounding them on the outside. Holes and gouges were filled with epoxy, fiberglass tape was affixed over all outside seams with clear epoxy resin, and the transom doublers installed. A groove was chiseled out for the skeg; two bolts drilled through from the inside, in conjunction with the epoxy, held it in place permanently. The group adjourned for lunch, amazed at how people so different and with varying levels of skill could nevertheless work at very similar speeds!
The last steps in the afternoon were to glue on the bottom runners (to protect the boat against wear and tear while dragging it up and down a beach) and rub rails, and the boat was finished! Of course, it was still in a rough stage, but it was ready for the cosmetic work, which we did later, at home. Most people leave the boat bright, but we elected to paint it. Oarlocks and towing eye were also added at that stage. These dinghies can be modified for sailing at any time, and we plan to do so soon.  A proud amateur builder launches his home-made Uqbar 8. We spent a long and hardy season with this excellent pram. She has shown herself very sturdy indeed, as well as practical and, unless some pirate grabs her, we expect she’ll tag along for many years to come. Looking back upon that building weekend, most striking is the great amount of learning everyone acquired in that short time, and the self-confidence it instilled in us all. We were all rank beginners at boatbuilding, and would never have dared start such a project on our own. Reggie's patient step-by-step guidance was what made the session such a success. He managed to make us work very hard without seeming to, keeping al! hands in good humor and relaxed. We've since talked with others, more experienced than we were, who attended previous and subsequent workshops. They too gained a great deal from the sessions, not the least or which was time. At home, they said, they would have stretched the project over many evenings, and perhaps never even completed it. We heartily recommend an UQBAR building workshop to anyone who would like to build a small boat. but lacks experience, time, space and tools, or all of the above. We are certainly very happy we did.
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