Build-Your-Own Lapstrake Dinghy at Great Lakes Boat Building School

Take your pick of one of four popular Chesapeake Light Craft rowing and sailing dinghies to build in a class at the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, MI. www.clcboats.com/boatbuilding_classes/369.html

The Eastport Pram is one of the most popular small dinghies in the world, with more than 800 built. The Eastport Pram is a boat that is as easy and satisfying to row and sail as you can expect on such a short waterline. Used as a tender to a larger boat, or kept at a dock, it’s a near-perfect small boat. A nesting version is available for ultra-compact storage. The Passagemaker Dinghy a handy boat that can be rowed, sailed, and powered with up to three large adults, and it “nests” to take up less space. It’s easy to build but looks great and performs beautifully. A smooth glide when rowing, spirited performance when sailing, and steady handling with an outboard mark this popular entry in our fleet of graceful build-it-yourself boat kits.

With the help of the instructor, each student will assemble his or her own dinghy from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit. The hull utilizes CLC’s patented LapStitch construction method, in which stitch-and-glue techniques are used to create lapstrake hulls of traditional appearance. First, the hull planks are glued to length using scarf joints. The planks are wired together to create the hull shape, then bulkheads are inserted before the planks are neatly “welded” together with epoxy. The students reinforce the hull with fiberglass cloth and mahogany rails, then add the daggerboard trunk and seats. (The sailing rig is optional, but the class will proceed under the assumption that the boat will be used for both rowing and sailing.) As with all of our courses in which students build their own boat, this will be a busy week, so expect to spend a few evenings in the shop. By noon on Saturday you’ll have an assembled hull, ready for sanding and sailing rig.