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Why on earth would you need a tender for a 16 foot boat? The problem is that with a 8 foot tide range anchoring far enough from shore so that you don't go aground means that it is too deep to wade. Searching the web for a design that I could attack with minimium cost and which would match with my limted boatbuilding skills I hit upon the portugese dingy design. http://koti.kapsi.fi/hvartial/dinghy1/simboii.htm Not only was it simple, it could also be built in either a 6 foot or 8 foot length. I opted for the latter which, as it tunned out was much harder to build as the same cuves had to be created in a shorther length.
The real benefit of the Portugese dinghy is that it can be built from only one and a half sheets of 1/4 inch plywood, a couple of lengths of pine 1x1 and scraps sitting around in the workshop.
The Portugese dinghy complete. I added foam noodles to the gunwales, not for floatation (althought this is an added benefit) but to have a fender so the tender doesn't marr the fibreglass of the parent craft.
Dingy about half built. The design is really simple using stitch and glue fabrication. There are only 4 hull parts: 2 sides, stern and the bottom.
Dinghy with construction almost complete. The fore and aft seat allows weight to be positioned to balance either a passenger or cargo.
I chose the name Chaser for the dinghy so that when I head out the harbour with dinghy in tow it will be "Strait Rhumb with Chaser"
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