Graefin 10 a Small Dinghy Made From Cardboard

Hello I made a small sailing dinghy with unusual material. I used an old plan from the website http://www.svensons.com/boat/?p=SailBoats/greafin1...

I like to use things that "fall off the truck" or nobody needs. I`ve found some sheets from 10mm cardboard with a honeycomb like structure inside. First I draw the lines and cut out the sheets. They were not long enough,so I added pieces with epoxytape to get the right size. I`ve fixed all the sheets with masking tape to check the parts for correctness. After that I started with filled epoxy to glue all the sheets,made a radius in the corners and covered it with epoxy band. In the middle I`ve used 15cm wide strong epoxy band for both sides. I don`t like to fix the sheets with wire. I`ve fixed all the sheets first with tape outside and then I could work completely inside.

The Hull is completely bedded with Polyester Cloth. This is cheaper than Epoxy. The Result is a very hard and stable Hull. Afterwards I installed the inner pieces. (Gluing a Maststep, install a small Deck,install the centerboard Case.)

For the Decksides I`ve used strips of wood and for the gap between I filled this with an extra strip of wood that the cardboard Hull is completely protected and covered.

This Dinghy has a V Bottom. I changed this to get a flat bottom for seating Comfort. I`ve thought that because I would otherwise slide every time to the middle. This was the most complicated work to get all the parts in straight line. For the bottom I`ve used old Pallets, sanded the parts and cut to the right shape. The rigg was from an old foldable Surfboard. I`ve bought this at ebay for 15€. Then it was time to try out my new Project. It was January and not the best time in Europe to get on the water especially with a new unknown boat. I`ve bought a dry suit and I added 2 Flotation tanks and some Plasticbottles under the Pallets. Sometimes Things have to be done! After installing Ruder, Sail and centerboard, I was ready for sailing. Look at the picture where you can see the timestamp.

You can see my project was successfull. As you can see, you can have a lot of fun with simple Materials and cheap parts. I`ts easy,just do it. Take a look on www, find or buy a Plan, watch out for Material and start with your Boat.

happy sailing!

Michael from Germany