Small-boat snobs, take heart. A census of any marina will reveal hundreds of large auxiliaries sitting idle most weekends, while easy-to-use kayaks and canoes are proliferating. Are very small sailboats the next big thing? A friend of mine with a serious cruising sailboat confided that lately, most movements of his boat are in the service of reaching a protected creek or harbor where his young family can deploy a fleet of kayaks and sailing dinghies.Tiny sailboats offer ridiculous fun in proportion to their cost. For my purposes, “tiny” means “light enough to lift on top of my car even when I’m tired.” The lightest 15-footer requires some muscle to manage on and off the water; 8-or 10-footers require almost none. If I’m tired I won’t consider doing the trailer dance with a 15-footer, much less getting my 6,000-lb Folkboat under way.At about 9' and 75 lbs, Karl Stambaugh’s Weekend Dinghy is in my “tiny sailboat” sweet spot. An adult of average strength can cartop it on anything with roof racks. If you have a pickup truck or van, it takes seconds to slide a little flat-bottomed skiff like this into the back for transport. With Karl out of town I had a chance to test this. He left the boat in his yard for me; I lifted the boat by the center thwart and swung it onto my shoulder for the 15-yard walk to my Ford Econoline van. I lowered the stern to the ground, propped the bow on the floor of the van, and slid the boat in. It took about 40 seconds. With practice, there’d be smoother choreography and less danger to my back or the boat’s finish. The cargo van swallowed the 9' dinghy whole, the bow just reaching the front seat.
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That is a very pretty little boat. What is the reason for having two locations to step the mast?
Hi Clifford. I believe it is because two different sail configurations are specified.
1. 33-sq-ft leg-o’-mutton
2. 37-sq-ft sprit sail
Depending on each sail and where the center of effort (COE) is, it probably requires a different location.
Hi. Is there a full set of building plans available for this little Weekend Dinghy? If so, what is the cost including postage to the UK?
There’s a book, Good Skiffs by Karl Stambaugh, with plans.
hello, the plans are no longer in existence at the good skiffs. is there a possibility to still find this at any other place?
Hi Miguel, Karl Stambaugh’s book Good Skiffs, includes plans and step-by-step instructions on how to build the Weekend Dinghy. It appears that the book is no longer be in print, but I have found multiple used copies on line.