Eastport Pram

I designed the Eastport Pram when I was very young. Age has brought me humility bordering on neurosis. Today I would approach the design brief with much more apprehension. As anyone who’s tried it can tell you, the design of a truly good dinghy is fraught. Back in 1999, I blundered ahead with a long list of tricky requirements, and whether by luck or guile, emerged with one of the good ones.

Eastport Pram kits shipped by CLC can be counted, and the completion rate is a reliably steady percentage. It’s harder to guess how many are scratch-built from plans. It’s safe to assume more than a thousand Eastport Prams are on the water in every hemisphere. Of scores of designs from my pen, this 7’9” dink is among my favorites. It does what’s asked, it’s economical and quick to build, conventionally handsome, and free of affectation. I towed one for years behind my Folkboat.

I can’t point to any single technical feature that is responsible for the design’s success. Maybe it was the decision to pump the beam out to 48 inches, making the Eastport Pram more than half as wide as it is long. Maybe it’s the shape of the rocker in the bottom, a fussy detail which determines how well the boat sails, rows, and tows. Maybe it’s the “LapStitch™” assembly scheme, combining the ease of stitch-and-glue with the looks of traditional lapstrake planking.

The interior has seats with lots of curvy edges; nice to look at, but not decorative. The interior layout encourages passengers to distribute themselves for best trim. Under sail, the seat design nudges one or two adult crew to sit in the only workable position for a tiny boat: on the bottom. (A popular seating option in dinghies is a longitudinal bench down the centerline. This makes it easy to trim the boat while rowing, but doesn’t work for sailing and makes it impossible to step to the centerline when embarking.)

The curve of the plywood-lapstrake sides fit my back perfectly when sitting athwartships on the bottom. It’s a snug and relaxing perch, maximizing righting moment under sail. Seated thus, I’ve made many of the best sailing memories of my life.

The Eastport Pram is charming and mannerly to sail, upwind and down, light air and heavy. Anyone over about 150lbs sitting on the windward side will manage easily in winds up to 25 knots or so, their weight simply overpowering the heeling moment of the rig.

The Eastport Pram’s ability to handle inshore weather has my mind wandering to beach-cruising adventures. A hundred pounds of gear in dry bags would stow neatly up forward under a canvas spray deck. Over the horizon in a boat that fits in the back of a pickup truck and stands on her transom for storage in a garage? Now, that’s yachting.

1. 42 square feet of sail is probably the sweet spot for an 8-footer. Instead of reefing you can depower by allowing a lot of twist in the sail as shown. 2. I’ve tried mainsheet tackles of all kinds, but what works best with a sail this size is a braid of thick, soft rope, led right from the boom to your hand. Google “chain sinnet” for details. 3. Oars are stowed on the rails in their locks. 4. Integrated grab handles in the transoms. I can’t believe that they are my invention, though I’ve yet to see an example pre-dating the Eastport Pram. 5. For many years, kits were shipped with the tiller laminated into an elegant curve. Bloodless economic calculus resulted in the shift to a straight tiller. 6. The daggerboard is retracted slightly on windy days. You give up a little pointing ability but reduce heeling moment, for a net gain in VMG. 7. Padded gunwales are nice, on and off the water, even if you’re not tending a mothership. 8. Watertight tanks fore and aft. 9. Plywood gooseneck on the boom had to be upgraded over the years. The lightweight original was the first thing to break in heavy air. (See the image at the very top of this page. Broken gooseneck in 25 knots of wind.)