Boatbuilding Classes
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Build Your Own Rowing or Sailing Dinghy

Location: Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, California
Dates: Monday, January 15, 2024 - Friday, January 26, 2024

This Class in Sausalito, CA, is offered by the Spaulding Marine Center;

for registration and class inquiries, please call 415-332-3179 ext 2 or email [email protected]

CLASS HAS FILLED!

Instructor:  Peter Brewster with additional instructor

Registrations for this class are through the Spaulding Marine Center, 415-332-3179 ext. 2 All inquiries not about boat technical details to Spaulding Marine Center, 415-332-3179

Tuition & Materials:  

• Student Tuition: $850
• Each additional student: $450
• Materials (Choose One):
• Eastport Pram: $1325
• Eastport Nesting Pram: $1585 
• Sailing Component Kit (does not include base hull kit): $1349
• Passagemaker Dinghy (details coming soon)
• Skerry (details coming soon)

Other Considerations:

• Tools and Supplies
• Boatbuilding Class FAQs
• Accommodations

Spend your evenings building your own Row Boat! This course runs evenings, Monday-Friday from 4:00-8:00 pm. Saturday, January 20 will be an all-day workshop from 8 am - 6 pm to ensure plenty of time for your craft.

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.  The nesting version also is available to build in this class, for ultra-compact storage.

The Passagemaker Dinghy is 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 bestselling entry in our fleet of graceful build-it-yourself boat kits.  There is a take-apart version.

The Skerry is that rare boat that combines excellent rowing and sailing qualities into one attractive craft. This is the perfect boat in which to mount an expedition in protected waters, cruising from beach to beach and camping on shore. Sail when there's wind, row when there's not - you'll cover a lot of miles either way. The sprit rig is easy to handle, powerful for its size, and stows inside the hull for trailering. The hull is stable and buoyant, whether you're running in choppy seas or lifting over motorboat wakes. The skilled oarsman will savor the Skerry's smooth glide and rough-water handling. Capacity is three adults, yet you can cartop the 95-pound Skerry on anything larger than a Civic.

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.