Nesting Expedition Dinghy

John Harris worked on the Nesting Expedition Dinghy off and on as time allowed and launched the prototype in October 2016. 

This tiny cruiser is intended for people who like exploring in small boats but don't have a big shop or storage space. Digitally downloadable plans are available below; instruction manual has not been written for this design. 

John began this design with three parameters:

What is the minimum length of a boat that will 

• sail and row well
• carry a week's worth of supplies
• allow a rig and hull form that can perform respectably on all points of sail,
• manage rough coastal conditions in skilled hands, and
• allow a single person to sleep aboard in some comfort?

John determined that a length of 10'6" (3.2m) would be enough. 

The "Nesting" function means that the bow and stern may be unbolted and stowed in the middle section. This makes it plausible to keep the boat in an apartment, as it will fit through a 32-inch (813mm) doorway. (Barely.) It also fits in John's garden shed, which was not an incidental consideration.

"It may seem odd to talk about this up front," says the designer, "But STORAGE is a huge problem for everybody. And let's just go ahead and admit to ourselves that most sailboats sit unused for long periods of time. By shrinking beachcruiser features into the smallest practical package, we've eliminated much of the guilt you'll feel when the boat sits idle. A larger boat molders on its trailer in the back yard while you fight the rainwater that collects in the tarp. Other boats siphon one's checking account while stored at a marina. But if your cruising boat is small enough to stand on end in a corner of your garage, the worst thing that happens is that it gets dusty."

Real beachcruiser features are the heart of the Nesting Expedition Dinghy, starting with the cockpit. It will accommodate a 6'3" (1.91m) sailor sleeping on the floorboards. A nylon tent is easily snapped around the cockpit coaming, giving the captain 52" (1.3m) of sitting headroom.  Leeboards, on unusually efficient cantilevered mounts, keep the cockpit clear of the clutter of a centerboard.  Oars have dedicated storage on deck. Large watertight compartments in the bow and stern will hold far more gear than one could ever carry in a backpack. A big-boat feature is a dedicated self-draining anchor well in the bow, so that the muddy anchor and rode never come near the cockpit.

100 pounds (45kg) of water ballast beneath the cockpit gives this craft stiffness under sail and stability at anchor. "Any unballasted boat this size has physics fighting comfort," John says. "An ordinary 10.5' plywood skiff is going gyrate whenever the crew shifts their weight. This may be okay for an afternoon day sail, but forget using a camp stove! The extra weight of this ballast will increase the polar moment of inertia, so that it's not exhausting to live in the thing for a few days."

Not that this boat is intended to sail over the horizon.  It's a beach-cruiser, and will be at its best hopping from cove to cove, in mostly sheltered waters. With a draft of 6" or 7", one can explore rivers and estuaries off-limits to anything larger than a kayak or canoe.

Early tests suggest a boat that is delightful to sail. Deep rocker keeps the wetted surface low and improves handling in choppy conditions. The Nesting Expedition Dinghy pops right up to hull speed and is easy to keep moving. The yawl rig, featuring a furling jib, "Solent lug" mainsail, and leg o' mutton mizzen provides numerous sail combinations to suit changing conditions, from light airs to run-for-shelter gales. The simpler (and slightly smaller) balanced-lug rig is easier to handle and will be a good choice for windy areas.

While the Nesting Expedition Dinghy is responsive and fun to sail, John provides some perspective: "I imagine you could see 5 knots in the right conditions, but this design is meant for covering distance in comfort, not winning regattas. Making 30 to 40 miles in a day is the target here, cruising at 3.5 or 4 knots for eight to ten hours. That doesn't seem all that fast until you compare it to what a backpacker can manage on the trail, which is half that, at best. And you can carry four times more gear in the boat than you can in a backpack."

Construction is straightforward, especially for someone with a bit of carpentry background. The easy-to-follow plans contain detailed 11x17 sheets with plywood layouts and measurements. Fiberglass sheathing of the hull is suggested for durability but not a requirement. "My boat acquired a yacht finish as I grew more fond of the design," John says. "But there's a case to be made for meranti plywood and porch paint if you're in a hurry." The hull is built from 6-mm and 9-mm plywood, with chine logs and sheer clamps. Spars are stock aluminum tubes.

Considerable weight and construction time are saved by eliminating the "nesting" feature; the plans show this option. This also creates a longer cockpit, for taller sailors.

Digitally downloadable plans are available below. This dinghy is a ProKits and does not have a step-by-step build manual. This is an intermediate level project, intended for people who have built a few boats and are comfortable with reading and building from plans. 

Read the full write-up on the creation of this design here.

Click here to see first impressions on sailing the boat.