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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy sailing
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy floating parts
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy
PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy Thumbnail
PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy Thumbnail
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PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy Thumbnail

PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy

Builder Testimonials

The most accomplished and capable nesting dinghy ever designed. Enough said!

  • Skill Level Intermediate
  • Estimated Build Time 200 Hours

Build this boat if...

  • You need a nesting dinghy that will store compactly on the deck of your yacht or inside your SUV
  • You are intrigued by the idea of a nesting dinghy that you can assemble while it is IN the water
  • You want a versatile dinghy that is fun to row and sail.
  • Sophisticated Design

    Nothing else like it to buy or build

  • In-Depth Manual

    Meticulous, fully-illustrated instructions

  • Superior Support

    Tech support is free and unlimited

Build Your Kit

Take One of our Boatbuilding Classes

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. Teaching sites stretch from Maryland to Washington State and from Maine to California. Click here to find out more.

Specifications

Length
11' 0"
Beam
50"
Rowing Draft
4"
Sailing Draft
24"
Sail Area
54 sq ft.
Hull Weight
90 lbs
Max Payload
518 lbs

Performance

Stability

4 out of 5
Very Tippy
Very Stable

Speed

4 out of 5
Cruiser
Racer

Cockpit Room

3 out of 5
Close Fit
Huge Cockpit

Payload

3 out of 5
Day Tripper
Freight Hauler

Ease of Construction

3 out of 5
Requires Patience
Very Easy
PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy sailing in Puget Sound in Washington State.
PT Eleven Nesting Dinghy sailing in Puget Sound in Washington State.

Overview

We're delighted to have the PT 11 Nesting Dinghy as part of Chesapeake Light Craft's stable of sophisticated and capable small boats. 

The PT 11 is not a new design, having enjoyed a decade of very careful and incremental development by Russell and Ashlyn Brown of PT Watercraft, a boat-kit company in Port Townsend, Washington. Russell Brown is a wunderkind boatbuilder, designer, and sailor with an international reputation for highly polished and thoughtfully executed wooden boats. Thus, the world took notice when Russell and Ashlyn founded their company and released a nesting dinghy that was several orders of magnitude better than anything else available. Performance is revelatory under both oar and sail

The team at PT Watercraft wants you to understand how special this design is. Thanks to an ingenious connective scheme, the two halves of the PT 11 can be rejoined to become a whole hull while they are in the water.  In the Videos section below, you will find several videos produced by PT Watercraft that show how to join and separate the two halves of the boat, how to set up the boat for sailing, and how to recover from a capsize. Another video will show you that the PT11 tows very well (provided that the daggerboard-trunk cap is secured) even when traveling as fast as 15 knots. 

Russell Brown is a perfectionist. You can see that when you watch two videos he made to demonstrate the proper way to paint with two-part Perfection paint (from Interlux).  You'll see a couple of videos from customers who were delighted with this gem. 

The PTWatercraft website includes more videos as well as descriptions, notes, blogs, and reviews about this design. 

Among the many blogs they have produced over the years, you may find these the most informative to help you determine whether the PT11 will be your next boat. These include:

A brief guide to setting up and sailing your PT 11 

PT 11 and PT SPEAR Sailing Guide 

Trouble Shooting and Maintenance

Inside PT Watercraft 

Printable Instructions Page

Other Information and Links

 

The non-nesting version of the PT11, the PT Spear, is also available from CLC as a kit.

Due to the sheer ingenuity of this design, PT Watercraft soon had as many orders for kits as they could handle. Looking to scale their business, in 2020 Russell and Ashlyn began working with John Harris and CLC to help with the manufacturing and distribution of the intricate--and intricately clever--PT 11 kit. (John and Russell last collaborated on Madness, John's 31-foot Pacific Proa.) 

CLC is now producing PT 11 kits and options. We note that all of the elegant custom kit components and hardware--part of the special sauce that elevates the PT 11 above nesting dinghies that came before--will continue to be manufactured by PT Watercraft in Port Townsend, Washington. Sailing component "kits" do not require any assembly; they arrive ready to rig right out of the box.

The PT 11 is not for everyone. First, assembling a small wooden boat with this level of performance and sophistication requires a degree of patient craftsmanship and a willingness to pay attention to the details. And these details are lucidly and logically presented in the assembly manual included with the kit. Quick-and-dirty wood butchers aren't going to enjoy the process or reap the PT 11 design's potential.

Second, a kit with the PT 11's level of detail is expensive. However, the feedback over the years is that the investment is worth every penny, both in gaining a home-built dinghy of peerless performance and in the (often startling) resale value of the finished product. 

Third, building a PT 11 is like taking a master class in epoxy skills. This is what one PT 11 builder wrote about the kit:

I would like to reiterate one point as far as the value is concerned: I've yet to float in my boat, but I'm confident it will work as designed. The money spent was worth it, just to have "taken the class" on working with epoxy, and stitch-and-glue boatbuilding, getting a sweet boat at the end is, of course, a nice bonus. The manual describes such nuance of technique I feel like an expert, despite limited experience with epoxy and 'glass. That said by a working guy on a budget." ---A.S., a builder in Vermont

Buying Options

Choose Your Boatbuilding Experience

Start your kit-building experience by selecting the option that best fits your goals. Don’t have the confidence to build on your own? No worries! Join a boatbuilding class or hire us to build a custom boat for you.

  1. Select Your Configuration

    Build From a Kit:
    Most builders will start with the Base Kit. If you plan to sail your new boat, you will also need to order the Sailing Component Kit.
    Build From Scratch:
    Source your own materials and hardware, and work from full-sized patterns.
    Build From a Wood Parts Only Kit:
    "Wood Parts Only" kit buyers have their own supply of epoxy, fiberglass, and hardware.
    Order Study Plans or Manuals:
    Like to study up a bit first? Download study plans or a copy of the assembly manual.

  2. Choose Options and Add-ons

    Additional Options

    You can choose from a range of popular options to outfit your boat, many of which are intended to ship with the Base Kit

  3. Get Building!

    Kits feature all of the latest tweaks to ease assembly, including slot-together molds, CNC-cut marine plywood cockpit recesses, and precision-milled strips.

Standard Configuration

Nearly every builder will start with the Base Kit. If you plan to sail your new boat you will also need to order the Sailing Component Kit.

Sale
$3,995.00 $3,750.00

The PT 11 Nesting Dinghy Base Kit includes: Machined Joubert...

$1,935.00

  PT 11 Nesting Dinghy Sailing Component Kit Unlike other CL...

Alternative Configurations

We also offer the Wood Parts Kit as a stand alone option. Typical wood parts only kit buyers have an existing or ready supply of their own epoxy, fiberglass, and hardware.

$639.00

PT 11 Foils KitThis option includes a machined daggerboard an...

$49.00

This is the PT11's current assembly manual, with more than 30...

Additional Options

The Sail Upgrade or our Line and Cordage Package are popular choices for many of our builders.

$269.00

We have developed a custom-extruded-EPDM section to be used a...

$175.00

Made with fabric that breathes, dries fast, is soft to the to...

$55.00

This kit has eight mahogany braces that are cut with their en...

$75.00

$47.00

Videos

PT11 - Kim's Port Townsend 11' Sailing / Nesting Dinghy

Assembling the PT ELEVEN

Setting up the PT11 for sailing

Overboard practice in the PT 11

Capsizing the PT11 Under Sail

Tow Test the PT11 Nesting Dinghy

PT11 Halves by Eliot Shanabrook

Painting with Perfection Two-Part LP

PT11 Glosscoat Timelapse 1

EP Carry on the PT 11 dinghy

Tally Ho's remarkable new sailing dinghy

70 miles in TALLY HO's dinghy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I order this kit?

Click on the Buying Options tab the top left of this page and follow the directions.

Can you really separate and reattach the two halves of the PT 11 while they are in the water?

Yes. The key to the nesting PT11's easy and fast assembly is to separate the two main functions of the assembly operation: (A) alignment of the two halves, and (B) bolting them together securely. The custom alignment hardware is molded from carbon fiber. The custom connective hardware, used to join the two hull halves as they are correctly registered by the alignment hardware, are CNC-machined from 316-grade stainless steel.

How much do the two hull sections of the PT11 weigh when separated?

The weight is fairly evenly distributed between the two halves. Each half of a completed PT11 weighs roughly 45 lbs (20.5kg).

How choppy can it be while assembling the PT11 on the water?

Use common sense. In calmer conditions and mild chop, you can launch each half and assemble the PT11 in the water. Don’t assume you could assemble this dinghy in the water, in a gale, if the mothership is sinking. Otherwise, assemble the boat on deck and either fashion a rope bridle and use the halyard to lower the boat as you would other dinghies, or ease it over the mothership’s gunwale manually, stern first into the water.

Does the PT11 have reserve flotation?

There are three flotation compartments in the PT11, one in the bow and two in the stern. (If you elect to use a motor, these compartments must be filled with foam and cannot have access ports.) There is a large storage compartment aft of the mast step.

Can I put an outboard on the PT11?

Well, yes. But . . . the designer of the PT11, Russell Brown, will state that he is anti-outboard for this boat. “A good rowboat is not typically a good motor boat.”

Nevertheless, the PT11 can be used with a small outboard. A 2-hp outboard has plenty of power to motivate this lightweight dinghy. It is also the maximum size allowed by US Coast Guard regulations. Lighter electric motors are encouraged. Russell and Ashlyn Brown have has used the EP CARRY electric motor on the PT 11 with success. They modified the EP CARRY’s original mounting bracket so it fit over the inwale of the PT 11. Video of their test of the EP CARRY in the San Juan Islands.

Are there any other rigging options for the PT11?

Not at this time. The rig, as developed, would be difficult to improve. PT Watercraft's sailing rig includes a 2-part carbon mast, a carbon boom, all associated hardware and running rigging, a sail, and a storage bag. The rig is extremely lightweight (10-1/2lbs, 4.8kg), and quick to set up. The spars for the PT11 are custom-made in the USA; the hardware is by Harken, Ronstan, and Allen.

Does the PT11 tow well behind a larger vessel?

Towing the PT 11 in calmer weather or at lower speeds creates no drag compared to heavier dinghies. While towing, make sure the connective hardware is securely tightened, the daggerboard trunk cap and the hatch are well dogged down, and the painter is pulling from the tow eye at the stem and not the breasthook. As a very lightweight dinghy (one of its main features) it is going to jump in rough conditions and at higher speeds, as in our test video below. Of course, a nesting dinghy will ride happily on deck for more serious passages. We put the PT 11 through the ringer in this tow test.

What is the PT11's payload?

USCG Safe Capacity Rating for the PT11 is 4 people or 518 lbs. Total of 600lbs Persons, Motor & Gear.
Here's a fun load-test video.

Can I build a PT11 in a CLC class?

Alas, no. The PT11 assembly sequence does not lend itself to the usual 5-1/2-day class format.

How long will it take me to build a PT11?

Builders have different work habits, available time, and workspace conditions. Expect 190-300 hours. Ideally, PT11 builders have time to enjoy the project and admire their accomplishments. A comfortable pace, in our estimation, would be to allow yourself at least 3 months of part-time work. Detail work at the end of the project can eat up time, but it’s the details “that make the boat,” right?

How much woodworking experience do I need to build a PT11?

The most valuable single piece of the kit is the building manual. We don’t encourage people without hand tool experience to build the PT 11, but the manual allows someone with no epoxy or boatbuilding experience to build a really good boat.

Will a plans-only version be available for the PT11?

No. The PT11 was designed from the start as a kit boat and relies upon CNC-cut slots, tabs, scribe marks, and alignment notches for easy and accurate assembly. There are no fewer than five different thicknesses of marine plywood to optimize the strength-to-weight ratio, a challenge to replicate if building from scratch.

Can you send me the plans digitally?

Sorry, but until digital rights management technology for marine architectural work catches up to that used for books and music, we are unable to transmit digital plans. Currently, only study plans and manuals can be sent digitally.

Classes

Take One of our Boatbuilding Classes

We offer classes for many of the boats we sell. Teaching sites stretch from Maryland to Washington State and from Maine to California. Click here to find out more.

View Classes

Need Help Building it?

We’re here to help with any questions you might have during the build process.

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