June | 2014 | Port Townsend Watercraft BLOG

Launchings for 2nd quarter 2014

adminJune 30, 2014

I am always happy to show off new boats from our family of builders. I am also so very impressed with the beautiful work everyone has done. Here are some pictures from this Spring.

206 Composites’ Simon Miles, here in Port Townsend, has had 3 PT11 projects in progress. One of these was just launched on June 25th. Simon was a student at the NW School for Wooden Boat Building when Russell taught a class while building the first PT Skiff prototype in 2009. He now runs his own business after working on some very high tech boat building projects including the BMW/Oracle America's cup boats, sailboat rudders,carbon bicycle wheels, and submarines. simonmiles206 at gmail.com

ptwatercraft.com — 3 PT 11 dinghies in progress at 206 composites

Hired builder, Simon miles of 206 Composites, in Port Townsend.

Bob in BC launched his PT 11 this Spring.
“Attached a photo of the first nesting, it fit perfectly.

"The paint is not the final, it will eventually be red, but needed the boat some it will be prime grey for a bit. I used System 3 water basted epoxy primer and it worked well and seems very hard, it will be tested this summer.
I did not clear coat the interior and will decide whether to clear coat or paint next year. Added strips of no-skid to the bottom panel by taping a few strips and adding non-skid grit from Interlux to some epoxy . It works very well and is not obvious.
Rows beautifully and my 100 lb wife and I can load it in the truck easily. Should fit will on the nets of my F31 trimaran."

A PT 11 just launched in Florida. Here showing the first ‘in-water’ assembly practice.

Family fun on a PT 11 in the Bahamas: Seeing these young gents sailing around put a big smile on my face..

ptwatercaft.com — So much more fun than video games!

The latest from SV Skye / PT11 nested on the cabin top of the Lyle Hess 32, Skye.

B and D Boats (banddboats at gmail.com) in Boothbay Maine just finished a PT 11 for a customer.

Another PT 11 just ready for launch in Renton, WA and another in Sonora CA. If we don't have pictures now, we will share them next time.

Last but not least, a couple of pictures from the launching of our new PT11 /2014.

Production notes

adminJune 30, 2014

Growing Pains

Things have come a long way since we first started producing kits. We have put a lot of effort into making production more efficient and timely. The current kits contain parts that require less fitting and fiddling. We have refined the kit, and the manual.
One thing we have maintained is the stance that a really good nesting dinghy is a complex boat and the PT 11 is a really good nesting dinghy. In order to offer it as a kit that even an amateur can build, we have had to take the idea of ‘kit’ to a new level. Some have asked why our kits are more expensive than the average kit boat of comparable size. Others who have bought and built our kits have said that we do not charge nearly enough. Their praise has been high for the content, instructions, accuracy, attention to detail, and overall quality of the kit and resulting boat. While kits are not exactly flying out the door in mass quantities and we are not getting rich, we are not complaining. We stand by our custom products and personalized service, and we feel that we have a special family of PT11 and PT Skiff owners, who have expressed great pleasure in both building and using their boats.

Not all feedback is praise....

...given the fact that we have forgotten to pack a part on occasion. This featured comment, in all it’s sarcastic humor, is a prime example...

"I found a small glitch in your packing. Nothing major: the installation of the dagger board cover calls for two washers (under the dogs, I think). Without them the dogs are too low with the gasket in place.... Through an outrageous and abject failure in your quality control, none were included. 😉
I know I can source nylon washers locally, even though that will put me far over budget. I thought I'd touch base and ask about specs: is there anything special other than serving as a spacer and friction control for these washers? Are any of the dimensions particularly important? Are you going to spank Russell? " J.W. June 2014.

On the flip side, builders take heed..

“man’s best friend” has been known to find kit parts to be yummy chew toys. Keeping parts in your crate with the lid on until needed keeps out both excess dust and curious ‘Fido’. I know it is nice to have company in the shop but there are lots of bite sized bits in our kits. We use a detailed packing list when filling the crates and if we checked it off, we put it in. (granted, sleep deprivation can interfere from time to time..) In most cases, we will replace lost pieces free of charge so do let us know if it just cannot be found..(along with a photo of your orderly shop space!...just kidding... 😉 Seriously though, there are a lot of small parts in our kits that need to be kept together in a safe container and we know of at least one 5 axis shaped inner stem that was definitely lost to the shop dog.

Nesting, Nester, Nestable..

adminJune 19, 2014June 26, 2014

The PT 11 is known as a “nesting dinghy” and while many people know what that means, many again, do not. It is easy to explain that the boat can be separated into two parts, and the bow half ‘nests’ in the aft half, making it possible to own a relatively large dinghy that will store in a relatively small space, such as, on the deck of your boat. I had assumed that the term “nesting dinghy” referred to exactly that. In our circle of boats and dinghies, it does, but is it the right term?

The internet provides lots of definitions that all begin with the base word NEST. My 4” thick Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines “nest” in the 9th definition as,”to fit or place one within another”... Or the 12th: “ to fit together or within another or one another..” This definition works until I get asked if it means that one or more of our dinghies stack well. The fact that the dinghy comes apart into two ‘nestable’ parts, is left out of the equation. The word “nesting” is not even in this big dictionary. It is online and I kind of like this one lonley meaning for the word even if it is related only in an abstract manner ;
nesting
— adj, nesting (ˈnɛstɪŋ)
— n
the tendency to arrange one's immediate surroundings, such as a work station, to create a place where one feels secure, comfortable, or in control.

I have also had people ask me about our “nester”. Looking up the definitions for this was interesting. In my big old dictionary, “Nestor” is the wisest and oldest of the Greeks in the Trojan War. In the urban dictionary online however, see this screen shot:

But that is nestor with “or” and I usually get “nester” with “er”. “Nester” is not in my dictionary but it is online and not exactly fitting. Look at the urban dictionary definition too. This was new to me! You can be sure I will refrain from casually using the word “nester” when talking about our beautiful dinghy. 😉

Urban definition:

I think, after this belated study on this terminology when related to the PT 11, we can settle on something closer to the following: The PT Eleven is an 11 ft, two part dinghy with nestable parts that store in a 6ft by 4ft 2 inch by 20 inch space.

You probably know where to find more info on our PT Eleven nestable dinghy kit and if not, click HERE.

Have you seen our Youtube channel?

Thank you for following! PTW 😉
More NEST definitions. (I deleted the bird and insect references...)
nest
noun
...
4.
a snug retreat or refuge; resting place; home.
5.
an assemblage of things lying or set close together, as a series of boxes or trays, that fit within each other: a nest of tables.

verb (used with object)
8.
to settle or place (something) in or as if in a nest: to nest dishes in straw.
9.
to fit or place one within another: to nest boxes for more compact storage.
verb (used without object)
...
11.
to settle in or as if in a nest.
12.
to fit together or within another or one another: bowls that nest easily for storage.
...
Origin:
before 900; Middle English, Old English (cognate with Dutch, German nest; akin to Latin nīdus nest, Old Irish net, Welsh nyth, Sanskrit nīḍa lair) ≪ Indo-European *nizdo- bird's nest, equivalent to *ni down (see nether) + *zd-, variant of *sd-, ablaut variant of *sed-, v. base meaning “sit” (see sit) + *-o- theme vowel

Related forms
nest·a·ble, adjective
nest·er, noun
nest·like, adjective
nest·y, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2014.

PT11 2014 and updates

adminJune 17, 2014June 16, 2014

We recently finished our sixth (yes, sixth) PT 11 prototype. This was to incorporate a few design changes and re-write much of the manual in an effort to make the boat easier to build. Building this many boats can lead to some labor saving ideas and we felt that we needed to do our best to make this, “kind-of-high-tech” boat as easy to build as possible.

In the last related blog post we detailed some of the changes we have made to the boat. Everything worked well, the new manual is done, and kit parts are stacked to the ceiling and ready to fly out the door.

Relevant details even if you already have a PT11;
We have a few new details to share. Most are in the new manual but could be useful for people that already have PT 11’s.
The back seat had two issues: One is that the seat needed a way to be held against the tank wall when nesting the boat. For some reason we never realized that if we trimmed 1/4” off of the aft edge of the seat (it’s now 7” wide), it could wedge between the cleat and the shock chord knot as shown below. It’s secure enough not to fall over when nesting the boat and that’s all it needs.

The other issue is that the back seat could slide forward, (even with the bunji cord) come off the cleats, and drop you on your butt.
The fix is pretty simple. We trimmed a bit from the outboard edges of the seat with a sanding block (to move the seat aft) and we block sanded the forward corners of the seat as shown, all so that there was enough cleat showing to drill holes in. We then drilled 1/4” holes to a depth of 3/8” for the 5/8” long hardwood dowels to glue into.
This works well, it’s an easy fix, and if you already have a boat, we can send the dowels to you along with the handy-dandy tether washer we shown below.

We have always kept our dagger-board trunk cap in the forward compartment, but it can be hard to find in there if it’s full of stuff. It’s easy to glue a tether into a hole drilled in the cap, but where to tie the tether? To the washer under the forward turn dog, that’s where.
It’s a special washer made for us by a neighbor who laser cuts other parts for us as well. This is a thin Delrin(TM) part, but we had a very hard time breaking one.
Replace the round washer with this one and rotate the washer aft for fishing the tether through the hole.

Holding the dagger-board down has always been done with a rope loop that can hook over the aft turn dog, but having the loop fairly snug (as shown below) keeps the board down all the way.

Having the board down fully will make the boat climb like a 12 meter when sailing upwind and it will also help you run aground. No, what I meant is that it will help if you run aground.

We hit a rock very hard and not only did it nearly throw us out of the boat, but the sharp trailing edge of the board hit the aft end of the trunk (because the board was up about four inches) and did a small amount of damage to the trunk. The dagger-board was fine, but we now sail with the dagger-board down all the way or we unhook it and let it float up (about a third of the way).

RB PTW