Chesapeake Light Crafts Labor Day sale includes major discounts on the PT 11 and PT SPEAR kits and their options.
Check it out if you have been waiting for a price break.
Visit PTWATERCRAFT.COM to learn more
As of today, June 3rd 2024, this PT 11 nesting dinghy is listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. These do not come up for sale very often. This boat is nicely built, lightly used, includes sailing options and oars. For someone who can pick it up in Washington State. Click the image to visit the full listing, see more pictures and contact the owner.
When sailing, if you feel resistance on the tiller, check to see if the rudder is completely down or if you have caught kelp or other debris. Keeping the threads in the knob clean and greased is important. The threads in the knob are brass and the pin is stainless steel so it will corrode. A bit of maintenance will insure the knob does its job and keeps the rudder down.
The outhaul (asymmetric) snap hook clips into the clew and the outhaul line should be snugged through the v-cleat on the boom:
When adventuring or in fluky winds, we carry our oars with the oarlocks in the forward sockets and the handles tucked under the bow as shown above.
Notice
Port Townsend Watercraft will not be shipping out anything during the month of April, 2024
This includes sailing rig drop shipments, print books, bumper, Delrin turndogs, and fillet sticks. Dinghy kit sales are through Chesapeake Light Craft and not affected by this notice.
Ashlyn, the one who prints the labels and keeps track of it all will be out of town for the month of April. While away, Russell will be building PT 11 sailing rigs along with other projects on the bench. Sailing rigs on order will be shipped starting in May.
If you order our print books or small items from our website after March 29th, they will be delayed. Alternatively, the books are available on other online book sites including Amazon. Wooden Boat Store in Maine carries them as do several outlets in Port Townsend, including Admiral Ship Supply, Edensaw Woods, and Duckworks Boat Building Supplies.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Every year we make a point of sailing in the Shipwrights Regatta in Port Townsend Bay. This event has a special history and purposefully invites our marine trades professionals to put their tools down for a day and remember why we do what we do by playing on the water.
When we first entered the PT 11, we were by far the smallest boat. Not classified as a racing dinghy and of course, unable to compete with the 505s or Thunderbirds, we entered in the Cruising class. Sometimes that meant a single start in C-class of our 11 feet and up to 40 foot boats and more. Some times the C class has enough boats to divide it into 2 starts of under 30ft and 30ft plus.
As boat ownership has become more financially challenging for the working class and many of our retired marine trades people, the boats many of us own have become smaller and more often trailerable. While the economic realities of this change are frustrating, it has also meant that a larger number of smaller boast are sailing in the local regattas. The PT 11 might still be the smallest boat in the Shipwrights Regatta fleet but we are amidst more similar company which makes for some nail biting finishes!
My 2024 Shipwrights Regatta video features many of the other C-class boats as we sailed around waiting for our start. I was having trouble making my gloved fingers find the right buttons on our little waterproof Olympus and it was too chilly not to wear gloves. Several times I thought I hit record only to see recording start after I thought I had ended my shot. I gave up and just had fun.
The Port Townsend Sailing Association has posted photos from several of us who shared them and Chance Bates created a really well produced video. He got a fun clip of us at the start line as we realized somewhat late that the horn had blasted 'go!'. I did not have a reliable time piece handy. I need to work on that if we plan to race more.
Follow the links to see both videos and photos. We will soon post about sailing the PT 11 with more detailed instructions on set up and use.
Find discounts throughout the store from kayaks and canoes to sailboats and rowing craft, paddleboards to powerboats, even Teardrop Campers and ProKits. All of our complete kits and wood-parts-only kits are marked down. Most carry discounts up to 10%. This sale won't last long, so get on board now for the best prices! Through Tuesday, February 20th.
Savings on complete kits:
- $400 off PT ElevenKit
- $379 off Peeler SkiffKit
- $313 off Southwester DoryKit
- $300 off PeapodKit
- $271 off Tenderly 10 DinghyKit
- $235 off microBootleggerKit
- $219 off Expedition WherryKit
- $205 off Night HeronKit
- $150 off Petrel SGKit
- $160 off Wood Duck 12 Hybrid Kit ... and more great deals!
* Update to this article: We have received positive feedback on a product called Tef-gel, used by riggers and boaters for the purposes of anti-galling and anti-corrosion in marine environments. We have not yet figured out how to get mini quantities into kits cost effectively but there are small-ish versions available in your local chandlery or online.
The PT 11 Nesting Dinghy Connective system is unique and it makes up a decent portion of the cost of the kit. After roughly 200 PT 11's sold to date, there have been very few issues with this connective system. In this article we are aiming to share some lessons learned about these parts based on customer feedback and experience.
A brief description
Our key to easy and fast assembly (of the two hull-halves) is to separate the two main functions of aligning the two halves and joining them. The alignment hardware is molded from carbon fiber, but it is robust and affordable for us to produce.
The connective hardware, used to join the two hull halves as they are correctly registered by the alignment hardware, are CNC-machined from 316 stainless steel.
This hardware consists of threaded sockets bonded into the forward half of the hull, and sockets with threaded pins and knobs bonded into the aft half; these parts are pre-positioned in the structure. Clip rings ride on the pins to make them captive, and this system allows assembly of the boat in the water without leakage.
The manual instructs builders to keep the stainless parts clean throughout the process of gluing and painting the boat. It is after the boat is finished that we instruct builders to lightly grease their hardware.
Here is where some additional explanation is needed.
A few customers have had a pin get stuck at some point in the completion of their boat. The why of this has been a challenging topic but when it happens, it is terrifying for us as well as for the builder and can be costly to remedy.
According to Wikipedia, "Galling is caused by a combination of friction and adhesion between the surfaces, followed by slipping and tearing of crystal structure beneath the surface.[2] This will generally leave some material stuck or even friction welded to the adjacent surface, whereas the galled material may appear gouged with balled-up or torn lumps of material stuck to its surface. Galling is most commonly found in metal surfaces that are in sliding contact with each other. It is especially common where there is inadequate lubrication between the surfaces."
Why and What to DO:
So, the question is why do the pins sometimes seize and what do we do about it?
The why is a bit of a mystery to all of the experts. One recently seized after it had been greased, so it's not just the lack of grease. We could also change the material of just the pin but hundreds of these have worked fine in all stainless steel.
Tight clearances are probably the cause, but we think we need the snug fit in both the forward and aft sockets to keep the hardware aligned when it's being installed. We are opening up the tolerances a bit on the next run of hardware, but it looks like the best insurance is going to be using a never-seize style of grease, applied after your boat has been finished (to keep grease from screwing up your painting and finishing).
It seems that the seizing is mostly happening at the tail end of the building process, so apply Never-seize * when re-installing the hardware after finishing. Clean the sockets and pins and apply a tiny bit (with a skinny stick of similar) in the threaded sockets and in the aft sockets and rub a little bit on the shiny part of the pins.
If you feel anything like seizing when assembling your boat, STOP. Is there misalignment? If you back out the rest of the pins, will the problem pin loosen up? Do your epoxy shims under the alignment clips need to be block sanded down just a bit? Are the outside edges of your alignment clips contacting the bulkhead edges?
If a pin feels stuck, remove the knob using two wrenches; 14mm and/or 9/16" to remove the knob, nuts and washer.
Put two nuts together on either end of the pin and tighten them together very tightly with the wrenches. (photos below)
Stand the hull half on end so that a bit of penetrating oil * can be applied and run down into the socket. Now try tapping and banging on either end with a hammer and wrenching on the end with the double nuts. Remember that the pin can only be removed from the socket in the forward direction because of the captive pin clip.
Still stuck? Get in touch with us.
If the pin leaves any roughness or scoring on the inside of the socket, that can be removed with a custom tool. Here's how:
Take a short piece of 3/8" dowel, chuck one end up in your drill, wrap sandpaper around the other end, hit the trigger and sand the dowel down until it fits loose enough in the socket that you can wrap some fine (400 or finer grit) sandpaper around the dowel and have it just barely fit in the socket. The sandpaper can be spray glued and rolled tightly on the dowel before using it to sand away any and all burrs and roughness. Finishing with an even finer paper is probably a good idea.
Spray-glue a bit of sandpaper to a flat stick to remove burrs from the pin before cleaning, applying the never-seize, and re-assembling the hardware.
We continue to work on this and may update this blog in the near future as we learn more. You can download a PDF of this post HERE: PT 11-Connective Hardware Blog 2023
Ashlyn & Russell Brown
Customer comments:
When building I felt a little stickiness as I assembled my fasteners. I backed them out and applied a bit of lube. Even mold release wax should do the trick. I would guess that's what I used. A wipe with a paper towel.
Tefgel is great stuff. As is moly anti seize. Any of these can be applied and cleaned off by wiping. Enough will remain. When wiping make sure the bottom of the threads has lubricant. I use paper towels and put my fingernail in the thread to wipe well. You do not need to see the lubricant for it to work.
Galling is subtle but can be felt as it happens. It is a grinding crunchy feel as you turn the screw. If you feel that stop! Relieve any load on the fastener you can and back it out.
As well, a tap or die can be used to clean up galled threads. With lubricant of course for cutting.
Wd40 is not great here as it eventually evaporates.
Our friends at Chesapeake Light Craft will soon be heading west for the Madison WI, and Port Townsend, WA boat festivals. This is a great opportunity to save on shipping!
Save a bunch of money on shipping! Give us a call and we'll bring your big, heavy stuff with us for pickup in Madison and Port Townsend. Boat kits, big heavy items like rowing units, oars, even small orders of plywood, stuff that can be difficult (and expensive) to ship. Boat kit orders are due by August 16 so we have time to cut, pack, and stow in the rig. This offer's only good until space runs out. Call us today!