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PT Eleven kit contents

adminNovember 11, 2011November 11, 2011Leave a comment

First and foremost, what a pleasure to meet our first builders who came to pick their kits up at our shop. I am very excited about having them build the PT Eleven and look forward to their contributions to our builder sharespot.

The process of getting a stack of kits out the door has been a lesson in economics among other things. I will write more about that soon. In the meantime, I have put together a slide show of all the things that go into the basic PT Eleven nesting dinghy kit. We hope our current builders and those to come will agree, this is a great kit and a special little boat. That's all for now...:)

PT11 Kit development

adminNovember 3, 2011Leave a comment

Wow, it has been way too long since I posted. Putting a pile of kits together for the first time has been quite a learning experience. The next round will be a lot easier. There are lots of different parts and we are putting together a photo album that I will post on the website soon. It is an impressive number of parts.

With some materials taking time to arrive before we can deliver the kits, Russell has been using that time to build the next boat. He is simplifying certain key parts about half way into the building process, mainly the structural fiberglass around the gussets that hold both ends of the boat together. Since our manual is a photo manual, the only way to get the desired photos is to build a boat. Russell notes that it is a ‘hell of a lot easier to build a boat with a manual!’ than having to write the manual while figuring out how to build it. The photos below show his progress after 5 part time days.

On a different topic, I want to thank everyone who has been filling out our survey. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us. As developers, we are not the type to crank out new designs ‘lickety split’. As may be evident, we need our time. We have also realized that it takes 2 to 3 prototypes to get it right. While we rely on the skills of some brilliant friends for various aspects of our projects, the prototypes, photos and manual text are in Russell’s solo hands. He likes it that way but it is actually a huge job when you care as much as he does about the quality of the final result. Our designs may not meet everyone’s individual criteria but he weighs very carefully, the trade-offs inherent in achieving his design goals. So thank you again for your notes and feedback. Each new survey that comes in helps us to better understand our market and to plot the best course.

Stacks of kits

adminOctober 21, 2011Leave a comment

I walked into the shop yesterday to see stacks of PT Eleven kits! Our first run finally cut. In the process of making this boat the best it can be and still buildable even for amateurs, it turns out that there are 5 different thicknesses of ply wood and some parts are cut in 3D, such as the stems. ( pictured fanned out..Russell did that.. )

It brings to point why building the PT 11 from plans would not be practical. The boat is mostly from 6mm plywood but there are various parts from 12mm, 15mm, 18mm and 24mm. Nobody would want to buy a whole sheet of each of those just to use a small part of them. There would be some costly waste involved. I do not want to say that there will never be plans or patterns for our kits but I should say that our priority is to get a line of our dinghies available as kits first and foremost. We have a few years of work on our our agenda to accomplish just that.

The first run of kits will answer many questions. The pictured stacks represent several base kits currently on order. There are lots of other things that will go into the boxes before delivery. It is a bit of an adrenalin rush and as more things arrive, and the boxes get packed, we will start breathing again and be able to review lessons learned.

PT Eleven Daggerboard Trunk Cap

adminOctober 11, 2011October 22, 2014Leave a comment

For those choosing to make their PT Eleven with the sailing option, we created a watertight cap for the dagger board trunk.
We chose G10 - Garolite in order to have a strong and stiff cap that would be as thin as possible (1/8th inch) so we could keep the profile very low and still be water tight. The dagger board trunk opening is close to the seat and the rower would actually sit over it with 2 people in the boat. Also, having a good lid is important if you would want to tow the boat.

The optional kit consists of a machined G10 Garolite cap with gasket groove & stiffener groove, gasket, mahogany stiffener, machined Garolite spacers, plastic washer, plastic tether washer, tether string, turn-dogs, and fasteners.

ptwatercraft.com — PT 11 Daggerboard Cap kit

Below you can see the cap installed.

When sailing with the dagger board down, the turn-dogs also serve to keep the board down by resistance on the aft end and looping the string over the forward one.

Sailing the PT Eleven in the San Juans

adminOctober 7, 2011Leave a comment

I finally pieced together some clips of our brief sailing opportunity in the San Juans. The breeze just did not want to pick up but it was still a lot of fun. The video is on our video's page and on our ptwatercraft channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXVLKDag95Q&feature=player_profilepage

One of these days we will have a waterproof camera and by then I might be a little better at taking video! Cheers..

Back from BC

adminOctober 2, 2011Leave a comment

We have returned from our trip to BC feeling generally refreshed. Our main goal of getting good video of the nesting dinghy was largely thwarted by successive gales and torrential rains! However, we did get a few light winds clips on our last day in the San Juans and we had some time on our trip to simply chill. Today I will post a few photos. It will take me a bit longer to sort through the video clips and put something together. One thing was for certain on this trip; wherever we went, the PT Eleven attracted enthusiastic interest. This is very exciting for us!
For those of you who have ordered your kits already, our CNC shop is scheduling a session for the plywood parts, and the connective hardware, gaskets, and other stuff are on order to complete the packages. Russell is working on the adjustments to the manual. More updates to come soon! The PT Eleven nested on the trampoline of Jzerro Vito Dumas sailed with us for most of the trip to Desolation sound. Russell and I having a leisurely sail. A row around the bay with Peter. Alex, an avid “SUP (stand up) board guy” sailing the PT Eleven. Watmo Bay.

Nesting dinghy questionaire

adminOctober 1, 2011October 1, 2011Leave a comment

Hello All, Before I update the blog with any news, I would like to invite everyone interested in the nesting dinghy series from PT Watercraft, to take a moment and fill out our questionnaire. Your input is our best guide for certain developmental decisions along the way. Many thanks! Click here to go to the questionnaire.

A great time at the festival

adminSeptember 15, 2011September 15, 2011Leave a comment

Well!!...we are recovering from a super weekend at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. We want to thank all of you who came by to see us. We were surrounded the entire time and absolutely loved it. The positive feedback was overwhelming and we thank you all. Also, being in the tent with WEST SYSTEM worked out wonderfully as people's epoxy questions could also be so expertly answered. I am posting a few images from the festival especially for those of you who did not make it and also to show the PT Eleven that was nested on a 33ft boat in the festival.

Russell & I will be away until the end of the month on an R&D trip. We will be trying the nesting dinghy out in all kinds of conditions and taking pictures and video. We will post this on the site when we return. There will be someone “in-office” to take phone calls, answer emails, and to take deposits for those of you who would like to be in line for a kit. Kits will be cut in order of deposits received and there are a few in line already. Shipping/pick-up starting mid October. Cheers, everybody! Ashlyn & Russell Brown

Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival 2011

adminSeptember 9, 2011Leave a comment

We are at the Festival. We have a booth next to the presentation stand out on the point. The PT Skiff is in the water at the dock. We hope some of you can make it over the weekend! We will be accepting orders for both kits for shipping in October. The PT Eleven will be having a few file adjustments and these need to be reflected in the manual.

I will post a couple of sailing pictures with the new rig up. We just got one chance to try it out yesterday. Worked great! Also there is all new info on the website. Still some blank spots but it will be filling in soon. Cheers to all..

PT Eleven; Nested Dimensions

adminAugust 30, 2011Leave a comment

As Promised:

These measurements were taken with the nested package laying on a flat table.

Seat tongue extends 2” past the 70” package length at the height shown.
Therefore;
Maximum package = 6ft x 4ft 2” (with bumper) 20” height at bow/stern, 17” height at bulkheads.
It fits neatly with gate closed into the 6ft bed of our Toyota truck. It also fits into the back of a Toyota 4Runner.