December 24, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in ALL

Winter season update

A bit of snow in Port Townsend and things slow down a lot and, like so many, we too saw some record low temps for this area. For Christmas Eve we are back to wind and rain and all is green again around our house, the Salal and conifers having shed their blanket of white.

We wish everyone a safe and warm Winter holiday season and a bright New Year. We are super grateful to everyone building the PT 11 and all of the good folks who participate in the production of our kits, who offer our books, and all who have shared their enthusiasm and friendship. The PT 11 has played a key role in expanding our circle of interesting and valued relationships. As a business, it hardly gets better than that.

Did you see Leo’s look at choosing a dinghy featuring the PT 11 nesting dinghy?

In 2023, Chesapeake Light Craft will be adding the PT SPEAR one piece version of the PT 11 to their kit offerings. We made minor changes to the design and are doing a major update to the manual. The change simplifies the building of this boat. If nesting is not a critical feature for your purposes, you get the lines and the performance of the PT 11 in the PT SPEAR without all of the complexity of building a boat to cut in half.

Russell has made a lot of progress on the Tortured Plywood hulls as part of a future trimaran and he has learned a lot about this esoteric boat building method.

He has also been helping out Leo on the Tally Ho project.

In January, we expect a whack of carbon tubes from Innovative Composites Engineering and a load of sails. Russell will be busy building sailing rigs into February.

Shipping and postage have really gone up this last year. For those outside of the USA who are interested in our EPOXY BASICS, SCARFING BASICS, and PAINTING PERFECTION print books, you may get better shipping on Amazon or the Bookdepository.com

For our US customers, you can find our books and many others by friends and family on our books page. We ship single books US First Class mail and for multiple books we can ship Priority or Media mail.

Looking forward to 2023, Thank you again. We hope everyone can stay warm and healthy into the New Year. Joy to All. AEB 😉

Tags: boat kits dinghies epoxy and wood boats

October 31, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in For Sale, kit options

Self Bailer for dinghy or canoe

A PT 11 builder wrote to ask if I know of

…any rower/kayaker/dinghy sailor who might be interested in a pair of auto-bailers. I bought them for my Penguin racing dinghy about 60 years ago and never installed them, so they are still like new, with instructions, installation templates, and mounting fasteners as purchased. Here is a link to photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xNgb9dsUhUqVrqAD7

Mine were branded “Falcon.” Almost exactly the same item is sold by various marine stores, branded “Anderson,” for ~$60 to $80 each today. I would like to be paid $60 for my pair, or best offer.

Contact ptwatercraft @ Gmail.com to be connected to the seller located in Davis California.

October 12, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in ALL, Events, Nesting Dinghy

PT 11 at the Annapolis Sailboat Show

Chesapeake Light Craft will have a PT 11 on display at this weeks Annapolis Sailboat Show.

Click the image below to learn more!

https://www.annapolisboatshows.com/united-states-sailboat-show/

October 10, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in ALL, instructional, Nesting Dinghy, Nesting Dinghy Activities

Wow! The PT 11 on Tally Ho

Leo, of Sampson Boat Co / Tally Ho rebuild project, has featured the PT 11 prominently in one of his excellently produced videos. We are a little floored by the feature and yes, very grateful. He surely would not have made such a great video (we think all of his videos are great) if he wasn’t happy with his PT 11 and that makes us happy indeed. Thank you Leo!

PT Watercraft maintains an informational website about the PT 11 and the PT Spear and we are available to answer inquiries. Kit orders and kit production is now managed by Chesapeake Light Craft. We still sell our books, various small parts, and serve our pre-CLC customers directly. Sailing Rig production remains in our workshop in Port Townsend.

Leo’s video also shows how one person can manage the dinghy from vehicle to beach launch. This is something we got asked about a lot but never managed to film so this is an important addition to the PT 11 videos already online. In case you have not already seen it, click on the image below.

If you are unaware of the Tally Ho videos, we recommend you start from the beginning and subscribe. Leo is a brilliant videographer. This skill greatly compliments his knack for explaining the processes of rebuilding this historic sailboat. Even more valuable in my opinion, is that he is documenting the evolution of learning things as you go that influence how such a project evolves, while showcasing the many skills, tools, materials, and talented people it takes along the way. The videos are educational, entertaining, and very inspiring. AEB 😉

September 1, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in kit options

Hope to see you at Wooden Boat Festival!

PT Wooden Boat Festival time again! September 9-12. The PT 11 will be displayed at the Chesapeake Light Craft booth on “THE POINT” near WEST SYSTEM and the Wee Nip. We hope to see you there! AB 😉

Recent PT 11 sightings

July 26, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in kit options

PT Festival PT 11 kit pick up- Order by August 12th

Chesapeake Light Craft is offering to bring your PT 11 kit to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival happening September 9-11, 2022. If you are regional, plan to attend the festival, and have been wanting to get a PT 11 kit but balked at cross country shipping, now is a good opportunity to order.

To take advantage of this deal, which only lasts until the truck is filled, you must call in your order to 410-267-0137, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern.”

And here is a link to our page with all of the fine print:

https://www.clcboats.com/boatbuilding-news-events/free-kit-delivery-to-port-townsend.html

See my favorite customer video!

ptwatercraft.com — Lil’ B, Pato, and Rascal

July 2, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in kit options

CLC kits sale through July 5th

In case you were not aware, this July 4th, 2022 weekend, Chesapeake Light Craft is having a store wide sale and that includes the PT Eleven nesting dinghy kit. Click image below to learn more.

May 31, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in ALL, instructional, kit options, Nesting-PT 11 updates, Nesting-PT11 Construction

PT 11 Foils kit 2022

As previously mentioned, 2020-21 was largely spent reviewing our production process. Another redesign included the PT 11 foils kit. We took our ideas to Paul Bieker of Bieker Boats for his expertise with foil design. The new foils are thinner, using 18mm Birch plywood instead of 24mm Okoume. The Birch plywood is more dense, chosen for its strength at this thickness and not for it’s looks. The machined birch plywood is not as handsome for clear coating as the Okoume but we are quite pleased with the overall change.

Modifying the foils kits affected many other parts of the kit, so those changes are are reflected in a total rewrite of the foils manual and changes in the boat itself (the daggerboard trunk is narrower, etc).

Machining the daggerboard and rudder from high-grade plywood is a good way to produce very efficient and relatively light foils. The process is far from easy though. It has taken much trial and error and a very good CNC programmer (Turn Point Design) to come up with the final product. The price of this foils kit reflects quite a lot of machine time for each set.

Left, the Okoume daggerboard blank. Right, the Birch Daggerboard blank

PT 11 Rudder before AfterDSC_9001 — Rudder blanks using Okoume on the left and Birch on the right.

Fore-shortened image showing the NACA foil shape with lines of tape.

PT 11 foils 2022, finished with Interlux Perfection. — PT 11 foils 2022. Painted foils look good!

Demonstrating the in-use position of the daggerboard using the trunk cap turndog over the fiberglass pin as a "hold-down" . — The new daggerboard hold down uses the existing trunk cap turn-dog and a composite “pin” that is bonded into the dagerboard.

The complete 2021 PT 11 foils kit as sold by Chesapeake Light Craft. — The complete 2022 PT 11 foils kit as sold by Chesapeake Light Craft.

Tags: dinghies Nesting Dinghy non nesting PT 11 options sailing dinghy

April 29, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in ALL, instructional, Nesting Dinghy, Nesting-PT 11 updates

Goosenecks

The PT 11 sailing rig is one of our creations that we are quite proud of. The carbon tubes are engineered specifically for this rig and manufactured in Washington at Innovative Composites Engineering. It is fun for us to imagine our tubes along side Space-X & NASA tubes, and among top name windsurfer and paddle boarding tubes. Mostly we are proud that this quick-to-set-up rig, with sail and all hardware & rigging, weighs a scant 10.5 LBS.

Our boom attaches to the mast with a custom gooseneck. For years we have made these goosenecks out of vacuum bagged carbon & epoxy in a multi step process that included a lot of carbon dust, finishing, tapping, assembling, and hand stitching tubular webbing onto the forks for a soft contact point on the mast. After hundreds of these, there just had to be a better way.

In 2021, as we sought to offset increasing costs in general and reduce labor where we could, one of the things we did was redesign our gooseneck. After years of trying to think of a better way, Russell began sketching out a new design based on using 1/2″ Delrin plate and CNC router technology.

The resulting gooseneck is clean, practical, stronger, and most importantly, much less labor to finish and install. The new goosenecks are installed by pouring epoxy around them. A tight fitting foam plug traps the epoxy. Speaking of tight fitting foam plugs; there are 7 plugs in the 3 tubes that these rigs are made from, 5 of them custom made of different sizes from dense rigid foam. Why? To keep them from filling with water and sinking of course. Why do we need 7 plugs to plug both ends of 3 tubes? The seventh plug is a secret. 😉

The new gooseneck, right to left: blank, blank with edges rounded, installed in the boom. — The new gooseneck, right to left: CNC machined blank, post-CNC blank drilled & edges rounded, gooseneck installed in the boom.

PT 11 sailing rigs are still produced by Russell and drop-shipped from Port Townsend. They can be purchased through Chesapeake Light Craft. Customers who purchased their PT 11 kits from PT Watercraft pre-2021 should contact us directly regarding PT 11 options. We have experienced periodic delays so lead times vary.

Happy Sailing! …AEB 😉

Tags: Nesting Dinghy

April 27, 2022 by Ashlyn Brown in Nesting Dinghy

PT 11 for sale

UPDATE September 2022- This boat is SOLD!

PNW local, is currently seeking a good home for his PT 11 nesting dinghy. Please see his description and contact information below. Note that shipping is not an option. Buyer will need to pick up in Port Townsend WA.

Nesting PT 11 for sale fob Port Townsend. Built in 2015 by the skillful John Caples. Wooden Boat Festival regulars will recall his immaculate wood GB 42 Xanadu and her PT 11 tender. The skiff is available, complete with PT sail kit (gorgeous foils, carbon mast and PT 11 class sail which still exudes that brand new dacron feel). Varnished, nearly flawless wooden oars included. This PT 11 comes complete with a low-hours EP Carry electric motor with two batteries and spare key and prop. Yellow canvas cover. Bags for protection of foils and mast/sail. All in fine condition.

Tags: for sale non nesting PT 11

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