How to Build a Wooden Boat - Building Oonagh/ARRIBA Ultimate Dinghy, Part 1: A Real RIB Alternative 

I love the idea of a pram dinghy so much that I built one (a smaller one than this) 7 years ago with my intellectually handicapped son. We use it as a tender to our 28ft sailboat it is a great load carrier I have never put an outboard on it, it rows like a dream and the grandchildren love to play in it. The big boat is for sail and while I have just finished building an 11ft sailing dinghy for the grandchildren I will keep the pram dinghy for myself to trout fish out of and generally potter around in.

This brings Joel Whiteʻs Nutshell Pram to mind. A lot of the same ideas, put into a slightly smaller and lighter balanced lug rig design. I built one of these several years ago, and have been using it as a tender for my Cal 40 and to teach my grandkids how to sail. I also added forward and aft flotation compartments to Joelʻs design. As John Hyland notes, the result is a stable craft that rows and sails beautifully and is easily managed both in light airs and when the breeze pipes up.

Would be great to see a mini series on building this boat, it looks good .

Have you considered to make a "nesting" model?

Looks like it is atleast 10 ft long, maybe even 11 ft. Would be a great day sailor, but I doubt it would be a good dinghy. Dinghies are usually kept aboard the larger boat when the larger boat is under way. The problem with good dinghy design is that length and weight count. Longer is good for performance but bad for stowage. The RIB solves this problem by being a planing hull. Then, it can be short and relatively light, but still have decent performance (under power). The outboard it requires may be somewhat heavy, but is relatively easy to stowe out of the way. And it can provide emergency back-up power, should the engine on the big boat fail.

I like larger RIBs a lot. But the RIB tenders are just too awkward to man handle on a boat deck. Plus they're lifespan isn't very long. And they get damaged easily. A small, lightweight hard pram is IMHO a better choice. I used to maintain an entire fleet of RIBs for a sailing school. Talk about constant maintenance! Man what a pain. This is a gorgeous little boat. Too big to be a tender for a 30' sailboat, but a great little knockabout nonetheless.

Beautiful and functional looking design. My only concern is the overall weight of the finished boat, which is listed as 170 pounds. An average builder will likely produce a boat that weighs a good bit more. I realize we're talking about a boat that is just shy of 12 feet with an ample five foot beam, but managing that amount of weight is going to be a challenge, both ashore and with any handling involved in stowing aboard. How large would the yacht have to be to support storing Oonagh on the deck? The CLC Passagemaker dinghy has similar dimensions, but only weighs 90 pounds and can be built as a nesting hull.

See the Piccup Pram by Jim Michalak.

This is a lovely dinghy and with an insulated box to fit in one of those hatches it would be nearly ideal, but I do have to ask what is that magnificent classic yacht at anchor in the background at the 2:00 minute mark?

Worked with Eric about 18 years ago at schooner creek boat works quite the artist with wood.

very nice design ,you are totally on to something with meeting the Coast Guard floatation requirements on Power ratio what do you predict or target the Horsepower max to be ? with todays restrictions on two Strokes it’s getting hard to find very low horsepower 4 Strokes these days the people that may have a older one generally hoard them because they understand the rarity of them getting harder to obtain with the more reliable and efficeint Electronics compared to a Magneto Motor i do like the amount of Rocker on this boat combined with a center Keel that helps it track straight and tow nicely iIve had several Inflateables and they don’t tow that great at slower speeds and i’ve found the ridged Hulls are usually. a little two heavy to Stow and Launch single handed lay on board most Sailing Liveaboards yes okay on a Trawler with Electric Winches and more space to move around plus a. heavier duty Daviit Crane I also like the design of your boat that allows you the freedom to Stow the appropriate gear onboard full time like Life Jackets etc plus under Lock and Key fromSticky hands in many harbors and Dinghy Landing areas i personally have a tendency to accumulate a lot of extras on my Tenders over time

how heavy is that boat

What's the benefit of a flat squared off nose?

Great video. Can anyone tell me if there is standard percentage of lead( re: CofE/CLR) on a dinghy with 3 sails, mizzen main and jib. Thank you

Not a fan of Ply, it temds to get unecesarilly heavy compared to wood, and it requires epoxy or fiber glass to get it waterproof. #Boatbiulder #Rigger #Sailmaker

A rib can be pulled up on the sand. Not so much with this. Why compare just make a good dinghy.

Was inspired until I tried to get PDF plans. $157 I can't justify it.

Hi, I'm interested, are there any European kits available? do you have a dealer in the EU where I can buy a nesting dinghy sailing wattian DIY kit?

Ribs should be called deflatables. It’s the air coming out that is more important.

Can you make a nesting version of this? Like an Eastport Nesting Pram?

Looks awesome. Beautifully conceived and executed. And, nicely communicated. Wish it had a jib but the rig look fun.

I love this idea a lot. I am seeing quite a few different designs, but none of them "for sale". They are all plans and/or kits. I am purchasing a classic sailing yacht. I'll like to keep her without davits. But finding the time for a project like this would be very tough. This is one of my favorite designs I've seen so far.

This design is wonderful!

I built a Tender for Nerria by L. Nathaniel Hershoff, best tender ever and designed by a master

why are the chines cut off to an angle, seems it would roll easier thsn the full chine corners

that sun better be under the yardarm before that drink

boat makers r so cool

Great looking boat....when is part 2 coming?

Where is part two

Hi, I just want to watch the further videos about this interesting dinghy. I don’t want to jump through hoops and have all my data collected. If you want me to see them make them available. I might buy your plans. But if you want to make it difficult I can keep searching for my ultimate dinghy

This is in no way a replacement for a RIB. So many people make the mistake of getting something like this, that doesn’t plane or an underpowered inflatable that also doesn’t plane, when going cruising. The fact that it doesn’t plane severely limits it’s utility as a tender when cruising. Also, it is nowhere near as seaworthy as any Hypalon inflatable. With my 10’ RIB and 15HP Yamaha 2 stroke I can comfortably make 20 mile round trips in about an hour. This allows me to anchor further out if I want and to explore vastly more than any non planing tender would allow. That being said, this is a beautiful boat but not sure what it improves on over the Joel White Nutshell. You do have to constantly worry about thieves stealing your outboard when ashore and sailing around the anchorage would be nice. For that reason I’m thinking of switching to a rollup to put the 15HP on, to free up the foredeck for a Spindrift 11N or in a perfect world, a PT11.