I've been looking at other boat diagrams and doing more thinking and today I'm back with the D5..., at least until tomorrow.TomW1 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:02 am KlondikeBay can you give us an idea of what the uses you want to get out of your small boat. Is rowing the primary or sailing the primary use. Are you willing to trailer as anything over 6-7' is hard to car top unless it is a canoe. There are several boats that meet your requirements. Take your time and select the one that really suits your needs The waters you will be usiing it in and how you you want to use it.
Tom
Tom, I live not far from the water in a little bay here on Puget Sound with small islands and inlets and such. So what I'm looking for is a little boat I can dolly or cartop to the water and sail or row out. There are islands just 1.5 to 3 miles away. Circumnavigating one of the islands would be a 10 mile trip, so I think a sail would be good.
There's nice sandy beaches with fire pits and hiking trails to pull up on, accessible to boats only.
I like the spritsail because it would be easy to drop for some of the inlets with low bridges.
I'm also thinking of ways to modify the D5, to give more space inboard, and to make rowing easier.
I'm thinking about a leeboard instead of the centerboard, with a reversible spacer for either port or starboard, and a reversible thwart attachment. And also a rowing seat that could be pinned to the frames at different positions and replace the rowing thwart.
So far I'm just thinking about it. The last time I sailed was as a youngster in a laser that I flipped a good 2 miles out in cold rough weather. The centerboard disappeared and the mast sunk. Luckily someone saw me sitting on top of the hull and a rescue boat came out before I froze. Now I'm more enthusiastic about relaxation than excitement.