On Dec 10, 3:58*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:35:37 -0500, Wayne.B



wrote:
On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:44:26 -0500, "Paul@BYC"
wrote:

Well, as a teacher of non-math/science-based liberal arts, my
professorial opinion is that treading water while wrestling 12' and 6'
boat sections together that also have to be bolted might be a heck of a
lot to handle without drowning in the process. If you were successful,
though, it would make a terrific video. I'd buy a copy.

Curious, though, as to why you need an 18' semi-portable boat?

Heh, need is relative. * :-)

There are a lot of guys down in the Bahamas towing 30 ft offshore
center consoles for use as a dinghy. * Of course they are using them
for some serious fishing also.

From an assembly standpoint I'm thinking that as long as both halves
have full flotation and some semblence of watertight integrity, that
you could launch them as two seperate boats and then bolt them up in
the water without even getting your feet wet.

That might work if you had some tapered alignment pins to get you
started and a rope, pulled through a hole, to pull it up.. Maybe add a
couple of toggle clamps to hold things until you got the screws in.

I built a dinghy a lot like this from plans from the net. It is
called a 2-paw 9 and is 9' long and rows very well and has a lot of
room. It nests together very well on the foredeck of my 28'
sailboat. However, assembly is a bit odd. Using the bolts they show
is absurd so I came up with a better way. I made stainless tabs on
one part that slide into notches on the other half. On the outside I
use stainless "draw clamps" along the gunnel that pull the two halves
together. No bolts to leak.
Assembly goes like this. Use the halyard to lift a half, tie a line
to it and to the main boat, lower it into the water. Do the same with
the other half. Get into the back half, pull the front half toward me
and slide the Stainless tabs into the notches and then lock the draw
clamps. So, Yes, assembly is done in the water. I also put
floatation in mine by gluing in some closed cell foam.