DIY Plywood Dinghy Build: Finished and Sea-Tested

The Least Professional Dinghy Build (That Actually Works)

In this episode, we finally finish the dinghy build.

And yes — our building style does not suddenly become professional just because we are close to the end. We are still working with what we have, and the workshop situation did not magically improve either.

At some point, it actually got worse in a very practical way. I ended up pulling the dinghy onto a beach on Santiago and spent a full day finishing the project there.

Not exactly the romantic boatbuilding fantasy.

But that’s also part of why we built it like this in the first place

One of the reasons we went with this “crappy build” approach is that we wanted a dinghy we can repair wherever we are on planet earth. And fiberglass is pretty amazing in that regard. Repairs can be as strong as the original — sometimes even stronger — as long as you do them properly.

So yes, an inflatable is also repairable. But it often becomes patch-on-patch over time. With fiberglass, my hope is that after a few years and a few inevitable repairs, this little boat will be as strong — or even stronger — than the day we built it.

Nike sums it up pretty well: we set out to see if a DIY boat on a budget could actually survive the water. And building a plywood boat in these conditions meant breaking every rule of traditional boatbuilding.

And still… it floats. It works. And it has become part of our everyday life.

By now we’ve been using it for quite a while. We’ve rowed it, towed it, and driven some pretty decent distances with our 8hp Yamaha outboard. It’s not perfect. There are a few quirks I would do differently if I built it again, and there are things I would pay more attention to.

But overall, I only have one real regret:

Not building it way earlier.

Stay curious, stay salty,

Floh