Dinghy

A dinghy is a small boat towed behind a larger boat as a tender. But my first thought when I see the word dinghy (ding – ee), is dingy  (din-jee) as in something shabby and squalid. And our dinghy was indeed dingy when she arrived at our door one rainy January day.

Derelict dinghy arrived at Eleki Place.

When we were collecting all of Elixir’s parts at the beginning of the project, we hadn’t found a lifeboat amongst the piles of abandonned boat parts. But when Tosh showed up with this old abandonned strip planked hull, that had been outside in the weather for years, it was the perfect match for our mother ship.

Unable to work outside during the winter rains, it fit nicely in the garage at the Eleki Place House and Tosh was able to work on it, installing gunnels, a centerboard and floatation benches for it to fuction as both sailing dinghy and a lifeboat. All of these new parts also transformed the flexible, rickety shell into a strong, stable vessel.

Finishing the inside of the dinghy.

Once Tosh had finished the woodwork, I was able to start on the finishing with varnish and white paint. I even pressed old line into the gunnel trim to give it that truly nautical look and and to pad the dinghy from crashing wood on wood into the mother ship. Finally, I painted her name on the transom with shiny black paint: Elixir II.

Not just a rowing dinghy, but also a sailing dinghy, I designed and sewed a new sail. Measuring and cutting the Dacron on the 10” tiles of the big kitchen floor, I sewed it on the heavy duty machine I had purchased for sail repair and upholstery. 

Oars were fashioned out of spruce and Gavin and I whiplashed the oarlock leathers around the shafts below the handles.

Fully assembled new dinghy in the Eleki Place living room.

Finally, the whole thing was fully assembled in the sunken living room, and propped up on couch cushions for the photo session!

We were able to launch her for real in the spring during a family visit and Dad and Tosh took off from the boat landing with light trade winds filling her tiny sail!

Launch and first sail out in Nawiliwili Harbor.