David Tyler wrote: Let's not forget the Puddle Duck. It's the most boat you can build under 8ft, the easiest, you can build it different ways to suit your needs.

And I think I read somewhere that you can put a junk rig on it :-)

Annie Hill wrote: I saw a 'Tender Behind' at a boat jumble the other day.  Quite light and extremely burdensome, with a lot more freeboard than a 'Nutshell'.  It would stick up quite a long way above deck - worth getting the dimensions before committing oneself.  I've hears positive reports of one and it strikes me as a hard chine 'Fatty Knees'.

My personal advice would be to avoid the 'Nutshell' in spite of the fact that I think her big sister, 'Shellback', is one of the best dinghies ever.  I was shockingly disappointed when I rowed a 'Nutshell' and my friend Gary Underwood, who knows lots about rowing dinghies said likewise.

Check out Phil Bolger's 'Nymph'.  She's a little beaut and very light and buoyant.

Dinghies that need to be assembled every time you use them do tend to put one off popping ashore when you've just dropped the hook for lunch.  I speak from first-hand experience on this, and am not alone in this attitude.

A yacht's tender is an incredibly important piece of equipment and it's worth doing lots of homework before committing.

Cygnet's a nice, wee spot, isn't it, David?  Have you got yourself to the town a bit further up (whose name escapes me now)?  It's a good, old-fashioned place, with all sorts of interesting people.

David Tyler wrote: As it happens, I'm anchored next to a Kiwi boat in Cygnet, and they have a Roofrack tender. I've put some photos in a 'miscellaneous photos' album in Box.

Martin has written this about the Roofrack:

"Some comments on using and building John Welsford’s Roof Rack dinghy.

 

In use it has proved very practical in that it has carried Seabird’s crew of two with groceries, fuel, water and from time to time folding bicycles. It rows very well for seven foot two inch flat bottomed, pram dinghy. We row everywhere, even into strong trade winds in Noumea; though the ride is wet in strong wind and swell. The cambered fore and aft seat has plenty of buoyancy and allows one to adjust the rowing position according to load carried. I added a third rowing position about half way between the two shown on the plans so that my wife, being much lighter than me, was not compelled to row from the bow when we were both in the dinghy. When harbour sailing we sometimes tow the dinghy, it tows straight and dry at speeds of up to 6.5 knots.

 

Building a roof rack is quite straight forward, easy enough for the average handy man. It is worth reading JW’s book ‘Backyard Boat Builder’ in order to become fully conversant with his construction technique and to take advantage of the tips he gives there. It took me about three weeks to build our tender. While I am entirely satisfied with the result there are things I would have done better if I had studied the text of John’s book before I had started.

 

I built a ‘Roof Rack’ because it was the simplest design I could find that would fit on our fore deck and because there was simply nothing available commercially that would do the job of being a heavily used rowing tender to a cruising yacht. We got rid of the Walker Bay that was on the boat when we bought it!

 

The lack of availability of a good tender is shown by the fact that there are frequently people examining the dinghy when we return from a trip ashore. They ask us a lot of questions about it. One person left his card asking us to e-mail him details of the design.

 

All things considered building a tender wasn’t a cheap option but the resulting serviceable craft, which is a pleasure to row, was well worth the effort. It is also very satisfying to be able to say “I built it”."