Plans for Percy Blandford's designs and many others are available from:

http://www.clarkcraft.com/

Hi Mark,

the rocker comes mostly from having some flare to the topsides and using parallel sided side panels which makes the best use of the plywood. This creates some rocker to the bottom of the dinghy which is added to by putting some deadrise in the bottom. The rocker should help in rough seas especially when rowing into the wind. If she is built in the nesting format the rocker should not be a problem when stowing the dinghy on deck.  I hope to be able to build one early in the new year and will report on construction and performance at that time.

David.

Hi Gary,

two reasons for the pointy bow, first it came from the way that the bottom was shaped from the diagonally cut sheet of plywood, secondly it allowed for installation of side buoyancy tanks in the after  half of the dinghy while still allowing the dinghy to nest.. Calculations indicate that she should have adequate freeboard with three normal sized adults aboard, two in the stern plus one at the forward rowing position.

The forward pointing dagger board has caused comment on other forums. It is a design element  I have used on several dinghy's that I have built. If the dagger board case is made loose then the board automatically assumes an angle of attack when going to windward with a consequent improvement in windward performance. 

Hi David, it would be tempting to build it and I just might one day. I have two sheets of ply but the are for the dinghy I am half heartedly building at present.

I have a full set of construction plans for the smaller sister to Tortoise, called Shoebox, all of 5' 6".  I never built it. You could extrapolate from those drawings perhaps (or build the smaller one). I have a 7' 6" nesting dinghy that row well with one person in it and becomes a slug with two.  It is very wet in a chop, particularly if I use the outboard.  It is safe enough though, and I just resign myself to getting wet in windy conditions, or staying on board.  It is built out of 4mm ply and is reasonably light but I still find it a struggle to pull on deck.  I have a set of davits which I use for coastal sailing but Arion is a very husky 24 footer.  I have not nested the dinghy in several years (Sloth, as Annie says!) but will have to do so later this year if my plan to sail down the Tasman Sea to Sydney comes to fruition.  I really like the look of the Weslford 6' 1" pram and would build one if I had to replace the current model.