Monday 23 November 2015

How to build our Optimist dinghy kit

The weaker exchange rate of the Rand currency we use seems to be promoting new export sales?

We have recently shipped an Optimist kit out to Switzerland and only this week we received confirmation of a three boat Optimist kit set for a sailing school in the USA.

Building our Optimist kit?

The pictures will give you most of the information you need?


Did Stuart also take up a shares option with Record, just look at all those G clamps!


Note, you can make a decent clamp with a scrap of ply a wedge.



Our Optimist kit comes with the measuring dimensions, plus a fourteen page builders guide, which includes pictures of the various build stages. One tip is not to remove the internal and temporary ply spacers which fit fore and aft, across the width of the boat and midway of the dagger board slot. They are missing in this picture, so there is a danger that the curve of the laminated meranti may make the boat a tad narrow midships, so please leave the spacers we supply in place until both hull rails are glued in place and the glue has set.

Roy