Gaffling Dinghy Building Course - 29 August - 9 September 2022

Product Description

This is a special boat-building course we are running for building the Gaffling 4.1 Dinghy. On this 10-day course, you and an assistant will learn the techniques of stitch-and-glue boatbuilding from our experienced instructor and you will build your Gaffling dinghy to take home with you at the end of the course. This course is tailored specifically to the Gaffling 4.1 dinghy, so is not suitable for building our other boat designs.

The course runs from Monday 29th August to Friday 9th September and your boat will be ready to take home on the last day. Full-time instruction will be provided for the first week and as-needed in the second week, by which time you will have learnt the techniques and will be able to continue work on your boat under light supervision.

Book your place by Monday 8th August.

Expert tuition will be provided by our experienced instructors at our fully-equipped boatbuilding workshop in the Lake District.

In addition to the student tuition which you can purchase from this page, you will need to buy the Gaffling 4.1 boat kit.

For this course, you will require an assistant to build the boat with you. Hence, the standard tuition fee covers two people. You are also welcome to bring additional assistants to help work on your boat; there is a reduced tuition fee for additional students.

All tools and consumables are provided, as well as all required safety equipment. We will supply disposable dust masks, but we recommend bringing a respirator (and filters) if you have one. You might also prefer to bring your own ear defenders, though our classroom has enough to go around. We will also provide safety glasses, protective gloves and disposable coveralls.

You can bring some of your own tools if you prefer, such as a block plane, cordless drill and a small hand saw, but all of these are provided in our classroom.

The class starts at 8am each day and finishes between 5 and 6 in the evening, with an hour off for lunch. Some days might run longer, particularly the Tuesday (hull assembly day).

If you lack the space and tools (or motivation) to complete your boat at home, you can also hire a place in our workshop for the week after the course. We recommend that you get in touch with us before booking, to check availability and discuss what you hope to achieve in the time.

If you have any more questions about our courses, please see our Courses FAQ or contact us.

You must purchase your boat kit at the same time as you pay for the tuition, so that we have time to manufacture it before the start of the course. At the checkout, please choose the option to collect your order from our premises and it will be waiting for you on the first day of the course.

There will not be time in the ten-day course to complete the spars, rudder or other sailing parts, but these can be added to the completed hull afterwards.