International OK Dinghy built from kit produced by Damien Smith Design

by Bill Tyler on 23 Nov 2011 For some time now members of the International OK Association of Australia have been talking about the construction of a home built timber OK Dinghy from a kit designed by Damien Smith back in 2006. Damien is a Naval Architect living in Perth, WA and he is a long way away from our OK Dinghy activities mainly based in the eastern states of Australia.

The basic idea of the design is to have all the plywood panels and various components for the curved chines, stringers etc. router cut from Damien's computer programme to assist with the construction of a relatively inexpensive boat for enthusiastic home builders. Some of Damien's ideas for the internal construction of his boat differ from the available OK Dinghy plans last updated in 1986 so those issues of difference were cleared with the OKDIA Technical Committee before proceeding with the project.

Wangi RSLASC member, Col Lynch, the Immediate Past President of the International OK Association of NSW, agreed to assist with the development of the project and commenced building a boat from Damien's design late last year. Col built his own timber OK Dinghy from the OKDIA plans only a year or so ago so he is well able to comment on the merits of Damien's design and how it differs from the traditional building methods.

All components for the kit were professionally router cut by a Sydney based company, Laser Wizard Pty Ltd. This process worked very well and Col commented that he was impressed with the accuracy of the cutting of the plywood and is sure that this process will be of much assistance to home builders. Congratulations are due to both Damien and Col for a job well done. For any home builder willing to put in the time and effort required to build their own boat, worthwhile cost savings can be achieved.

All up cost for the hull excluding some donated fittings was approx. AUD4,500, less than 1/2 the cost of a professionally built boat. Anyone wishing to build their own boat needs to understand the actual un-costed time involved. It certainly is a labour of love as Col spent many hours of his time working out the construction details with Damien as well as building the boat. Our very special thanks go to both of these talented OK enthusiasts for their outstanding contributions in this regard.

Other members of our NSW Association assisted with the donation of fittings and sorting out a rig for the boat. Peter Wallace kindly donated a couple of his very serviceable older Linton sails and I decided to have my carbon mast fitted to the boat so that we could have the boat officially measured, registered and get sailing as soon as possible in our 2011/12 sailing season.

Gareth Wells then finalised the rigging by fitting my mast to the boat. Tim Davies, our Association Measurer, recently completed his measuring and organised the registration for 'True Blue' - AUS 751 with Yachting Australia. Eddie O'Donnell organised the construction of a new beach trolley to complete the package. The boat has been donated to the NSW Association and will be used in conjunction with our Junior Development programme.

On Saturday, 19 November we launched 'True Blue' at the Wangi RSLASC. The club Commodore, Les McAllister, an old OK sailor himself and the Vice Commodore, Graham Parker attended for the occasion. Col Lynch, only recently returned home from hospital was also able to be there together with Eddie O'Donnell our association President and other members of the International OK Association of NSW. Jan Tyler as joint benefactor of the 'True Blue' project had the honour of pouring the 'bubbly' over the bow to complete our launching ceremony.

I sailed the boat in the club handicap events that afternoon and again at Drummoyne SC on the following day in our Sydney Harbour Championship. 'True Blue' looks great on the water thanks to the efforts of Col and local Wangi painter Robert 'Obra' O'Brien, who did a superb job with the finish on the boat. The rig will be well suited to our lighter junior sailors as one of Peter's donated Lynton sails looks quite good on my reasonably soft C-Tech carbon mast. The boat was very responsive to windward and seemed to have good pace downwind. Conditions were variable on both days last week-end but sailing in close company with our top local OK sailors showed that 'True Blue' should be competitive in our fleet of current professionally built boats.

Thanks again to all concerned for the assistance necessary to complete this project. When Damien Smith produced the drawings for his kit boat back in 2006, I was immediately impressed with the concept of a laser cut kit for assisting home builders to once again construct their own timber OKs. This of course was where it all began for the OK Dinghy class with the design of the boat by Knud Olsen in the late 1950s and the establishment of our associations in the early 1960s. All of the boats built in the early years were of plywood construction and the enthusiasm of members from the 1960s provided the foundation for the success of the OK Dinghy International Association. Hopefully, 50 years later, this project might encourage a renewal of interest in our class for the many thousands of small boat sailors still keen on building their own timber boats.

Col and Damien have addressed a few minor issues to assist finalisation of the kit production process and preparation of a manual to provide construction details for home builders. This project has shown that it is still possible for an amateur home builder to produce an inexpensive and competitive International OK Dinghy hull. Anyone interested in following through on this project and building their own boat should enquire via our association or contact Damien Smith direct at www.damiensmithdesign.com.au