The custom dinghy

I've wanted a hard dinghy that's small enough to fit on Koan's foredeck, and big enough to carry one or both of us and the dog from the boat to shore when we're out at the islands. When someone posted a free Naples Sabot on craigslist, I jumped at the opportunity. The Sabot is 8 ft long, and we only have about 6 feet of length on the foredeck, before the dinghy starts to interfere with the anchor cleat. In addition, the cabin is in the way, and the dinghy can't lie flat. I didn't like the idea of it sitting on top of the cabin top, because it's difficult to stabilize it by tying it down, and it's also very high, with a lot of windage. So the obvious solution to all our problems was to shorten the dinghy and build a custom transom that fits around the cabin top. 

I used 3/8'' ACX plywood, which I screwed in at three places, and two layers of fiberglass tape. Then I painted everything, and made an overlapping transom piece that screws in with 5 bolts, tightening around a thin rubber strip to make it water tight. 

It seems to work!