# New to sailing and owner of unidentified 14’ dinghy



## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Hi all,

I'm a complete novice who's keen to get into sailing. I was able to pick up a cheap 14' dinghy that needs a little TLC. I'm looking at this as a starter boat and ultimately, I just want it to cruise around Moreton Bay for fun while I learn the basics.

I'm currently working on getting the boat seaworthy. I've been researching on the net as best I can to try and make sense of what I have and what I need to do but I've got a couple of challenges slowing me down -

I've got no idea what the dinghy's class/make is -- the previous owner also didn't know. I'm planning to take some good photos which I'll post and am hoping someone recognises it.
The original wooden spars and sail are long gone (and unseen by me) and have been replaced by aluminium spars and sail from a different (potentially larger) boat. Previous owner sourced the new mast and had a bespoke collar made so that it sits snugly but didn't get around to setting up the lines and fittings (lots of steel cables hanging off the mast and no obvious places to attach to the boat).
I'm happy to take my time and work out these issues (and developing my understanding of the different components) but will no doubt have a few questions for the Sailnet community along the way. ?

In fact, here's some I prepared earlier! Can anyone help me identify the likely purpose of the different fittings at the base of the mast. My guess is that the pulleys (blocks?) that I've labelled 'A' attach to shrouds on the mast. Are the pulleys I've labelled 'B' likely part of the vang? The line running through the pulleys labelled 'C' were loosely tied to the centreboard but that could have been just someone tying a loose line to the nearest object (there's also a track and traveller for the mainsheet so maybe it's part if that?).










Apologies if I'm mangling the terminology - it's a bit like learning a second language at the moment!

Josh


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

A zoomed out shot will help. If we could figure out the boat type, would help with the rig.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

a) looks like where the jib sheets go through.
B) Looks like turning blocks for halyards to put the sails up.
C) Each C is the same rope? where does the other end go at the moment?

As Arcb says, we need more wide shot photos 

It will be a fun project for you


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

Doesn't look like a mass produced boat. It may be a one-off build. Even if it is an identifiable make, all the rigging could have been messed with a bunch of times since it was built. In the end, you may need to just figure out what rigging you need, and the blocks and lines will probably start making sense. If the mast and sail are bigger than the original design, the boat may be a hand-full in stronger winds.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

My guess is that it was originally Latine rigged. I am not sure if it was a Sunfish or not. Compare the mast step off this old wood sunfish.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

There were a lot of one-design classes that were built the way that this boat is constructed, so it is hard to know what is going on without knowing a little more about the boat. As others have noted, it would be helpful to see more pictures of the boat that showed more of the deck and showed the boat in profile, ideally rigged. It would be helpful to know more precisely how long the boat is, how wide and how far back from the bow the mast is located. It appears that the boat had a rotating mast. That suggests that it might be an 'OK Dinghy'. There are clues that this was a well built boat and was probably raced. The spruce spar in the deck was meant to stiffen the boat and required more skill than a simple plywood deck on transverse frames.

Regarding the labled lines A- may have been, routing for the cunningham, or Jib in-haulers or connected with a spinnaker pole downhaul. There are some odd details like the adjuster on the forward face of the mast. Item B- Looks like part of the vang. Item C- looks like it could be a mast rotator.

Jeff


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Barquito said:


> Doesn't look like a mass produced boat. It may be a one-off build. Even if it is an identifiable make, all the rigging could have been messed with a bunch of times since it was built. In the end, you may need to just figure out what rigging you need, and the blocks and lines will probably start making sense. If the mast and sail are bigger than the original design, the boat may be a hand-full in stronger winds.


Thanks Barquito - Yep, whatever it was it's going to be something different now. I agree about it being a potential hand-full - I'll be looking for ways to slow it down rather than speed it up. ?


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Arcb said:


> A zoomed out shot will help. If we could figure out the boat type, would help with the rig.


I've got a couple more photos with measurements - I stupidly left an electrical tie around the track mid-mast so was unable to fully raise the sail.


















The dinghy has one identifiable mark that I was using (with no luck) to track it down. It has '233' stamped on it -


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Arcb said:


> My guess is that it was originally Latine rigged. I am not sure if it was a Sunfish or not. Compare the mast step off this old wood sunfish.
> 
> View attachment 137823


The position of the mast is definitely the closest I've seen to mine.


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> a) looks like where the jib sheets go through.
> B) Looks like turning blocks for halyards to put the sails up.
> C) Each C is the same rope? where does the other end go at the moment?
> 
> ...


'C' is the same rope, threaded through one pulley then looped through an eyelet on the centreboard (not hastily tied on as I'd thought) before being threaded through the second pulley. I'm now guessing it's for raising the centreboard?

And yes - thoroughly enjoying it so far!


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

I take back my latine rigged theory. It looks totally different zoomed out ☺


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Jeff_H said:


> It would be helpful to know more precisely how long the boat is, how wide and how far back from the bow the mast is located. It appears that the boat had a rotating mast. That suggests that it might be an 'OK Dinghy'. There are clues that this was a well built boat and was probably raced. The spruce spar in the deck was meant to stiffen the boat and required more skill than a simple plywood deck on transverse frames.
> 
> Regarding the labled lines A- may have been, routing for the cunningham, or Jib in-haulers or connected with a spinnaker pole downhaul. There are some odd details like the adjuster on the forward face of the mast. Item B- Looks like part of the vang. Item C- looks like it could be a mast rotator.
> 
> Jeff


Thanks Jeff - I've been googling some images of OK Dinghies and I reckon that might actually be it. The mast is about 32" back from the bow.


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Lost_at_sea said:


> Thanks Jeff - I've been googling some images of OK Dinghies and I reckon that might actually be it. The mast is about 32" back from the bow.


After a bit of googling, the insignia on the sail is for the OK Dinghy - which is great because I thought the sail was repurposed from a different boat. I think this might be 'mystery solved' regarding the boat's ID!


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

That is definitely an Ok Dinghy. That looks a lot like my old boat. The Ok Dinghy was designed in a design competition and was a trainer for the Olympic Finn Class. They were both physical and technically challenging to sail well. 

The wooden Ok Dinghies were competitive with the glass boats being structurally stiffer and lighter. Your boat has had a lot of hardware upgrades and was probably pretty competitive in its day. 

But that mast seems like a mismatch. Ok Dinghies had bendy freestanding rigs. They were self depowering in a gust. In other words, Ok Dinghies don't have shrouds. The blocks on either side of the mast probably were for the cunningham. 

Ok dinghy halyards have a halyard lock at the masthead. Luff tension was through the cunningham. The vang was strange on the wooden boats. The boom literally passed through the mast where there was a wedge on the other side of the mast that acted as the boom vang. 

Jeff


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Jeff_H said:


> That is definitely an Ok Dinghy. That looks a lot like my old boat. The Ok Dinghy was designed in a design competition and was a trainer for the Olympic Finn Class. They were both physical and technically challenging to sail well.
> 
> The wooden Ok Dinghies were competitive with the glass boats being structurally stiffer and lighter. Your boat has had a lot of hardware upgrades and was probably pretty competitive in its day.
> 
> ...


Thanks Jeff - knowing what it is, I can start to get my head around the rigging and find some diagrams/examples online.

And yes - the mast looks like it won't be ideal (but at least the sail is suitable). I'll do some more digging around and see what I can find.

Much thanks everyone! This forum is a life saver ?

Josh


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Jeff wins again!!

Indeed this will be a lovely boat! Very fast, great to sail. It will teach you a lot.

OK (dinghy) - Wikipedia


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I would think that the sail will be useless without the proper mast, and that is not even close to a proper mast. Ok Dinghy masts were engineered with a specific taper in their stiffness as they went up. That taper resulted in a mast with defined curvature when the sail was on the mast. The mainsail is cut with that curvature to its luff (Leading edge, or front of sail). On a straight mast, (without the proper curvature) the sail will be to full (rounded when seen from above) to sail well, will make the boat harder to sail in all conditions, and easier to capsize.

I would think that there should be a bunch of used masts around since the current trend for the racers is carbon fiber masts, so the older wood and aluminum spars are being replaced making the other material masts more readily available. There were after all over 11,000 of these boats built. If you can find one of those old OK Dinghy wooden masts or one of the aluminum, they should be priced pretty cheaply.

If I were looking for a mast I would contact:
James Bland: USA Executive secretary.
4612 Finley Dr., Austin, TX, 78731 USA
865 406 9572
Website - usa.okdinghy.org

I would try to find out where there are fleets and who the Fleet captains are. I would contact the fleet captains and ask them about buying used spars. They should know who might have one for sale.
You might also put a post on their Facebook page asking if anyone near you has a mast for sail. OK Dinghy

I will note that if you are handy with wood working tools, the wooden masts were not all that hard or expensive to build. The hardest part was hollowing the back of the curve.

These were fun boats to sail. They were roughly 30 lbs heavier than a Laser, but had a lot more sail area.

Here are a bunch of resources on the OK Dinghy.





The OK Dinghy - OK Dinghy


VOLUME 1 : RENOVATING AN OLD OK Thoughts on the renovation of an OK Controls, side decks, toe straps an’ all Make your own super centreboard VOLUME 2 : TUNING AND SAILING Tuning the OK rig How hard to pull the mainsheet Upwind sailing Sailing in windy weather Windward workout Sail the first beat...



www.okdinghy.co.uk





Here are the construction drawings for the Ok Dinghy.





OK Dinghy Plan001 – United States OK Dinghy Racing Association







usa.okdinghy.org









OK Dinghy Plan002 – United States OK Dinghy Racing Association







usa.okdinghy.org





Good luck,
Jeff


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## Lost_at_sea (Dec 7, 2020)

Thanks again, Jeff. It looks like I’ll be doing more reading than sailing in the immediate future 🙂.

In the first instance, I’ll try and source a used OK mast. I’m based in Australia so will hit up the resources you posted for specs and info but will have to find a mast down here (I’ve spotted a few state and a national OK Dinghy associations so will start there).

If that fails, it’ll be time to break out the woodworking gear - or make some friends down at the local woodworking club 🙂


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Good on ya mate. That sounds like a strong plan especially since Australia had pretty big OK Dinghy fleets that were still active in the late two-thousand-teens. Hopefully you can find some local guidance and a mast. 

I will say that these boats were thoroughbreds in their day. They took a fair amount of skill to sail on a breezy day, but they were a lot of fun. 

Jeff


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