I had a Dyer Midget before but it was missing all the sailing bits. It was a 1981 model that was confirmed by Dyer themselves (www.theanchorage.com). However, after seeing how expensive the sailing components would be to source, I decided to sell it at the end of the 2016 season and to focus on finding one that was more complete.
This past summer, I found one in Marblehead, MA on Craigslist and decided it was a good boat project to tackle. The total cost was $400. It included the boat, as well as the sailing pieces (rudder, centerboard, boom, and both mast parts. The varnish on the spars was worn and will need to be refreshed, but they were all there. The boat itself was another story.
All of the white oak gunwales were shot. In fact, they had been replaced at some point already but not properly attached (glued instead of using the factory copper rivets). They would need to be replaced. The keel (white oak) was also shot and needed replacement as was the transom (mahogany). The seats (or thwarts) were solid (mahogany) but were covered with many layers of paint. The fiberglass hull was in good shape, but painted poorly inside and out.
This is the way she appeared when I got her home.
Tear Down / Research on Origins
The strip down process was sort of a pain, especially since a prior owner, while using oak, laminated many thin strips to form replacement gunwales and glued them down instead of riveting them. I am replacing them with a factory kit from The Anchorage. They are extremely helpful on the phone with answering questions and providing restoration parts.
I stripped off all the old hardware (Oar locks), lifting eyes, rudder hardware and bagged and labeled each with their respective screws and bolts. The seats (thwarts) were also removed. The rotted skeg was removed too. All parts were kept in case we needed to use them for a pattern. Most of the bronze screws and bolts are stripped so I am going to replace them all with new.
The transom was apparently just glued down. It took some careful prodding, but I did get it off using a wedge and gentle tapping.
In removing the transom, I had stripped paint off in the hope of finding a serial number, and I did! It is 2229SH. The "SH" is for "High Sheer", and an email to the Anchorage told me that my boat was built in 1962 and originally sold to a dealership in Maine. I also googled the patent number and found some nice documentation on the US Patent Office web site on the original design from 1947.
Hull Repair
The hull was in very good shape, except one spot under the stripped-away gunwale, where it looked like a chuck got torn out. I refer to it as its "shark bite". This cleaned up quickly with some Westsystem epoxy and fiberclass cloth. It will for the most part be hidden from view anyway by the new gunwales.
Centerboard Trunk Repair
The later Dyer Dhow Midget dinghies have a fiberglass centerboard trunk. Mine, being from 1962, is much earlier than that and had a wooden one made from what appears to be mahogany. The upper 2 inches of it were rotted. I was originally thinking of ripping it out and building a new one, but the bottom 12" was just fine. So I bought a scrap of mahogany from Highland Hardwoods in Brentwood, NH to make the repair.
I cut 2" down (actually about 1.9") and sanded the rest flush. The pieces were glued in place with waterproof wood glue. As you will see later, the whole trunk was primed with Interlux primer and later painted with the interior with Interlux bilge paint.
One think I will need to do is locate the hole for the pin that locks the centerboard down. Not sure how I'll do that yet but I will figure out something.
Painting the Interior of the Hull
The Dyer Dhow dinghies are usually shipped with the interior "raw", meaning that it just has a dull yellow color of the original fiberglass. While I prefer this look, it could delaminate after decades of UV exposure. A prior owner of mine took the liberty of painting this with a tan paint. It was flaking off and needed to be fixed. My first thought was to use chemical stripper. What a sloppy mess. I gave up on that idea. Next I was going to heat strip it off, but my heat gun was probably going to cause the fiberglass to weaken so I gave up on that idea too. I finally just used a sander with some 80 grit disks, and cleaned up the inside of any flakes. I scrubbed it down with warm soapy water and rinsed it with clear water. I dried it and then gave it a final prep with acetone-soaked rags.
I first applied Interlux primer. After a few days of drying, I applied two coats of Interlux bilge paint, with a wet sanding with 400 grit sandpaper in between. I was very happy with the results. This paint is super hard. It is designed to repel all the spooge that gets into the bilge of a boat. If I ever need to touch it up in the future, I'll just wet sand the spot and apply another coat.
I did use a roll and tip method and that did smooth it out nicely.
Transom Replacement
Using the old transom to get angles, etc. I made a new transom out of another piece of mahogany that I purchased from Highland Hardwoods. I had a friend with a wood shop thickness-plane it down to 1" thick and 6" wide to match the original. However, not wanting to trash a perfectly good piece of wood, I first made one first out of a piece of 5/4 pressure treated decking I had laying around to get the fit. I then cut the mahogany board down to size and did a lot of sanding to get it to fit snugly.
The rear of it that will be against the fiberglass was coated with Petit wood sealer. The parts that are exposed were painted with 4 coats of Epifanes varnish. Each coat was left for a few days to dry, then wet sanded with 400 grit paper and cleaned with mineral spirits before the next coat.
The board was then cross-hatched with 3M 4200 Marine Sealant to glue it down, then clamped in place.
Building a new sail
As many of my friend know, I love to sew. I have a Sailrite LSZ-1 and an old Singer 251 industrial machine that I use for my side business The Windward Rail. Rather than buy a sail already made from Dyer, I ordered a kit from Sailrite. Their sailmaker, Jeff Frank was very helpful and responsive. The kit was very easy to assemble especially when I took over the dining room table for the larger assembly steps. I even made my own Dyer Dhow class logo out of insignia cloth.
I debated whether to put the boat's hull number on the sail (#2229) but that would be overkill. I can always add that later along with some draft stripes.
Gunwale Replacement
The gunwale replacements are available as a kit directly from Dyer. They include 5 pieces of oak, along with a bag full of copper nails, washers and a few other items (screws, longer nails). The 5 pieces of oak include the inner "clamp" (3 pieces), and the outer "guard" (2 pieces).
The front inner clamp was the first piece to install. The directions provided by Dyer were good, but glossed over some important details, like the amount of time and labor it would take to get this piece to fit. I would clamp it in place, mark where to sand, then unclamp it, sand some, and do it all over again. I bet it took 25 iterations over a week before I got it to the point where I was satisfied.
Using the original holes, I drilled through the inner clamps. Then after I clamped on the outer guard, I drilled through from the inside and installed the rivets.
Each rivet consists of a copper nail inserted from the outside. A copper washer is placed over it, the nail is trimmed to about 1/8", and then you peen it flat to make a rivet. While hammering, I used a heavy piece of steel from the outside as an anvil.
The fitting was a pain, but the riveting was quite fun.
While I did mark where the oarlocks and seats would mount, I had actually placed two rivets in hole where the oarlocks would have to go, so I had to remove them. This was accomplished by using a dremel tool to take off the peened washer, and then banging the nail carefully out with a hammer and a steel finishing nail.
Boom repair
The oak boom guides (not sure what these should be called) were rotted pretty badly, but the rest of the boom is fine. It will just need some light sanding and varnishing. Dyer sells a kit to repair this, which includes the two wood pieces, a brass nail, and two washers.
The two screws are removed, and the old nail was cut and the rotted pieces came right off. Installing the new one was essentially reversing the process. The bronze fitting with the hook and eye pivots on the brass nail. I installed the washer on the nail, snipped it to size, and peened the other end to rivet it in place.
I was able to reuse the screws that I took out, which was helpful because the kit did not come with replacements.
Spar Bag
I wanted to make a long bag to carry my spars in so they don't bounce around in the truck or in the hull scratching it up or worse, breaking something.
I had made a boom tent for a friend's O'Day Javelin, and used their old one for a pattern. They did not want the old one back. It was a little tattered, but still was good to reuse. I cut it to size for length, and patched any threadbare holes. I then folded it over and seamed it, then after turning it right side out, put two long seams lengthwise to create pockets for the spars.
I finished it off with two grommets and some recycled line to tie it together.
The machine used is my old Singer 241 industrial straight stitch machine.
