What do you do when you've just moored in the harbour or anchorage, but the children are still full of beans and planning their own trip in the dinghy? The small outboard motor is too loud and the neighbours at the mooring are already looking over annoyed?
How about sailing for a change? The idea of building a small sailing boat from a simple inflatable boat is quickly born. This brings us to the question of how to convert the dinghy that is already on board into a simple fun sailing boat. It shouldn't be too expensive and it should be quick to assemble and disassemble. If it takes you an hour to convert your boat, you'll quickly lose interest and won't go sailing. It has to be set up in under ten minutes and cost less than 250 euros - that's the target. Most people have the dinghy with them, so we only need wood, a rig and a few screws and fittings.
But how do we attach something to the inflatable boat? Drilling holes in a boat is always a bit tricky, especially if it's an inflatable boat. That's why we need a drill-free solution for attaching the sailing accessories. We decide to use lashing straps and screw clamps. On our boat, a Mission Craft Orca 230, a 2.3 metre long and 1.31 metre wide inflatable boat, we can use some of the eyelets and handles installed by the manufacturer anyway - this makes it much easier for us to assemble and build the sailboat. If they weren't there, it would also be possible to run tensioning straps under the hull to attach the centreboard bridge and the mast bracket. But now we also need a sail. We decide in favour of an Opti rig. In our opinion, it is very suitable as it is easy to attach, is a good size and can be positioned far forward in the boat. Thanks to the low mast height, it is also easy to stow on board. You can often find used rigs on eBay, in sailing clubs or at sailing schools. A new rig costs around 400 to 600 euros, second-hand we pay around 100 euros on eBay, the rudder fittings are available on the Internet from "Optiparts" for around 35 euros. You can get the rest at any DIY store around the corner. As our boat is a combination of an inflatable boat and an Opti, the name is obvious: Schlopti.
See the conversion of the inflatable boat into a sailing boat in our picture gallery:
You can find the article "Der Schloptimist" in BOOTE issue 09/2022 - available from newsagents from 17 August 2022 or online at Delius Klasing Shop.
