Gaffling 4.1

Product Description

The Gaffling 4.1 is a new one-design class dinghy designed to be built at home. The Gaffling distinguishes itself by its classic lines and traditional gaff rig.

At 4.1 m overall length (13′ 5″), the Gaffling is small enough to be comfortably built in a garage, yet large enough for family sailing. It is also easy to tow behind a small car.

The Gaffling has a single-chine hull, like many popular plywood dinghy classes, but with a more classic appearance, with a sweeping sheer and a raked transom.

The Gaffling 4.1 has been designed by Andrew Wolstenholme and is being promoted by the Old Gaffers Association (OGA). The association hopes that this entry-level gaff-rigged boat will give more young sailors the opportunity to experience a more classic style of dinghy sailing.

For auxiliary power, the Gaffling can also be rowed or sculled using the sculling notch in the transom. It can also take a small outboard motor.

It has a lowered deck and sidetanks, which helps to keep the lines from going overboard and provides more space for children.

The boat is a stitch-and-glue design where pre-cut and pre-drilled plywood panels are temporarily stitched together with copper wire before being glued together with epoxy fillets and fibreglass tape along the seams. The Gaffling additionally uses a set of temporary forms to ensure the precise shape of the hull will match the class measurements. All the plywood panels and the jig forms are precisely cut on our CNC machine.

Before we can supply a kit for this boat, you will need to pay the royalty fee to the OGA, who will issue you with a sail number and a builder's plaque to attach to the finished boat. You can pay the royalty online, directly to the OGA.

We can also provide these boats ready-built, for sailors who just want to get on the water. They will be built to order, so you can choose a range of options from a bare hull for you to outfit yourself up to a fully-rigged boat, ready to launch.

• Mast length: 4.025 m (13′ 2″)
• Gaff length: 2.93 m (9′ 7″)
• Boom length: 2.7 m (8′ 10″)
• Sail area: 9.69 m² (104 sq ft)

The kit includes:

• Pre-cut wooden panels with pre-cut joints and pre-drilled tie holes
• Solid wood hull parts
• MDF jig for hull assembly
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Epoxy fillers
• Copper ties
• Woven glass tape
• Wooden blanks for spars
• Centreboard blank
• Rudder blank
• Tiller blank
• Inwales and Outwales
• Free technical support from a competent builder

Please note that there is currently no manual for this boat, so we only recommend it for experienced builders.

The kit does not include the following but we can supply them if required:

• Sails
• Warps
• Paint and varnish
• Rigging
• Sailing hardware

Plywood only

This option contains only the CNC-cut plywood panels. It does not include the MDF jig or any of the solid wood parts, nor any other materials that come as part of the kit.

Jig forms only

This option contains only the CNC-cut MDF jig forms.