This is a dinghy built using a stitch and glue technique; it was a winner of the 1981 Plywood Project Contest sponsored by the American Plywood Association and Popular Science Magazine. The American Plywood Association does not credit the designer/contest winner on the plans (keep reading this page to find out who and why). I checked out the American Plywood Association's web site and found that they have gone up scale with a new name, APA Engineered Wood Association, they did not have any area on their site for homebuilders/hobbyists plans so I do not know if the plans remain available. (Update December 16, 2001 I just received a recent email from the designer James Richardson (designplans@earthlink.net) and he has recapture the design rights for this excellent one sheet of plywood boat and the plans are now available through him read on to find his email address)

I have built two of these hulls, one from 1/4 inch plywood and one from an 1/8 inch door skin. The one in this photo is from the door skin and weighs less than 20 lbs. with the oars. It was launched on Friday the 13^th , December 1991 in an indoor swimming pool. John who is in the boat is tall, 6' 6" and I guess weighs 190 pounds (John and I used to practice dentistry together before I went back to school to complete my specialty in periodontics). To make the hull stiff enough I doubled part of the bottom and put in a couple of ribs further forward on the front panel. The boat is handy as it can be backpacked in to a lake for fly-fishing. The hull is similar in size to the hull of the Cape Cod Frosty but without a deck.

On Dec. 9 1998 I received an email that solved the problem of who was the designer of the One-Man Skiff, then on December 10, 2001 James Richardson sent me this update.

Dear Herb:

I enjoyed finding the photo of the yellow dinghy on your web page. You might be interested to know that this boat is my design, and it is called the *Dilemma One-Man Dinghy*. It was developed to demonstrate how the efficient utilization of one 1/4" x 48" x 96" sheet of plywood, plus minimal other materials, could produce a pretty good looking and very lightweight little rowing craft.

I submitted the design to Popular Science and the American Plywood Association for their fifth annual Plywood Design Contest, in the early 1980's. It was a prize-winning project in the single sheet category, and it was featured in Popular Science magazine. Over 2,000 sets of project plans for the dinghy were distributed by the American Plywood Association during the following 17 years, according to the APA.

At the time of the contest award, I worried that boats built from this design could be unsafe in the hands of an inexperienced or careless crew. After all, it has no integral flotation and is light as a feather. I had visions of kids blowing out to sea, or non-swimming adults swamping the thing. So I asked the contest organizers for a hold harmless agreement, since they were expecting a release of the design rights from me. Their attorney didn't share my concerns, and asked for the prize money back!

That's why my name is not on the plans.

More recently, I've learned that the APA has closed out their plans catalog, so I've begun to respond to people who have discovered the design through your web page. A surprising number have written over the past three years. It seems the *Dilemma One-Man Dinghy* is being built for everything from a kids' rowing trainer to an ultralight packable craft for fly fishing in mountain lakes. Anyway, it's a fun building project and an attractive little boat, and it can be quite practical for appropriate uses just as long as its limitations are well understood.

The first and only prototype hull is as good as the day I launched it, in Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts (a suitably nautical venue). Its durability has been excellent, with a float coat of WEST System epoxy on both sides followed by Interlux InterthanePlus polyurethane paint.

Regards,

James Richardson

designplans@earthlink.net

So there you have it folks! Thank you James Richardson for allowing me to update this page with your email

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