DIYers looking for a fun parent/child project should take a serious look at the new Stitchbird dinghy, an attractive, inexpensive, rewarding and easy-tobuild entrée to the boating lifestyle.
The brainchild of Auckland mechanical engineer Charlie North, the 2.2m Stitchbird’s various pre-cut components are literally held together by stitches while the glue sets. The stitches, in this case, are standard plastic ‘cable ties’ – easily unpicked once they’re no longer needed. No need for nails, screws, clamps or fibre-glassing.
“Building a boat in a garage,” says Charlie, “can be quite an undertaking even for experienced craftsmen, let alone novices. Stitchbird kit-sets make the process simple. They come with everything you need and the entire boat can be built in about 12 hours.”
Each kit-set comprises some 30 components – all pre-cut…