The Free Boat — 180
A simple one-design anyone can build cheaply, and give away.
You can’t learn to sail without a boat, and boats are exactly where the cost wall goes up. So we’re designing one to knock that wall down: the 180 — a one-design dinghy that’s cheap, buildable with hand tools from materials you can get at any hardware store, stable enough to teach in, and meant to be given away.
Why “180”? It’s the turn we want to make — a 180 on the idea that sailing has to be expensive or exclusive. This is the 180 v1; the design keeps improving over time through an open engineering challenge, with every upgrade shared back into the free plans.
One-design means everyone builds to the same plan. That keeps it simple to teach, fair to sail against, easy to share parts and fixes — and it means a video of this boat matches the boat in your hands.
Core principle — nothing marine-specific. Every part of the 180 must come from suppliers anyone can reach: hardware stores, big-box retailers, auto-parts and auto-body shops, lumber yards, the internet. No marine chandlery, no specialty supplier, no markup. If a part can only be bought at a marine store, we design it out. This is what keeps the boat buildable by anyone, anywhere — and giveable to future generations who’ve never set foot in a boatyard.
The design direction (updated)
The vision has sharpened. The flagship 180 is now a light, tough, foam-core fiberglass two-person scow — built from a shared mold, repairable for pocket change, and good for both learning to sail and one-design racing. The plywood build (detailed below) becomes the budget / DIY fallback anyone can make from hardware-store materials; the molded foam-core boat is the fleet boat for universities, clubs, and giveaways.
The 180, refined:
- Two-person, always a teaching boat. Not singlehanded — if you can sail, you bring someone who can’t. Stable enough for an instructor + a nervous beginner.
- A scow hull — totally stable, not a tippy Laser/Finn or a foiling Moth. Teaches hiking but doesn’t demand it.
- One simple sail, no halyard. A sleeve-luff (“sock”) sail that slides over a two-piece mast, Laser-style — nothing to hoist, almost nothing to rig. We teach why each of the few lines matters.
- Super light & cartoppable — foam-core composite, liftable by two people.
- Indestructible but fixable. Epoxy/glass means it shrugs off abuse and any repair should cost under $25 — which doubles as a hands-on engineering lesson.
- One-design, so it races fairly (see the family-first racing model in Universities & Clubs).
Design refinements (latest): a wider, flatter transom for downwind stability and to fit two adults; a foam core skinned with thin glass + epoxy and structural cutouts (no wood, no exotic carbon); a bulletproof mast step that carries load to the bottom of the hull via an engineered radial “starburst” (learning from the Laser’s soft-deck weakness); prefab CNC-cut foam and 3D-printed fittings; an optional small jib (and a possible elevated/wishbone boom so no one ducks); carbon or light fiberglass tube spars; up to ~500 lb crew capacity; stackable; and foiling blades as a future add-on. Full engineering detail: Design Notes.
The plywood version — the DIY floor
After surveying the canonical cheap-plywood dinghies (Puddle Duck Racer, the Storer OzRacer/OzGoose, Bolger and Michalak sharpies, the stitch-and-glue tenders), one direction fits the budget, no-mold, build-it-yourself path best. It’s essentially the proven 12-foot flat-bottom scow template — think Storer OzGoose, the bigger sibling of the famous build-it-in-a-weekend boats. This stays available for anyone without access to the mold or the materials deal.
The 180, in one sentence: a ~12 ft × 4 ft flat-bottom plywood scow, built glue-and-screw with construction adhesive (no epoxy), rigged as a balanced lug (~70–90 sq ft) with a polytarp sail, a pivoting leeboard, and a kick-up rudder.
Why each choice:
- Flat-bottom scow, 4-ft beam → enormous initial stability. It carries an instructor and a nervous first-timer without feeling tippy. The blunt box hull is also the simplest possible shape to cut and assemble.
- Glue-and-screw with PL Premium adhesive (not epoxy) → hand tools and a drill, no resin mixing, no shop, no fumes, cheap and easy to repair.
- Balanced lug rig → short unstayed mast (cartops easily), no standing rigging, very few parts, reefs simply, and spills gusts — the most forgiving rig you can hand a beginner. The polytarp sail costs ~$30–60 and anyone can repair it.
- Pivoting leeboard + kick-up rudder → nothing to leak (no hole through the hull), and both kick up automatically when you drag the boat onto a beach or a student forgets to raise them.
This is the teaching-fleet boat. Graduates who want a sweeter-sailing boat can step up later to a Bolger/Michalak sharpie or a CLC Skerry — but for getting beginners safely onto the water for almost nothing, the stable scow wins.
Design brief & constraints
| Goal | Target |
|---|---|
| Length / beam | ~12 ft × 4 ft — room for two adults, still cartoppable/light-trailerable |
| Materials cost | ~$300–$450 in materials (see the honest note below) |
| Materials source | Big-box hardware store: plywood, lumber, screws, PL Premium, tarp/poly sail |
| Tools | Hand tools + a drill — no shop, no epoxy |
| Build time | A weekend or two, beginner-friendly |
| Crew | Stable enough for an instructor + a nervous first-timer |
| Forgiveness | Hard to capsize, kick-up foils, cheap to repair |
Honest cost note. A truly under-$300 boat is realistic for an 8-ft PDRacer-class hull, but a new-materials 12-ft two-adult boat lands around $430–$500 from a big-box store once you add paint, a sail, and rope. You can approach $330–$380 with donated plywood/sail/hardware or budget plywood. Plan ~$450 per boat; treat under-$300 as a stretch goal met with donations. Better to set the real number than promise one we can’t hit.
Bill of materials (estimated)
These are 2026 knowledge-based estimates, not live-verified store prices. Confirm at the source links below before quoting a “$X boat.” Verifying these against current store prices is an open task.
| Item | Spec | Qty | Est. (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull plywood | ¼” (6mm) exterior BCX/ACX, 4×8 | 3 | $120 | Marine ply is the upgrade (~$90–150/sheet) |
| Heavier plywood | ½” exterior ply, 4×8 | 1 | $55 | Seats, leeboard, rudder, frames |
| Framing lumber | Straight, knot-free pine (chine logs, gunwales) | ~5 pcs | $50 | Pick the straightest sticks |
| Construction adhesive | PL Premium polyurethane, 10 oz | 5 | $50 | The structural glue |
| Backup wood glue | Titebond III waterproof, 16 oz | 1 | $13 | Non-structural joints |
| Fasteners | #8 coated deck screws, 1¼” & 1⅝” | 2–3 boxes | $30 | Stainless near saltwater (costs more) |
| Primer + paint | Exterior primer + porch/floor enamel, 1 gal | 1 ea | $65 | Thorough priming is what makes cheap ply last |
| Sail | Heavy poly tarp or Polysail kit, ~70–90 sq ft lug | 1 | $30–60 | Dacron/used sail is the upgrade |
| Grommets / seam tape | For the polytarp sail | 1 | $20 | — |
| Mast / yard / boom | Closet rod, ripped 2×3, or EMT conduit | 3 | $43 | Short lug spars cartop easily |
| Tiller | Straight hardwood 1×2 | 1 | $8 | — |
| Line/rope | ¼”–⅜” polyester, ~80–100 ft total | — | $25 | Halyard, sheet, snotter, pendants |
| Rudder hangers | Cheap gudgeon/pintle or rope lashing | 1 | $0–28 | Rope keeps it nearly free |
| Cleats / blocks / pivot hardware | Cam cleats, a block, ½” pivot bolt, eye straps | — | $55 | Wooden cleats can be free |
| Estimated total | ~$430–$500 | ~$330–$380 with donations / budget ply |
Where to cut cost (in order): rope rudder-hangers instead of metal; polytarp instead of Dacron; glue-and-screw instead of epoxy; porch enamel instead of marine paint; scrounged spars; budget BCX instead of marine ply. Where not to cut: the bottom panel and chine joints, fastener quality near saltwater, and paint coverage — those are what keep water out and make the boat last.
Project status & build log
Status: design chosen, prototype next. The direction above is our recommendation; the final lock and the first build are open tasks. This page becomes the build log — prototype photos, the real cut list, mistakes and fixes, and finally the free downloadable plans.
Still to settle in the prototype:
- Exact panel dimensions and the bottom rocker (we’ll follow a proven 12-ft scow plan).
- Lug sail area and the leeboard size/placement for our typical crew weight.
- Polytarp sail-making method, then sourcing cheap Dacron for the fleet upgrade.
If you build boats, teach in them, or just have opinions, we want them — weigh in on the boat issues in the repo.
From one boat to a fleet — the travelling mold
The plywood boat means anyone can build one. A reusable mold means future generations can build hundreds — identically, in a weekend, with no woodworking at all. This is how the 180 outlives us.
The idea: build the mold once (the genuinely hard part), then anyone can lay up a finished one-design hull from it in a weekend. The mold is community tooling — it gets shared, shipped, and copied. One mold can produce dozens of boats over its life.
How it fits the plan — prove first, tool second:
- Prototype in plywood (the design above) and sail it until we’re sure it’s right.
- Turn the proven hull into a plug, then pull a female mold off it.
- Builders lay up hulls in the mold — identical every time, no shop skills, no flat-panel cutting.
You never build tooling before the design is proven, so the plywood boat isn’t a detour — it becomes the master for the mold.
The shippable, quartered mold
A one-piece 12-foot mold is a beast to move. So the 180 mold is designed to split into quarters that bolt together at flanged seams — it ships flat (or nested), assembles with hand tools and alignment keys, and comes apart again to travel to the next community.
A mold that travels. Instead of one club owning one mold, a quartered mold becomes a shared, mailable tool — a “mold library.” A community receives it, lays up a hull (or three), then ships it on. The seams leave faint witness-lines on the hull that sand out in minutes. This is what turns a single mold into a national boatbuilding capability.
A weekend build — the West System partnership
To make the molded boat fast and durable, we’re pursuing a supply partnership with West System (Gougeon Brothers) for marine epoxy and additives at cost. Good epoxy is what lets a builder lay up a strong, fair hull and knock out a boat in a single weekend — and an at-cost deal is what keeps it affordable.
On the “nothing marine-specific” rule. Our baseline plywood boat stays 100% non-marine — anyone, anywhere, no deal required (see above). The West System epoxy is our one deliberate exception, and only because (a) the deal makes it at cost, and (b) West System is sold far beyond marine stores (woodworking, hardware, online). The principle was always about access and price, not brand purity — an at-cost partnership serves that principle, it doesn’t break it.
The foam-core hull — weight & cost estimate
To make the boat super light and nearly indestructible, the flagship hull is a foam-cored fiberglass/epoxy sandwich: a thin foam core skinned both sides with glass cloth wet out in epoxy. The same construction makes it cheap to repair — a ding is a glass patch and some epoxy.
Estimates, not quotes. The figures below are reasoned 2026 estimates to size the project — they must be confirmed by a prototype. The low end assumes an at-cost epoxy deal and budget foam; the high end is retail. A prototype is the only way to lock real weight and cost.
Three ways to build the light hull:
| Method | How | Est. hull weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foam-sandwich in the mold | Glass + foam core + glass, laid up in the quartered female mold | ~[60–90 lb] | Most repeatable + one-design-consistent. Recommended. |
| Foam-panel “cutout” | CNC/hot-wire-cut foam panels, stitched into the hull shape, glassed both sides (no mold) | ~[55–85 lb] | The “foam cutout” idea — light, simple tooling, slightly less identical boat-to-boat |
| Solid fiberglass in the mold | Glass + epoxy, no core | ~[110–150 lb] | Cheaper materials, heavier, less stiff — not “super light” |
Rough materials estimate (foam-sandwich, ~12 ft):
| Item | Spec | Est. (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foam core | ~80–100 sq ft closed-cell (PVC/SAN structural, or budget XPS) | $150–$700 | Structural PVC (Divinycell/Airex) is the high end; budget XPS the low |
| Fiberglass cloth | ~6–10 oz, both skins + overlaps (~250+ sq ft) | $120–$250 | |
| Epoxy + hardener | WEST SYSTEM 105 + hardener, ~2–4 gal | $80–$600 | The swing factor — at-cost/sponsored vs. retail |
| Fillers / fairing | 404/406 + fairing compound | $40–$90 | |
| Foils + spars + sail + rope + hardware | Daggerboard/leeboard, kick-up rudder, two-piece mast, sleeve sail, lines, fittings | $250–$450 | Sleeve sail = no halyard hardware |
| Paint / finish | Epoxy primer + enamel | $50–$100 | |
| Estimated total | ~$700–$2,200 | Target ~$1,000 with the epoxy deal + budget foam |
Weight goal: keep the rigged boat two-person-cartoppable (hull ideally under ~85 lb). Repair goal: any common fix achievable for under $25 in glass + epoxy — the basis for the engineering design competition.
What the molded boat costs
Target: about $1,000 out of pocket for a new owner — for a finished, durable, weekend-built fiberglass one-design. We keep it there by sourcing at-cost materials through partnerships (epoxy, glass, hardware) and giving the mold, plans, and curriculum away free. The nonprofit gives away the knowledge and tooling; the builder pays only the at-cost materials for their own boat.
Two ways to get on the water, by design:
| Path | Boat | Rough cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plywood | Glue-and-screw scow, fully non-marine | ~$450 | The floor — anyone, anywhere, today, no partnership needed |
| Molded | Fiberglass hull from the travelling mold, West System epoxy at-cost | ~$1,000 | A durable, weekend-built fleet boat once the mold and deals are in place |
Honest about it. The ~$1,000 target depends on landing the at-cost deals (West System and others); without them, epoxy-and-glass materials run higher. The mold itself is real upfront craftsmanship to build well. But it’s a one-time cost that pays back across every hull that follows — and the quartered design means one mold serves many communities. It’s the difference between giving someone a fish and giving the whole country a net.
This is an open project track — it kicks off once the plywood prototype has proven the hull, and runs in parallel with the partnership outreach.
When it’s ready, it’s yours
The finished plans, cut lists, build videos, and the quartered-mold drawings will be free to download and free to build from — for a backyard, a classroom, a scout troop, or a whole community fleet. That’s the whole point.
Sources to verify
Designs & methods: Puddle Duck Racer · Storer (OzGoose/OzRacer) · Jim Michalak’s boats · Bolger/Payson Instant Boats · Duckworks · Polysail (polytarp sails) · Sailrite (Dacron). Prices: Home Depot · Lowe’s · Duckworks store (marine hardware). Epoxy: West System / Gougeon Brothers.