Design
Sentinel Explorer 18
Designed by Dudley Dix
An 18 ft 1 in (5.5 m) classic open sailing dinghy by Dudley Dix, listed on his site as the Explorer 18. It has long been a fiberglass production boat from Sentinel Boats in South Africa, and plans now cover a lapstrake plywood version joined with glass-taped epoxy fillets. It carries a 144 sq ft gunter rig with a foot batten in place of a boom, a steel centreplate, an outboard of up to 10 hp stowed on its side in a well, and enough buoyancy to be unsinkable. A boom tent makes it a camp cruiser.
The plywood version was simplified for amateur building, with full size bulkhead patterns included and panel patterns optional. Budget 500 to 900 hours. Real hours from logged builds are below.
What building a Sentinel Explorer 18 actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate. Nobody has logged this boat here yet, so they are empty until the first builder does.
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Builds of this boat
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Start the first log of this boatBoats like this one
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| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 ft Canoe Yawl Iota , Catboat or Gaff Sloop | Benford Design Group | 18′ 0″ (5.49 m) | 0 |
| 18 ft Cat Ketch | Benford Design Group | 18′ 0″ (5.49 m) | 0 |
| Lit'l Coot 18 Bilge Keel | Devlin | 18′ 0″ (5.49 m) | 0 |
| Sport Boat 18 | Bateau | 18′ 0″ (5.49 m) | 0 |
| Hornolo | Yannick Maignien | 18′ 1″ (5.5 m) | 1 |
| PUCK 550 | BCA Demco | 5.5 m (18′ 1″) | 0 |