John,

My guess is that more people have built take-aparts for your reasons than to fit on the decks of their cruisers. I also think that we'll be seeing more of these types of designs with the plague of HOAs that's started to afflict this poor country. Being able to ditch the trailer and to store the boat out of the Home Nazis' sight is a great advantage and simplification for suburban boaters. And as the population ages, not having to handle the full weight of the boat will mean that folks will be able to keep boating longer.

I had the opportunity to see a couple of PMD TAs (including the one that was cut apart on camera) recently. I was impressed by how exactly they nested and by how fair the curves of the sides were. TAs that I've seen in the past were somewhat boxy and/or suffered from springback when the boats were cut, distorting their curves. It seems that CLC's system for cutting and joining the pieces works a lot better than ones in the past.

The only downsides I can think of are the stress of taking a chainsaw to your boat and a few pounds of extra weight. That's assuming that the boat is properly designed for taking apart (as the PMD TA is). The extra weight comes from needing additional structure to individually support each half and to join them in a solid leakproof fashion. With clever design, the same structure can serve both purposes, as well as one for the assembled boat (such as a seat support), so the weight penalty compared to a one-piece can be very minimal.

Laszlo

We built a TA last Spring.  The boat fits in the back of our pickup so no need for a trailer.  Cutting the boat was traumatic--I cut some things that shouldn't have been cut. Epoxy and wood fill covered most of the damage.  I love the boat. 

You can decide later if you want to cut it in half!

I received an e-mail from CLC today with a link to a video of the nesting Eastport Pram. Some how I found my way to the Take-Apart Passagemaker Dinghy. It's such a pretty boat (both, actually) I-don't-know-if I-could-do-IT!

Easier to sell the house and hire porters!

JW

What attracts me to the Passagemaker is its versatility. It rows well, sails well - with two rigs, and can even take a motor.

The take apart is even more adaptable. With  a few 2x4's scarfed together and a modest amount of duct tape  I can finally have my thirty footer! (see diagram below)

 John 

|_____ x---------------------------x ___/ 

Stern     24' of scarfed 2x4's        Bow 

better yet ,  your 24' of scarfed 2 x 4 will give you a 36',  plenty of room for a huge solar panel to power the big screen TV