Classics as new builds: Hansa dinghy and long keeler in do-it-yourself construction
Morten Strauch
· 08.03.2024
It is bitterly cold at the end of November when the door opens to the small warehouse where a long-cherished lifelong dream has come true. The small building is located on the premises of a horticulturalist near Bonn, and there is nothing to suggest that classic yachts are being relaunched here.
We are greeted by the slight, almost fragile-looking Wolfram Thiele in red overalls. The first impression is deceptive, however, as you can feel the trained arms of the former Bundesliga gymnast when you shake his hand. Two years ago, the 68-year-old became German senior champion.
A lifeboat became a long keeler
He also brings the virtues of a successful gymnast - hard work, perseverance and meticulousness - to his boat-building projects, and has been doing so for around 45 years. "I built my first boat as a young student and it's still sailing today," says Thiele as he adjusts his headband. It is also uncomfortably cold in the hall. In 1978, Thiele and a friend discovered a completely dilapidated lifeboat on the Hanover-Linden canal. They bought it for 1,000 marks and dreamed of sailing around the world.
The students spent five years building the eight-metre vessel, which was not originally designed as a sailing boat. They placed a long keel under the wooden hull and a mast on the deck - without any previous experience. Their motto was learning by doing. As a budding engineer, Thiele's mathematical understanding helped him to make bending moment and stability calculations. "Of course, we paid a lot of tuition fees, but the experience I gained was to benefit me many years later," recalls the Hanover native.
"Pina" sails the North Sea, Baltic Sea and English Channel
After the launch in 1983, his friend left the joint project. Thiele trailers the "Pina" to Fehmarn, where he takes her on extended Baltic Sea cruises over the next two decades. His career took him first to Stuttgart and later to Bonn. Despite the longer distance, he still travelled to his beloved boat as often as possible.
"Pina" proves her seaworthiness on long voyages to the Åland archipelago and the Koster Islands on Sweden's west coast. Finally, she was moved to the Grevelingenmeer in the Netherlands to sail the North Sea and English Channel for the next 20 years.
The dream: building a classic wooden boat
Thiele's longing to sail around the world faded over the years, but a new dream came into his focus: to build a classic wooden boat. This time alone and from the very beginning. But Thiele is also a realist and realises that a lot of time is needed. "You can't pull off a project like this on the side," he says looking back. "Either the quality suffers or the family does. Many a hobby boat builder has lost their way." So he waits patiently until retirement comes into sight.
Either the quality suffers or the family does"
The go-ahead for his big project was given in 2017. "I decided on a Hansa dinghy early on. It's not only beautiful, but also practical because it can be trailered. There is also an active class association. I saw that as an advantage, for example to be able to share experiences."
The Hansa dinghy has become a feast for the eyes
Thiele carefully pulls the tarpaulin off the new edition of the German classic, which was completed in 2020. Even in the harsh light of the construction spotlights, the Hansa dinghy is a feast for the eyes. His gaze wanders from the cockpit over the immaculately painted hull and lingers on the flanged engine between the keel and rudder blade. "Whether inboard or outboard, I don't think combustion engines are up to date any more. Far too loud and dirty!" he explains.
As the retired electrical engineer wants to sail in and out of the harbour and combustion engines are being banned on more and more lakes, this is a far-sighted decision. Cooking is also electric and there is a 230-volt connection.
The entire construction project was systematically planned from start to finish. When studying the large-format original construction plans, Thiele realised at the time that they were not only confusing, but also incomplete. Intermediate frames and dimensions were missing, for example. However, the dimensions required for the construction would have had to be determined in a time-consuming process of drawing the floor.
"To do this, it would have been necessary to draw the entire line plan on the hall floor at a scale of 1:1. Perpendicular to this would have been the desired frame positions in order to measure the dimensions at the intersections. However, this method is very error-prone, which almost inevitably leads to time-consuming adjustment work on the inner hull afterwards."
The CAD drawing takes one winter
So the retired engineer sits down in front of his computer for a winter and first draws each individual component and then the complete design with the help of a CAD programme. The highlight: all the necessary steps for the lacing work can now be carried out conveniently and with high precision on the PC. Thiele prints the digital frame outline on DIN A0 paper for the port and starboard sides and then glues them together again in the original scale on a worktop. In this way, all the frames and all other components such as floor frames, bulkheads and deck beams can be made to fit precisely without having to painstakingly rework the boat later.
Probably the biggest problem with the classic centreboard keel is the notorious leakage of the centreboard box, which is located below the waterline. To eliminate this shortcoming in the long term, Thiele has come up with an intelligent solution: the centreboard halyard does not come out of the box vertically as originally intended, but from the side. It then runs in a thin tube to below the edge of the deck, where it is deflected and guided onto a buoy that can be operated by the helmsman. This design is not only completely watertight, but also eliminates the need for the usual dome in the cockpit, which obstructs access to the cabin.
The Hansa dinghy should be able to swim for 200 years
The passionate boat builder also dispenses with traditional frame and plank construction in order to permanently protect the hull from moisture. "Today's modern wooden boat construction makes it possible to build a ship that will last longer than any GRP boat with the right care. I'm sure that my dinghy will still be able to swim in 200 years' time - without the need for extensive restoration work." Thiele opted for a moulded hull in which individual layers of mahogany veneer are attached cross-diagonally to thin strips.
The hull, which is only 13.5 millimetres thick overall, has no negative impact on stability. On the contrary, the hull is so stable and torsionally rigid that a smaller number of frames are only required for moulding, fitting bulkheads and for accommodating putties.
If, contrary to expectations, the centreboard box does need to be refurbished, the stainless steel ballast keel filled with lead shot can be easily removed. However, this is a hypothetical case for Thiele, as nothing can rot due to the lack of penetrating moisture. But be safe.
There is no point in saving money anywhere on the boat. Everything has to be top quality. Otherwise it will be expensive!"
Optimisation of rudder and mast supports
Another special feature compared to the traditional Hansa dinghy is the pre-balanced rudder blade. Due to its design, this is exposed to less rudder pressure. In addition, the rudder, which is glued together from several sheets of plywood, extends far below the hull, thus avoiding the annoying risk of diving in a wave trough. To minimise the risk of grounding when the centreboard is retracted, it does not extend lower than the ballast keel.
As Thiele often sails alone, he opted for mast slides instead of a groove for the mainsail luff to make it easier to use. At the point where the mast stands on the deck, the three deck beams originally planned are, in the perfectionist's opinion, a faulty design. According to Thiele, these would not cushion the mast pressure sufficiently. This is why Hansa dinghies often have problems with water penetrating from above. Many owners have constructed mast supports. However, these tend to be a nuisance in the interior. So Thiele reinforced the centre mast beam with stainless steel rails and then wrapped it in veneer. This means that the interior not only remains dry, but also unobstructed.
Imitators can buy Thiele's plans and documentation
Despite all the modifications, his newly built Hansa dinghy conforms to the measurement regulations of the class association. This was important to the self-taught sailor right from the start. Thiele has also meticulously documented the details of his planning and construction process. Interested parties can purchase the 100-page document for a flat fee, as well as the digitised construction plans (wolfram.thiele@netcologne.de). Everything is described not only factually, but also lovingly and vividly. It is fun to delve into and may inspire some people to follow suit.
The vast majority of people would rather restore an old ship than build a new one"
However, Thiele would advise less experienced DIY enthusiasts against such a complex project. "Someone who takes a haphazard approach and drives to the DIY store for every screw they need will lose an endless amount of time and money. Even with foresighted planning, at least 100 different purchasing processes are necessary for the entire construction." Thiele's thoughts on preparation and organisation as well as the purchase of materials and tools are also fascinating to read.
Thiele has listed all the required components in a table so that material lists for the respective construction phase can be created using the various filter options offered by the computer programme. For example, all plywood components can be filtered according to a specific thickness, making it easier to plan the purchase and transport of the panels.
All in all, the man from Bonn has invested 30,000 euros in his Hansa dinghy, including hall hire, engine, sails, trailer and materials. A comparatively low sum - but this does not take into account the 3,500 hours of labour. A shipyard would have charged a six-figure sum for this, even if the labour time would probably have been significantly less.
Thiele's next project is an in-house design
After completing his project four years ago, Thiele cannot simply stop. Boatbuilding has become a part of his life that he no longer wants to miss, at least for the next few years. So he threw himself into his next project. "First I wanted to build the Lower Saxony dinghy, which is the same design but one size bigger." There are only 30 of these in existence, which is why they are in such high demand. However, as the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard didn't want to issue him with a licence, he quickly set about building one himself.
This will eventually replace his now 40-year-old cruising yacht "Pina", which is why Thiele is once again opting for an eight-metre long keeler. He copied the frame outline from an outline from the 1930s, which he had copied, enlarged and digitised from an issue of YACHT many years ago. It had been lying dormant on a hard drive for 20 years. Now Thiele is bringing it back to life.
However, as the new boat is to be a lightweight construction despite the long keel, the frame plan has to be heavily modified to make the underwater hull flatter. The aim is to achieve a total weight of 1,600 kilograms in order to stay under two tonnes including a trailer. This means that the rig can still be towed by a medium-sized SUV.
Thiele took many of the ideas for the construction project, such as the moulding of the hull or the digitised construction plans, from the Hansa dinghy. However, the printed frame plan already comprises four sheets, as the boat is correspondingly larger. The headroom in the interior, however, is only 1.65 metres, which is due to the self-imposed weight requirement and the resulting lower superstructure height.
The large order of wood proved to be a stroke of luck
"The main thing is that I can sit and look out of the window while eating," smiles Thiele as he strokes along the still upturned hull. "The boat won't have any openings below the waterline either. After all, we don't want it to sink because of a faulty sea valve!" A proper toilet will still be on board, but the faeces can only be extracted in the harbour. In an emergency, a mobile hand pump will have to be used to empty the full tank at sea. The boat will also be made unsinkable by means of two buoyancy boxes, each divided into six sections.
The resourceful inventor ordered all the wood for the new building, worth 11,000 euros, in one go in order to benefit from discounts. A blessing, not only from an organisational point of view, but also from a financial one, as it soon turns out. Due to high demand and low availability, timber prices later go through the roof.
Thiele has now been building his third boat for two and a half years. He reckons it will take a total of six years to build. Progress is slower than with the Hansa dinghy, as the motivation to finish as quickly as possible has diminished. What's more, he already owns two ships that are ready to sail and still want to be sailed and maintained. But who knows, maybe he is just unconsciously delaying completion.
Thiele has big plans for his boats
Wolfram Thiele still has a few cruise plans in the drawer or on the hard drive: he plans to take the Hansa dinghy to the Swiss and Italian Alpine lakes, to the waters around Berlin and also to the Dutch canals, some of which can only be navigated with a folding mast. River trips on the Elbe or Danube also appeal to him. After all, he has already travelled up the Thames to London on his "Pina".
As soon as the new cruising yacht has water under its keel, long trips will be possible again. Perhaps around Great Britain or to the Canary Islands, with his son and grandchildren on board. Until then, you are most likely to meet him in the gym or in the boat building hall.
The Hansa dinghy
In 1947, Henry Rasmussen designed the Hansa dinghy due to the Allied ban on larger new boats. From 1949 to 1969, the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard built around 200 boats using conventional carvel construction methods.
Prominent owners included Rollo Gebhard, who sailed as far as Yemen with his "Solveig", and Wilfried Erdmann. He recorded his travel experiences in his book "A German Sailing Summer".
Specifications:
- Overall length: 5.85 m
- Width: 1.65 m
- Draught with centreboard: 1.0 m
- Draught without centreboard: 0.5 m
- Ballast keel: 150 kg
- Sail area: 14 m²
Self-constructed long keeler
- Hull length: 7.90 m
- Width: 2.48 m
- Draught: 1.0 m
- Total weight: 1,600 kg
- Ballast incl. batteries: 700 kg
- Sail area main + jib: 28 m²
- Buoyancy boxes: 2x 600 litres
- Drive: electric motor, 2x 4 kW
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Morten Strauch
Editor News & Panorama
