Dyer Midget

When I bought my Enderlein sloop in 1995, a Dyer Midget dinghy was included. The previous owner had found it at the bottom of a harbor in the Caribbean while snorkeling. It had a rather large hole in the bottom and was in bad shape. He raised it from the bottom and did a quick fix, then used it as his tender. At 7′-11″ long, it just fit on the foredeck. He had no idea how old it was, but I believe it was from the 60s. It had no floatation, and he had modified it to accept a sailing rig.

Dyer dinghies are great little boats. They are tough, carry a big load, tow well, row well, and also are designed to sail. I can attest to the load-carrying capacity as it was our tender for years, safely carrying myself, my wife, and two young sons (the younger starting when he was 6 months old) back and forth to our big boat. We did this in all weather conditions and often at night. A Dyer Midget has a lower freeboard than some of their larger boats and at 7′-11″ long, it felt like a tea cup. But, it never let us down.

After a few years as the kids were getting bigger, we found that we needed a larger tender. So we got a Tinker inflatable. I covered the Dyer and set her on sawhorses behind the garage. After losing the Tinker years later while sailing in some weather off Block Island, we pulled out the Dyer and used it for another couple of years. By that time it had deteriorated quite a bit and was covered in duct tape. Clearly we needed something in better shape and a lot larger as my sons were no longer kids! I bought Jimmy Buffet’s old AB Inflatable, and the Dyer returned to it’s old spot on those sawhorses.

It was now time for its resurrection. That would prove to be an understatement!

Dyer Midget Restoration

The following posts chronicle the restoration stages for a Dyer Dow Midget.