Having selected the Morbic I ordered an digital set of drawings from Francois Vivier. They looked really good  with lots of information in them and each time I looked at them I noticed some new detail so they were definitely worth studying to understand how things fitted together. The guide to building the boat was less detailed and assumed some prior knowledge.

The guides were supplemented by a set of detailed general instructions. I’m still trying to make sense of all of them as the majority are in French, a language I never studied, but Google Translate is my friend and there is a lot of useful information there.

Next step was ordering the CNC machined plywood pieces from Jordan Boats. I discussed the order with Alec who was very helpful in tailoring the plywood to my requirements as I wanted the forward deck and transom in sapele plywood in case I decided to varnish them and leave them bright. The kit arrived safely, very well packed and labelled and the machining had been done to a high standard and appears to fit together well.

The final major purchase at this stage was the timber required to build the dinghy. On Alec’s recommendation I visited Gilmour and Aitken in Balloch and discussed my requirements. It was quite a challenge to estimate quantities from the cutting list! Knowing the sizes of the boards available I spent some time playing around with options to minimise waste whilst making allowances for cutting and planning the timber.

I had decided on Douglas Fir for the mast, spars and miscellaneous battens. Sapele for the thwarts, gunwales and other trim. The mast would need to be made up of two pieces but I could get the length without needing to resort scarph joints.

In the end I ordered

• 2 boards of 2¹/₂” x 10″ x 16′ of Douglas fir
• 2 boards of 1¹/₂” x 10″ x 13′ Sapele
• 2 boards of 2″ x 10″ x 14′ Sapele

In fact I could have managed with one less board of sapele, but I will find a use for it. The wood delivered was very good quality, straight and almost knot free and at what I thought was a reasonable price. (Certainly when compared with the price and quality of timber in DIY stores)

I also ordered up the epoxy resin and decided to go with PEC multipurpose slow eco epoxy resin supplied by Fyne Boats as I was familiar with it and it has a very low odour.

The final essential purchase was Ian Oughtred’s excellent book “Clinker Plywood Boatbuilding Manual”.