When boatbuilder Mike Severance's friend came to him with a request for something to replace an old inflatable, little did the two know they'd be designing their own version of that venerable, utilitarian little craft, the yachtsman's dinghy.

The two sat down at the table, and started talking about criteria. "We knew what we didn't want — we didn't want it to act like a drogue when you're towing it," says Severance, of Bay of Maine Boats, in Kennebunkport. "It had to be easy to get on and off, whether at a dock or the gunwale of a boat, so we wanted it to be stiff. It had to be easy to row ashore, with groceries or a couple of friends. And, when somebody goes by with a killer wake, we wanted it to be dry, as dry as it could be, at least."

Hard or inflatable? Remember the hard dinghy? For some, itŐs still the only way to go Then again, those inflatables can offer flexibility for cruisers

Last, but not least, it had to have the right lines. "I had a dinghy on a charter once, and it did all those things," says Severance. "But it was this rectangular, blow-molded thing, and it was hideous. So our boat had to be yachty, too."

The result is a traditional looking, 10-foot yacht tender, made of fiberglass, with the lines of a wooden pulling boat. It can be rowed, sailed or run with an outboard, and carries up to four people, or a load of groceries and ice for the big boat. "It's my best-selling boat," says Severance, who also builds a 14-foot wherry. "I have customers as far away as the Bahamas, Michigan and Texas."

It seems the market for a nice-looking, practical, non-inflatable dinghy is alive and well.

Maine is a good place to come looking for such a boat. Small shops such as Severance's produce a variety of small craft in wood and fiberglass, all with their traditional antecedents obvious in their lines. What's not so obvious is their qualities as yacht tenders, or just plain pleasure boats.

Here's a look a three builders' products.

Eric Dow Boat Shop
Eric Dow, 50, has been building small boats in Brooklin for 30 years. One of his most popular models is a 13.7-foot Pea Pod, a fiberglass version of the traditional double-ended fishing boat of a century ago.

"The Pea Pod has evolved over the years," says Dow. "This one is based on an older Deer Island design from Nate Eaton. That was a working Pea Pod, and didn't have all the graceful shape you see on some of them. I had a customer who wanted me to build him something like it. So I lofted it up and built him one, out of wood. I did a half-dozen, then went to fiberglass."

Dow puts the boat together with hand-laid fiberglass, and adds flotation fore and aft and under the thwarts, then finishes it off with wood trim. "The whole thing weighs 115 pounds, so one person can handle it, and it's easy for two."

The Pea Pod was famous for its sailing and rowing qualities, and Dow's boat is no different. "The great characteristic of the 13.7 Pea Pod is how well they row, and we've built several sail models with a sprit rig, too," he says. "And we've seen some people who have put canoe-style engine brackets on them."

Most buyers use the Pea Pod as a pleasure boat, but it works well as a tender to a cruising vessel, too, albeit a large one. "It's a load-carrier — it can handle some gear and at least two or three people," says Dow. "It's seaworthy, something you can row ashore in or get back out to the big boat safely, even in a blow. Being a little bigger (than the average tender), it rows well through rough weather. But this is not a small boat, and, as a tender, it goes with a big boat."

Sakonnet Skiffs
George Allen, of Sakonnet Skiffs, in Portsmouth, R.I., has been building small craft for 12 years. The main model is a wooden, 9-foot, 7-inch skiff based on a boat built by Walter Simmons, a Maine wood carver and small-boat designer and builder.

"I bought his plans and finished the first one in 1992," says Allen. The dinghy/tender comes in three versions, including a sailing model with a gaff rig. Allen builds the mast, the gaffs, a daggerboard box and daggerboard for the boat. It's hard-chined, for stability, and has a beam over about three-and-a-half feet, also substantial. "It will take an adult or two, and a bag of groceries. It has a good skeg on it, and it tows and rows very well. It's a stable platform, and that's what you want in a dinghy like this."

Allen "overbuilds" the three-lapstrake skiff, using sawn chines of white oak, white oak for the transom and white oak for the rails. The sides and bottom are of okume marine plywood. He finishes the boat in natural wood, using Spanish cedar for the seats. "I do the interior in clear wood sealer, with two coats of varnish and a coat of Epifanes, in a matte finish," he says. "It's a beautiful boat when it's done."

Allen also builds a 10-foot, 6-inch sailing dinghy, with a small flat bottom plank, but it's essentially round-hulled, based on Walter Simmons' Sunshine skiff, built around the turn of the 20th century. "It's really, really a beauty," says Allen. "It's all okume, and the keel and keelson, ribs and rails are white oak. The seats and transom are Spanish cedar."

Allen plans to advertise the 10-foot, 6-inch skiff as a rowing boat and a tender. "Ninety-nine percent of the tenders you see are little inflatables, so it's going to take the right person for one of these boats," he says. "But it's the right boat for that person."

Bay of Maine Boats
Severance, 64, has been building dinghies at Bay of Maine Boats for more than 20 years, starting with the 14-footer he still builds.

The 10-footer is built using hand-laid fiberglass, and Severance trims the vessel out in oiled teak trim for the gunwale, rowing thwart and the outboard motor mounts. There's a dual-purpose towing eye that Severance and his partner designed themselves and have locally cast. "One eye is for a trailer tie-down, or when you're towing," says Severance. "The other can be used for an additional bow fender or a cover."

The bilges are wide and parallel to aid in tracking when rowing or towing. The tender also carries a modest 36-square-foot sailing rig, and it's one of its most popular features. "It's not hard to sail, you don't have to hike out," says Severance. "You can take the spouse out, or the grandchild, and you've got enough sail to move you along."

After all the talk about capacity, stability and tradition, there's one other reason why these small craft still have such an appeal, says Severance. There's just something about them. "At the end of the day, you're in a nice anchorage or harbor, and it's peaceful and you're tired," he says. "So you get in the dinghy, set the sail, lie in the bilges and poke around your anchorage, look into coves, watching the wildlife, admiring the sunset. It's a part of cruising that people sometimes don't consider. But it's a lot of fun, and versatile. Nice-looking little boats like these make it possible."