Built your own Contender
Plans For Building a Contender; Buying an ISAF Plaque

Plans for building a Contender are available for purchase. Plans must be purchased from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

It is very strongly recommended to prospective amateur builders that accurate copies of the measurement templates be secured and used to check the progress of the hull shape as the boat is being built. Building from plans alone is likely to result in a boat which does not measure. All Contenders must be measured and the measurer uses these templates to check conformance to specification.

All Contenders must have a plaque purchased from the ISAF permanently installed in a visible location within the cockpit. These plaques must be purchased directly from the ISAF.

planslistInternational Sailing Federation
Ariadne House, Town Quay,
Southampton, Hants.SO23 7QJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)2389 635111
Fax: +44 1703 635789
Link to page on ISAF site where you can
order the plans and see the prices.

If you have technical questions,
email: technical @ isaf.co.uk
copy, paste into email application and remove the spaces

Additionally you have to pay the license fees
to the ISAF (as you do for any new Contender,
homebuilt or otherwise) to purchase a plaque which is
to be installed in the completed and measured hull.
The current cost in December 2007 is £119.84 (pounds Sterling).
ISAF will accept orders to be paid on one's credit card.

You may direct your inquiry about purchasing a plaque to
Russell Shepherd
ISAF Accounts

The plan sheets available are shown to the right.
We recommend items1,2,3A,4 and 8.
Item 7 is no longer relevant.

An amateur builder is not permitted all glass fiber construction.
Therefore item 6A may not be very useful to an amateur.

Amateur builders may build a wood boat (timber construction). Amateur builders are also permitted to acquire a glass fibre hull built by a licensed builder and then add the wood parts necessary to construct a composite hull.

Many people have successfully built their own Contender dinghies, and it is probably not as difficult as it seems at first sight. Most of these amateur builders will be happy to share their experiences with you if you are starting your own boat building project. Best addresses to start with are the national Contender associations which will be happy to bring you together with any amateur builder in your country. Only licensed builders may build in GRP (glasfibre construction).

You may read or download rules from Rule_Index.