Designing a seaworthy tender to be carried aboard a cruising yacht is something that even professional boat designers describe as a tall order.  This is particularly true in the case of Nova Vida, where a length of less than 6 feet is available on the cabin top forward of the mast, and the handrails along the cabin top sides place restrictions on the available width.  El Niño is a first attempt a finding the ideal compromise, and is pictured at right after its second major modification.

Built of 4mm thick pine plywood and sheathed in glass cloth impregnated with epoxy resin, El Niño is strong yet still light enough to be carried by one adult.

Its main problem initially was a lack of reassuring stability when compared with bigger boats.  The short length allowed the bow to rise or fall alarmingly when someone suddenly shifted position inside or suddenly adjusted engine power.  If you look carefully at the pictures you may see the second modification made to alleviate this problem... retractable flotation tubes extend out about a meter on each side of the back of the boat, making it behave more like a longer craft.