Go to http://forum.woodenboat.com/ and http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/ for volumes of useful information.
Looking for suggestions on building a sailboat
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Here's a picture of my sand dollar
This is the boat I built at sail by none other than the Hankster out of Noank. PeterSea can also attest to the wonder of this home built boat. This is the best boat for this size. Takes 4 sheets of marine plywood, then a bunch of 1 X 12's that are perfectly clear (no knots). I spent a lot of time sorting through boards to find good ones with the right grain.
This is the boat I built at sail by none other than the Hankster out of Noank. PeterSea can also attest to the wonder of this home built boat. This is the best boat for this size. Takes 4 sheets of marine plywood, then a bunch of 1 X 12's that are perfectly clear (no knots). I spent a lot of time sorting through boards to find good ones with the right grain.
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Note that this boat can be rigged in many ways. I chose a lugsail rig, you can also use a marconi rig or a spritsail rig. I would guess a sunfish rig would also work. Planing downwind in 20 knots is a wild ride. The bottom is flat so it planes really easy and surfs. Going upwind with the lugsail rig is not that efficient but it get's you where you want to go.
Roger Long of this forum has a fine dingy design that could be built by anyone with fair wood working skills and enough self disipline to do it right. http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=598845&highlight=dinghy
Encouragement
In 1962, when they decided to dam up a creek and make Pierce Lake NW of Rockford, IL, my Dad asked if I'd like to build a sailboat with him. It was his second one, since he had built a sailing dinghy with his best friend in Hastings, MI around 1952. We hunted around, and decided on a 12 1/2 foot Moth scow (one like the current one design Butterfly - current Moths are wild experimental boats that sail on water foils!)).
Dad bought the plans, and we bought the lumber and marine plywood. We had a great time building her, and I learned a lot about boat building, about different woods (oak for the keelson, mahogany for the stern, spruce for the spars) and about the stresses a sailboat has to encounter.
We sailed our Moth until I got into racing Sunfish when in the Navy in Key West. Then Dad got a Sunfish to race on Pierce Lake. The Moth was a fine boat, stable in the gusts of a midwest small lake in the hills, and quick to plane. I took Joanne Junor out on sailing dates, and saw that she was game for the fun, even if we did turn over unexpectedly on the first one. (The Moth was easy to get back on her feet.) We married a couple of years later, and, when we bought our '77 h27, was promoted to Admiral!
You never know what will come out of building your own sailboat!
In 1962, when they decided to dam up a creek and make Pierce Lake NW of Rockford, IL, my Dad asked if I'd like to build a sailboat with him. It was his second one, since he had built a sailing dinghy with his best friend in Hastings, MI around 1952. We hunted around, and decided on a 12 1/2 foot Moth scow (one like the current one design Butterfly - current Moths are wild experimental boats that sail on water foils!)).
Dad bought the plans, and we bought the lumber and marine plywood. We had a great time building her, and I learned a lot about boat building, about different woods (oak for the keelson, mahogany for the stern, spruce for the spars) and about the stresses a sailboat has to encounter.
We sailed our Moth until I got into racing Sunfish when in the Navy in Key West. Then Dad got a Sunfish to race on Pierce Lake. The Moth was a fine boat, stable in the gusts of a midwest small lake in the hills, and quick to plane. I took Joanne Junor out on sailing dates, and saw that she was game for the fun, even if we did turn over unexpectedly on the first one. (The Moth was easy to get back on her feet.) We married a couple of years later, and, when we bought our '77 h27, was promoted to Admiral!
You never know what will come out of building your own sailboat!
simple question - no simple answer
Here are some amateur home builder forums:
http://forums.bateau2.com/index.php?sid=605bb31ffa4676e252f93d095e2759c0
http://messing-about.com/forums/index.php?board=1.0
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jwbuilders/ (Welsford is a very popular designer)
http://www.byyb.org/
and the granddaddy of them all: http://forum.woodenboat.com/index.php (note this thread particularly: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthr...st-12-sailing-dinghy-design&highlight=catspaw
a few more sites for plans:
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/index.html (Graham knows alot about boatbuilding and helping amateurs)
http://www.bateau.com/index.php
http://www.vivierboats.com/
http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/boatsearch.asp
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jw/index.htm (Chuck and Sandra very helpful)
http://www.selway-fisher.com/
http://www.wolstenholmedesign.com/dinghy.htm
http://www.woodenboatstore.com/departments.asp?dept=12
http://www.simplicityboats.com/summerbreeze.html (for a simple build)
There really is a lot out there.
You may want to do something simple first time though some people have built beautiful and elaborate boats first go round. If you go "whole hog", use good material and do it right. The time you invest makes using substandard materials imprudent.
Should keep you busy for a while.
Dale
Some good advice so far and some good sites and plans recommended. I recommend you check out a couple building forums and ask some questions there. Much depends on how much time and money you want to spend and what kind of building technique you want to use. This can range from maybe 50 hours to several hundred hours and from a few bucks if you're thrifty up to a few thousand; and from stitch and glue, to lapstrake, to strip built, to skin on frame, etc. My first build was a S&G sailing dinghy that cost $600 and 150 hours. I did a S&G canoe in 50 hours and $100. I'm doing a S&G Bateau SD11 right now that will run $1000-1500 and 150 hours.
Here are some amateur home builder forums:
http://forums.bateau2.com/index.php?sid=605bb31ffa4676e252f93d095e2759c0
http://messing-about.com/forums/index.php?board=1.0
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jwbuilders/ (Welsford is a very popular designer)
http://www.byyb.org/
and the granddaddy of them all: http://forum.woodenboat.com/index.php (note this thread particularly: http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthr...st-12-sailing-dinghy-design&highlight=catspaw
a few more sites for plans:
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/index.html (Graham knows alot about boatbuilding and helping amateurs)
http://www.bateau.com/index.php
http://www.vivierboats.com/
http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/boatsearch.asp
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jw/index.htm (Chuck and Sandra very helpful)
http://www.selway-fisher.com/
http://www.wolstenholmedesign.com/dinghy.htm
http://www.woodenboatstore.com/departments.asp?dept=12
http://www.simplicityboats.com/summerbreeze.html (for a simple build)
There really is a lot out there.
You may want to do something simple first time though some people have built beautiful and elaborate boats first go round. If you go "whole hog", use good material and do it right. The time you invest makes using substandard materials imprudent.
Should keep you busy for a while.
Dale
There are so many Good Old Boats out there just languishing and selling for nothing, why not find a fixer upper? You'll still get a sense of satisfaction and in the end have something that you know will sail okay. Just a thought...
My first sail boat was a Vagabond 17. Then an S2. Now I have just bought a Vagabond 14 (Holder 14, Hobie 14) for $1,000 including the trailer. It is a great small boat with positive flotation and a large open cockpit that will seat 4. It is fun and easy. Building a quality small boat will take a LONG TIME and lots of money. Check the web sites and good luck.
Here is a pic of a boat I built twenty three years ago and recently rebuilt. Not a great sail boat but fun to row around the marina. We get more comments on this one than on our Ericson Independence.
If I were to build again (other than the divorce it would cause) I would build the Core Sound 17. It is a fantastic boat. The designer and website have been mentioned in previous posts.
Go for it!
If I were to build again (other than the divorce it would cause) I would build the Core Sound 17. It is a fantastic boat. The designer and website have been mentioned in previous posts.
Go for it!
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As you have learned from this discussion there are as many opinions as there are boats. For a small boat you may have to build if you are willing to go over 12 to 14 feet your options increase enormously for good used glass boats that need some or a lot of attention. There are very few truly bad boats out there and they are usually just thrown away when they get so bad that no one will use them.
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