Sailboat Plans A Fine Place To Start
Building your own sailboat
The feeling of opening a package with plans for your new sailboat is both exciting and frightening.
You can’t imagine what it will look like, how you’ll build the mast from scratch or seal off all those little screws on deck hardware, but at least you have 10 pages worth of beautiful blueprints to stare at!
The amateur is finally able to see the world as it truly is. They question if they have the character and endurance for such a life-changing project, but their mind cannot help being blown by all of its possibilities.
I am left awestruck with my own thoughts about what this magnificent creation will demand from me in return, do I have enough strength and perseverance to build this?
Recently, there has been a trend in high-quality boats. It used to be that the people who designed and built these boats were professionals only with years of experience under their belts; oftentimes they would cost you an arm and leg if you wanted one for yourself.
However now thanks to modern design techniques made possible by new materials like plywood, fiberglass, and epoxy resins, it is easier than ever before for amateur boat builders to construct a lightweight strong composite hulls at home without breaking the bank!
Many production boatbuilders have vanished from this class leaving behind a thriving industry created by professional designers/naval architects designing plans specifically geared towards amateurs looking for specialized craftsmanship projects but not ready or able financially to take on something more expensive.
The practical reasons for building your own boat are hard to beat back. There is a risk, as not everyone who starts will finish.
It may be a huge undertaking with no guarantee of success; the finished product might end up being more expensive than you bargained on and less refined than those that have been designed over years by professionals.
And there’s also no way to save money – used fiberglass boats can be found at about half the cost of parts and materials needed for home-building them yourself!
A lot of people are tempted to build their own boats, but a logical and practical argument against building your own boat is hard to beat back.
There’s risk; not everyone who starts will finish. An inexperienced builder probably won’t end up with a boat whose functional details are as well-executed as those of the production boats that have undergone years in design refinement.
It’s also no way for you to save money either–a used fiberglass boat can be found at half the cost or less than parts and materials needed for comparable home-built vessels when they’re bought from dealerships such on websites like Craigslist.
Even though the cost of a wooden boat is more than that of fiberglass, they are much better in terms of aesthetics and craftsmanship.
Furthermore, because it’s wood it’s easier to give them an individualized look based on what you’re looking for as opposed to having a pre-made color scheme with most other boats.
For example, the 21ft gaff rigged sailboat I’m currently building will end up costing between $20k-$30k fully outfitted, much higher than new prices from 2 popular fiberglass boats near the same size (which way is cheaper?).
And yes, while it may demand more maintenance due mainly to being made from strong durable woods rather than plastic or metal like those mentioned before; there are many.
I am a serial boatbuilder, however, I know that with enough experience to not want more. This is my 6 build; preceding it have been 3 other sailboats and a couple of kayaks.
However, this time around the prospect of building something complicated became an opportunity for life-changing experiences, and what started as just another experiment in making toys turned into a thing that has happened before by many amateur builders.
How I started
Dreams are often what motivate us to pursue our goals and, in some cases, the dreams can be lofty. When dreaming of building a boat there is always the risk that one day, it will become reality or end up as expensive firewood – which would you rather have?
I recommend starting with something smaller like a dinghy so you can get your feet wet before taking on more ambitious projects such as sailboats.
Designers post hilariously optimistic building times on their catalogs. I can’t tell you how long it will take because no one knows, but be reasonable and multiply the time by two or three to get an idea of what’s in store for you.
My first boat was a 13ft 6in a sailing dinghy that took over 400 hours while my second 19ft gaff sloop required 1,000 hours! A friend who made a 23 ft Bermuda sloop put together over 6000 hrs. of hard work before he was done with his dream design project–talk about dedication!
Designers often list expected build-time estimates when they release new boats into their lineup. These are usually laughable due to the lack of real experience or understanding that designers have concerning the process.
To build a sailboat, there are many different skills needed and not just cutting and fitting wooden parts. For composite hulls, you also need to know fiber-glassing which is hard because good fiberglass work requires sculpting coves of thickened epoxy in order to strengthen joints such as bulkhead-to-hull while the boat shell cures underneath it.
When painting a boat, it is important to be careful not to do so sloppily. Paint and varnishing are difficult that require years of practice in order for them to look like they were done by an expert.
That being said, don’t feel bad if you’re just looking for a workboat” finish–you’ll still have attractive results!
When painting your boat, make sure you take the time needed when doing each step or else your work will show visible flaws because of lackadaisical technique.
It takes experience with paint and varnish before one can get good enough at these skills such as applying three coats per foot on every surface without dripping any excess material onto areas where there should be none.
When I arrived at my final step on my complicated gaffer Nil Desperandum, it became clear that the plans provided little illumination.
To see what was going on, I phoned Sam Devlin and said “I’m about to turn this job over to a professional; he will charge me $5,000.” But then again if you don’t have any experience with rigging beforehand—what would be the point of paying for someone else?
Then there’s rigging! When I first attempted these last steps in designing my boat Nil Desperandum–it seemed like all hope had been lost until one day when faced with such an expense–I called up some friends who were more experienced than myself. They helped!
I once read a book on rigging and spent days wandering marinas in the Seattle area, camera at hand.
I studied how boats my size were rigged for hours. Finally, after many visits to various chandleries who combed through plans with me two or three times over before finally coming up with something that worked well enough.
I had some trepidation about doing it again when buying another boat but felt confident as soon as I bought one because now, they work so admirably!
The step from dinghy to cruising boat is not to be taken lightly; new complexities are present at every turn.
How does one execute the corners of the trunk cabin? Garden-shed carpentry won’t do: these are prominent details featuring gracefully complicated curvy parts and “other than right angles.
My solution involved making mockup corner posts from scrap wood, in order for me to make sure I was cutting against grain correctly before reaching for expensive mahogany.
Taking this extra step-cut against impatient nature. The cost of my patience paid off because all that hard work really made a difference!
When I first started this project, it took all my patience to do the work.
But little by little with each new task completed, something in me changed and soon enough my impatience turned into patient resolve as I learned that no matter how big or daunting a challenge as there are always small steps one can take towards achieving success.