On Jun 30, 2:53?am, Chuck Gould wrote:
Went to an interesting launching.

A local fundamentalist church supports some orphanages in So. Africa.

One of the members is a pretty skilled boat builder, and he dreamed up
a project to support the mission. The church started a boat building
company, and the first one splashed Friday.

Thain Boats will all be cold molded. Hull #1 is a reproduction of a
classic fantail yacht from the 1930's. Most people will think it's a
restored classic rather than a brand new boat.

I've been told there are 3500 manhours labor in the boat, plus
materials.
A lot of the labor has been donated by church members, so the
company's cost of building the boat is pretty low. They hope to sell
this particular model with single diesel power for $219,000, a figure
at which they hope to be kept very busy building boats and still be
able to send a steady stream of money to AIDS orphans in So, Africa.

It was surprising that there wasn't a lot of press at the launch, I
think I was the only guy there not affiliated with the church.

I may post some launch photos over on p.base, and if I do I will add a
link to this thread.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/launch_of_thain_hull_1

Additional information about the group(s) inolved in the project

www.agathosfoundation.org
www.onechurchonevillage.org

www.marshillchurch.org