MrCruise wrote:
When I said short bluewater trips, I mean short blue water trips. To me,
this means fair weather runs to the reef 7 miles off shore from where I
live (Daytona Beach area).

The term "blue water" sailing means different things to different
people. To my mind, the phrase summons up images of certain household
cleaning products; but many people will indignantly insist that it means
'sailing around Cape Horn' or some such.

I would call your excursion 'open water day sailing' since you will not
be away from a sheltered harbor more than 14 hours, most likely much less.


... I like to fish out there and it's just scary
doing it in Frankenboat, my 14ft aluminum johnboat.

The vacationmer and weekender seem like easy projects for this type of
use. Or am I overestimating it's abilities?

I'd estimate the Stevenson Projects boat as less capable, weather &
sea-condition wise, than your johnboat. They are unballasted flat-iron
skiffs with added weight, and most of that up high where it's harmful.

They are cool looking but a bad choice IMHO for exposure to serious or
risky sailing. Of course, with added positive flotation, they'll at
least keep you from having to swim home, so they can't be all bad

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Several boats come to mind although they are definitely more difficult to
build than the Weekender.

1. George Buehler's POGO. This is a little daysailor that will do nicely
for the use mentioned. it is small and built with plywood and easily
available materials. It is a cute boat that should be fun to sail but it is
also ballasted and is a durn sight more boat than it seems. The down side
is the plans are not free but you got a lot of question answering from
George.

2. Sam Devlin has a couple of small sail boats that are stitch and glue
design. His boats finish nicely and the boats that I have seen at the
Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend are good sailors. Sam also has a book
that is helpful in the building.

3. on the Goodchild site is a little boat called a mini MORC racer from the
late 50's. I love this little boat and it is made for ocean racing so it
can take quite a lot. It is of course a lot more to build but should be
within the ability of a first timer if you take your time on it.

Of course if you look around you can find a reasonable number of small to
medium size day sailors that are for sale and the cost is likely less than
you would pay for building one of these.

Brian