Thomas,

Sorry for the acidic tone - this weekend, at the Snow Row in Hull Mass, I
was shown a very interesting, home-designed boat. Construction and finish
were gorgeous, and the builder had gone through remarkable effort to get
"approval" from a testing lab. But it was a radical design, which may - or
may not - work, and it wasn't obvious (to me) that it would meet the
builder's needs.

That brought to mind another story I saw not long ago, a fellow who spent 20
years or so building his dream boat - but he had NEVER been sailing! As I
recall the outcome was not real positive.

There are so many dreamers on this group, who would be well-served buying or
borrowing an older day-sailor, skiff, or runabout, and getting out on the
water for a few days! Sorry I didn't pick up from your note that you are
not in that category...

Hope you have read all of Gerr's and Bolger's books - not for specific
designs, but to understand the thinking. Look at the Atkins catalog. And
'Messing About in Boats' has a lot of good info, especially if you, like me,
are one of the people who enjoys Robb White.

Sal's Dad


As to Jim's warnings: Even the best home-built boat has a resale value
approaching zero. Just please, when you launch a home-designed boat,
take it out a lot, alone. Preferably before you reproduce.

I am not doing this for money :-). If I spend these hours working instead
of designing/building, I could probably buy a very nice boat and still
have money left :-)

I actually already own a 30 ft. yacht from 1937. The whole idea now is
actually not to get a boat, but to build it. Ofcourse I have ideas on how
to use it when it is finished, but the goal is the building of it. The
satisfaction to sail a boat I have build with my own hands. Now the dream
just got one step further - the design.

Best regards,
Thomas