What boat should I build?

Somehow the the boat building bug has bitten you and you are about to set out on your first build. But what to build? What method should you use? Where do you find the plans, the technical knowhow? In any case you have come to the right place to ask. Our forum is full of once were first time builders all to willing to answer your questions.

In the late 1970's I brought a book that has a good method for choosing the right kind of boat. I will base the following on that method and my own experience. When I bought that book I had already built my first boat and helped rebuild several others. I was an accomplished wood worker (more of a cabinet maker than a carpenter) so my project was to build in ply. Back then plans were for ply on frame - Harlé, Dominique Presles, Veys were the most prolific and respected designers of the time in that material. Down the block there were a bunch of guys who had grouped together and made a mould and gotten 3 or 4 Trismus 37's from it in fibreglass! That was considered an awesome thing to do at the time. I also visited a couple of steel ketches. Sail boats were the way to go and it was "back to nature" and "peace and love" attitude. And of course this was the age of the concrete round the world cruiser! Most ended as rusty eyesores at the end of fields they would never leave.

The trans atlantic races of that period were being won by a strange (for me) "new" kind of boat - the multihull - and the king of the fleet was French Naval Commander (detatched) Eric Tabarly. Multihull plans for the amateur were the Punch 8.50 catamaran by Harlé - the prototype sailed from La Trinité sur Mer to La Rochelle for the Grand Pavois in about 10 hours (14 knot average, think about that...). Or the Diabolo 28, mixed strip planking and ply with a huge volume in each hull while remaining light and fast (forgotten the architect). I discovered Dick Newick, cold molded red cedar and mahogony veneer stuck together with something called "epoxy". In the end I went out and bought and raced a beach cat and sailed up the coast on micro class 18 footers belonging to friends. Building would be for later.

The above gives you my builder profile:

A sailor at heart
Likes speed
Program is day sailing and fast weekend cruises to the islands (Ile de Yeu, Belle Ile...)

You may be a fisherman. You may be a speed freak. You may be retiring and want to potter along some of the beautifull protected waterways of the world. Decide what your own profile is - think about your experiences and your dreams, your future goals. Use a pen and paper (yes a computer is OK too...) make lists. Write a short story of what you see yourself doing with your boat. Sleep on it, dream of it. Then see what others use for the program you have set for yourself. Don't think too big and don't think too small. Too big, you may actually grow into your boat if the building adventure doesn't disgust you for life or ruin your bank account, your health, or both... Too small, you can always sell and start over. Read the "Should I build?" article (or read it again). Are you a builder or a sailor? If you enjoy the workshop just that little more than being on the water - no harm in that(!) - build often and build smaller craft which you will sell in order to build again after a couple of seasons use.

Are you a fisherman or a traveller? How many passengers will you have aboard. Women folk and children enjoy the comforts of a small cuddy. I don't object to an after lunch siesta myself (including the famous French "sieste crapuleuse"... =;-). Don't think that one type fits all - you will find yourself with a craft badly adapted to each of the functions it was supposed to fulfill. I built a canoe for rowing with a square stern to take a small outboard. It rows very well and, from limited experience, seems to be a good canoe too. I am not satisfied with the displacement speed with the motor and a full load... Well I am not on the river, we have yet to try on the estuary I designed that feature for.

What will I build next? I have evolved over the years, there is still a small fast trimaran in my heart. But reality, financial and family, have changed my need to that of a rugged, spacious and comfortable voyager. Next time we will look at what materials and method to use in function of the type of boat we will have chosen.

Tony Grant [kiwi]