| To get a good boat, you must first start with | | | | you just assuming? Ask yourself a lot of |
| a good design. Fortunately, or unfortunately, | | | | questions first. |
| the collection of designs available is | | | | |
| immense. | | | | My first boat was a 6ft dinghy I built while |
| | | | still at school. This was built out of cedar |
| In years gone by, choosing a boat design to | | | | so it was really light, and I could pull it |
| build was limited to what you could get your | | | | behind my bicycle on its own trailer. This |
| hands on through local boat yards or | | | | was used for a number of years on the river |
| designers. With the Internet, the whole world | | | | near my home. |
| plus a huge archive of older designs is now | | | | |
| at your finger tips. | | | | My last boat was a 31 ft ocean going yacht. I |
| | | | had this moored over 100 miles from my home. |
| No longer do you have to spend $20 to see | | | | In retrospect, I got far more use and more |
| small plans so you could decide if it was | | | | fun from my 6 ft dinghy. This backs up my |
| what you truly wanted to build. These days, a | | | | thoughts at the start. Do some serious |
| few hours on the Net, and you have probably | | | | thinking before making your choice of what to |
| more information than you need. As a matter | | | | build. |
| of fact, you could end up with information | | | | |
| overload. | | | | Remember, all you need is some basic |
| | | | woodworking tools, some experience and some |
| My best advice is first, decide on the basic | | | | patience. The building of your own boat is a |
| concept. Do you want a small day sailer, | | | | challenge, but if you meet it, the reward is |
| ocean going mono hull, live aboard catamaran | | | | the deep satisfaction of a self-made life |
| or car topper. Is your family truly | | | | afloat. |
| interested in going boating with you, or are | | | | |