What compels a man to build a boat?

[fraggin]

When he himself cannot provide logical reason for his desires to do so?

[masalai]

There are thems that like the challenge (from a proven set of plans) to produce a thing of beauty, demonstrating superior skills in appropriate craft (plural)....

There are those who are never content and think they can do / know better than any other person (full of their own self importance / impotence / arrogance / ignorance etc)...

There are those who desire something different and cannot find exactly what they have in mind (usually deluded fools who produce deathtraps - see - "Build yourself a boat and do a lap, crazy or not?" at Build yourself a boat and do a lap, crazy or not?

There are millions of other reasons - I hope that I have acknowledged my limitations and will present my ideas to a competent designer to see if it is worthy of further development by him and professionally built, unless I find something acceptably close to meeting my criteria in design.... - Why re-invent the wheel?

[Manie B]

Very simple

Love of the water

Words cannot desribe that feeling when you wake up on your boat and see the sun rise and make a cup of coffee, and that after sleeping to a gentle rocking and the sound of the water lapping at the hull, it is like being back in the womb safe and sound. Its like your first chocolate bar!!

Why build ???

Because of the huge variety of designs available - you can build what you really want and need, and fit it out to your unique requirements.

You can build a lot cheaper than buying.
In my very poor and backward country if you cant build it you simply wont have it, the market and facilities is hopelesly to small to support any decent kind of boating community. Importing is OUT - our currency is weak - our taxes are high. Our finacial hub (Johannesburg) is "trailering" 3 hours away from the dam and 10 hours away from the sea. Our city dwellers are not really interested in boats either.

Conclusion = we have to build

[Butch .H]

Bad genes or a blow to the head

[masalai]

This is an examply of why in the AFFIRMATIVE ......... The Turn Over!

[Landlubber]

Low IQ....I should know, I do it for a living!

[fraggin]

I work next door to a 'boating center' where boats and pwc's are sold retail. I've never so much as given the place an interested look even when they are pulling boats out of the show room when I get to work, and putting them back up when I leave. Yet, the desire to build a wood kayak has taken up residence in my consiousness and routinely reminds me that I still have the desire to build one. Almost has a callling. Something that must be done even if for the purpose of getting the idea exorcised so that I can move on with my life in a manner of thinking normally without the images of sitting near level with the waters surface in the early morning fishing from a kayak before the rest of the world is even awake.

[KnottyBuoyz]

Originally Posted by fraggin

When he himself cannot provide logical reason for his desires to do so?

The desire to be able to say to oneself or anybody else who bothers to ask: "I built it myself". 99.999% of the rest of the boaters you encounter on the waterways will never "EVER" be able to say that! I take great pride and satisfaction in having done everything myself.

[robmill54]

For me, it's the satisfaction of building my dreams, seeing my desires become reality. It challeneges my skills, pushes myself to say " I can do this". Some of it is because I cannot afford to buy a $100,000 production boat. BUT, I can built whatever I want, even if it is not available, and even if I have to do it a little money at a time.
I'm bulding a 21ft tug boat in steel. There are no small steel production tugs, and none that I could afford anyway.
But I can built it.
If you a want a Someboat 40, then why build one? Usually, the boat I'm building is NOT available as a production boat. There is no point in me building a Something 40, and even I did, it would not bring a return on my investment.
We create a thing of beauty, and watching it come to life cannot be bought.
A bought woman is fun, but you don't care about her. You have nothing invested in her but money and she isn't worth a damn to you.
Next woman please.
But if you work for it, you nurture it,you create it, then you love it because YOU have something invested in it.
Go to any marina and see all the Something 40's everywhere. They come up for sale constantly and you can buy a hundred of them because the owners have nothing but money invested in them and they do not lover her.
If you build a boat, and you created "her" then you love " her" and they never are for sale because you are invested in them emotionally.
That's why for me.

[BHOFM]

A dream of escape. Not the time you spend building, the
dream of what you will do when the boat is finished.
Sail to where the things that haunt you do not exist.

[TeddyDiver]

Two hands just hanging around without anything better to do.
I'm not even trying to do anything fancy with exotic hardwoods or mirrorlike varnished surfaces. Just a practical boat with a bit of me as a flavour...

[Manie B]

To me the whole boatbuilding thing is a hobby that touches every part of body and soul, try it - when you are hooked you will ask yourself why didnt you start sooner.

It is very sad that so few people (amateur / homebuilder)are building boats at present, the world economy has obviously hit hard.

I visit many - many boat sites on the internet and they are all dead - very sad.

The next generation wont even know what they missed.

[Butch .H]

To true Manie I put off for years and now need artificial stimulation to dull the pain(thas my excuse and I am sticking to it )

[BHOFM]

I am sticking to it )
__________________

Epoxy I assume?

[Butch .H]

Sore point no hair on my arms epoxied it all off