Question about Lively 28 Hartley plans

When I was looking for marine plywood, I found these sites:

http://marine-plywood.us/Links.htm
http://boatbuildercentral.com/plywood/index.php
http://www.tritonlumber.com/marinelumber.html
http://www.qualityplywoodspec.com/

The first link, marine-plywood.us is in Vickery, Ohio. The second link is in Vero Beach, Florida. I have not done business with either of them, but their websites say they ship nationwide. They both give nice discounts if you buy in quantity.

I'm in Florida. I bought the plywood I'm using for my Wa'apa from Quality Plywood. They would not sell to an individual, but they set me up with one of their regular distributors, and they gave me a discount even on a ten sheet order (3x4mm & 7x6mm).

Talk to your local lumber yards, especially the ones near boat stores and barge construction sites. Stores like Lowes and Home Depot will generally have clear douglas fir, but the only marine plywood they seem to carry is 3/4" douglas fir (much to heavy for a small multihull).

For tools and supplies you cannot get locally:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...ionid=D0F9CE0B062540A1E45623F15702DCFC.ajp13w
I bought a WEST System scarphing tool and stainless steel ring nails from them.

A word to the wise from an experienced construction estimator...allow for waste. I reccommend getting 10% more material than what you need, and round fractional totals up to the next full sheet. In other words, if you need 28 sheets, buy 31. If by some miracle you don't need them, build a dinghy, or a china cabinet for your wife.

Keep your reciepts. Check your state government website for rules governing the registration of homebuilt boats. If Tennesee has a state sales tax, they will probably want you to pay sales tax on any materials used in the boat that you did not pay sales tax on by buying locally.

Enjoy the build!

 

Good luck Blackdaisies ,

The Grey Swan is quite a nice choice for a small sailer.
It`s actually a " BIG " Small boat. What I mean by that is that for its length it has quite a bit of volume.At 300 lbs ballast it has 25% ballast
ratio which will make that boat considerably more stable than a 16 ft unballasted dinghy.

You won`t easily right any multihull beyond beach cat size. Even those can be a handful under the right ( or should that be wrong ? ) conditions.
A lot depends on your physical fitness ,you physical size . ( more importantly weight actually ) experience , sea state , prevailing winds etc. and the boat itself. If you turn over a larger cat or trimaran , you were usually careless to capsize in the first place , although its more likely during high wind strengths.Under those conditions the water will likely be rough and it can make righting the boat MUCH more difficult.If the mast and sails fills with water , the boat is now much MORE stable totally inverted , than right way up ! You would require considerable help.You can easily lose an inverted multihull if it is blown onto a rocky lee shore....

Like gussies says , if your`e careless bad things can happen...BUT ,if you sail conservatively , and shorten sail EARLY , you will get better and more experienced .In time , you will get to know your boat and reef almost as if by instinct. It`s all doable.Invite people on your boat that can sail.They will help you.

I would like to think that we here are not sexist enough to believe a lady cannot build a boat. Has been done many times before before , and will be again. I won`t speak for the others , but I believe that you can do it. Sounds like you have plenty of help , close at hand too.Build a boat like you " eat an elephant " ....with small " bites " at a time. It`s nice to see that you purchased some good plans for your first build.That was smart. If you get stuck , just ask.

Best of luck !