new guy needs opinions.

[capt'n ron]

hi fellas,
i am getting ready to build a small cruiser of some design. i have a few study plans but none of them have what i'm looking for all inclusively.
i came across a free plan on this site in the 2004 design archives, namely "sztrandek", a 4.9 m pocket cruiser. she has all the lines i like.
the one problem is that there are no stability numbers published with the plans. there has been mention,( on a different site) that she may need a considerable amount of ballast to keep her upright. despite this comment, the plans call for 100kg of ballast, which is right inline with all the other boats of similar size and displacment i have looked at. the sail plan(s) seem to right in line with the others as well. she is multi-chine and quite beamy for her length with a truncated canoe stern( narrow at the transom), resulting in a fairly symetrical curve of areas. i would think she should sail easily, and see no problems. i really would like to build this boat.
i would greatly appreciate anyone having a look at the plans and giving me thier opinion concerning this issue. i thank-you in advance. this site is amazing, so much good reading!....... ron.

[gonzo]

Free plans are usually incomplete. It may be better to pay a reputable designer or get a type which has been built before. Stability and other calculations is what makes a design expensive; it is most of the work.

[capt'n ron]

hey gonzo,
i figured i'd hear something along that path. i have no problem with paying for the plans, there are plenty of good plans to be had, i just ran across this set and wondered what some of you thought about it.
i see you're from milwaukee, i grew up there and moved to cntrl wis about 20 yrs ago. thanks for the re.

[gonzo]

I've found sets of lines that really caught my eye. It was worth the extra work.

[Bergalia]

Capt'n ron - you might like to browse:
www.svensons.com/boat/
Maybe something there to tickle your fancy

[capt'n ron]

bergalia,
thanks for the lead. i've been there, in fact it was one of the first places i looked. from the time i was about 8 yrs old, i got popular mechanics every month till i was about 17 or 18 and that site brought back many memories of seeing those boats plans pubished. i built a mini-max hydroplane from them when i was 14 or so. a couple years earlier, my dad and i built a mini-max scaled down to about 2 ft. long and powered it with a nitro/castrol burning model outboard motor, it flat a$$ flew!. a couple years after the full size mini-max, freind and i also built a hover craft from the pm. magazine, that used two lawn more motors. it worked pretty good on water, but was really unstable on land, tons of fun though! at one tme the venerable "thunderbird" was in popular mechanics. boy i wish i had kept all thos magazines!

[Bergalia]

Capt'n Ron - Took your advice and downloaded the 'free' plans.
Steve of Lewisboats and I discussed her (in Plans for Egoist) Open Forum - as the "Polish Job" and both agree that we are individually going to build her.
Nice simple lines - and the 'free' plans are as complete as are really needed. As we 'Aussies' say: 'Go for it...'
She looks stable, trim, trailable, and an ideal weekend/vacation project. And the choice of interior fit-out leaves plenty of room for personal variation. As nice a little pocket cruiser as I've seen in many a day.
Have a look at a similar Russian 'mini' - Pilgrim 590.
www.boatdesign.net/NYD/
Or on same page a bigger version - Kavalier 800. But for personal taste I still favour the Sztrandek.

[lewisboats]

Originally Posted by Bergalia

Steve of Lewisboats and I discussed her (in Plans for Egoist) Open Forum - as the "Polish Job" and both agree that we are individually going to build her.

Yeah...but I never said when.... I gotta finish the 3 that are abuilding now and do some patchwork on a couple of others. I have the plans...so I think I'll sit on them and let the situation develop to where really gotta get a building fix in or start suffering withdrawls . Plus I will need a bigger building space for that one.

Steve

[Bergalia]

Originally Posted by lewisboats

Yeah...but I never said when.... I gotta finish the 3 that are abuilding now and do some patchwork on a couple of others. I have the plans...so I think I'll sit on them and let the situation develop to where really gotta get a building fix in or start suffering withdrawls . Plus I will need a bigger building space for that one.

Steve

Slacker....

[lewisboats]

I'm doing articles on Duckworks magazine ( http://duckworksmagazine.com ) on one of the boats I am building. They just put up part 2 today. I am working on Part 4 now. I would attach a pic of the current status, but this thread won't let me. I'll put one on the "Egoist" thread.

Steve

[capt'n ron]

steve and bergalia,
hi mates, your evaluation of sztrandek is exactly how i saw her, too...... glad to know i'm not crazy, reflecting on some of the initial responses to my earlier posts about her.
i've looked at the pilgrim 590 also, a nice boat indeed and i like the strip construction,... easy build.