Neat Free Boat Plans For The Beginning Builder

Several months ago I came across a website that had boats that beginning boat builders can easily put together and have a nice finished product they can use. GO TO http://Koti.Kapsi.fi/hvartial. The address will take you to Hannu's Boatyard. Hannu Vartial is located near Helsinki, Finnland and all of his designs are free for downloading in both metric and decimal measurements. Some of his designs are basic easy to build boats, some quite beautiful and some are character boats. At this time we are building his version of a small and a large dory as well as a 4 foot dinghy. Hannu's expertise is using as much plywood out of a sheet as possible and he usually finishes with a few slivers and saw dust left over. To make the large stitch and glue dory we have purchased a scarfing tool with electric planes in two sizes to form the longer planks without butt joints, but butt joints are OK for the beginner and look good. Plywood used in his designs can be as thin as 5/32, but all boats are sheathed in fiberglass and epoxy. Take a look for yourself. It's a really good site and if there are questions, Hannu is quick to respond to e-mails.

 

Here in lies the basics for two tiny marine businesses

In considering building the Hannu's boat yard boats, here's a thought for those wanting to start their own small business from scratch.

The first uses the 15 1/2 foot fishing boat. Many years ago we built 11 small plywood and epoxy 16 foot fishing boats and rented them out with oars first at $25 a day. After sufficient revenue came in from the rentals, sales of soda, bait, rented fishing rods and reels and other items from the small floating rental shack, we equipped the boats with outboard motors and the rental rate went to $55 a day plus fuel. One boat we kept in reserve with a larger engne on it as a chase boat. Do the math, on good days a small fleet of rental boats can bring in $550 a day during the season. In the northeast they even rent during the winter to die-hard fishermen who fish for winter flounder. Usually the smaller the fleet the higher percentage of rentals for your boats.

The second tiny business that can be a good income earner is building and marketing some of the boats in Hannu's design group. Of particular interest is the large and small dories as well as the Portuguese dinghy. Several of the Bolger designed instant dories have been seen up and down the ICW and on inland lakes. This is an indicator that there is the market for them. Displaying dories at various large boat shows can build sales. Of course, they have to be well built with attention to small detail.

 

Sometimes a forum member refers us to a website that is either informative, fascinating, fun, or a combiation of those things. Damn! I hate it when that happens. It causes me to use up some more hours of my allotted time on this earth. The site mentioned by Greenseas is just such a place. Power boaters and big boat guys needn't bother. Little boat tinkerers will find it great fun. The author has a sense of humor and a penchant for building offbeat floating things. He is a real clever oddball. I thank him for his effort.