Changing another design?

I am planning a boat for my wife and I. Our wants and needs are as follows:

Plans
1 We plan to coastal cruise and island hop the Caribbean and South/Central America for a couple of years. Extended cruising will follow as we become comfortable with the boat.
2 My wife and I will be alone most of the time. Children and grandkids will be occasional guests.

Needs
1 A full displacement boat, steel, heavy construction, about 50’ is our plan. Single engine with sail assist rig for backup.
2 We are planning a one stateroom layout to maximize living space for ourselves. When guests are on board, we’ll use aero beds, settees, etc. I don’t want to make the guests too comfortable!

We have been unable to find a production boat we could afford that met our requirements. We have looked at a number of George Buehler’s designs and are intrigued by several. The layout of his boats works well as far as living spaces go, but our problem is with the deck arrangement.

The problem is as follows:
“She who must be obeyed” is quite adamant that we must have a covered aft deck, a “back porch” similar to that found on many production boats of this type. I also like the idea of a boat deck to store the dingy. As this would be right behind the flying bridge, the main mast boom could be used to launch and recover the dinghy.

I am concerned that as we enlarge the pilothouse and add the boat deck, we will have too much weight and area above deck. George is not in favor of altering his design at all. Can someone else make these changes for us? Is this ethical, to take his design and make changes?

I would greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions.

 

May help

We could design and build your dreams: contact me.

 

The answer to your question depends on what you mean by "take." If you mean that you plan on purchasing his design and then making alterations, I think this is fine. But you should alert the original designer to this. Buying stock plans and making some changes is not uncommon. If you are worried about the effect on safety and performance, get a designer to review and/or help make the alterations. (Again, there's no reason not to be forward about this.)
If you plan on changing things so much that you don't want to pay the original designer, then I think you need to start with a blank sheet. There's certainly no reason you can't approach a willing designer and tell him what you like about an existing design. Any ethical designer would put his/her own spin on it, incorporate the aspects you need, and produce a new design.
Probably the best course, if the changes are not too great, would be to contact someone who can help with the changes, have him verify that things look feasible, purchase the stock design and hire the guy to do the work.
I would be happy to look over your project in more detail. Email me.
Craig

 

I have a seakindly easy build mid cockpit ketch single chine steel, sailboat design that may be of interest She is designed as a capable yacht but would prove a very capable motor sailor as well.

Contact me if interested. One vessel being built so plans are up to furniture level.

Alterations are often sought to stock designs, and sometimes done without consulting the designer although I would not recommend this as structure and stability can be compromised.

mjeng1@supernerd.com.au

 

A cockpit aft , large enough to hold the shore boats while at sea would have plenty of room inshore while towing the fleet.

Our aft area id large enough to hold a Dyer 12.5 , or a Whaler underway , and a $60 "gazebo" from the hardware store covers 10X10 while inshore.

FAST FRED

 

Gentlemen,
Thanks for your time in replying. I need continual reminders to K.I.S.S.!! Sometimes the obvious is so plain as to be hard to see.
Thanks,
John