Anyone here familiar with Glen-L's

Amigo design? Its a 22' heavy displacement curiser, gaff or bermudian rigged.
Seems it's very much a "stretched" Flicka. At over 5500 lbs and 19 foot waterline I fear she may be something of a slug but I still like her "little shippiness" and salty looks. Anyway, if anyone out there knows of this design; has sailed one or knows someone who had I'd love to hear from them.

Thanks

bjl

 

I'm interested in the Amigo design as well. Unfortunately there appears to be no builder websites and the pictures on the Glen-l site appear dated. I e-mailed Glen-l asking them if they had an estimate of how many had been built and if they knew of any homepages detailing construction, etc. They have no idea how many have been built. One would think they would know how many plans they have sold and from that would be able to determine a rough idea. They only referred me to their website for information. It would be great if some designers chimed in and gave their opinion of the Amigo.

Mike

 

The Amigo is a dated but sound design. It is a well burdened craft, having a lot of wetted area and displacement for it's LWL. It's an able pocket yacht, not going to surf off anything but swells in a hurricane. It has accommodations of a much larger boat stuffed into a small, trailerable size. It will have a reasonably easy motion and will require a little wind to get to hull speed.

Glenn-L rightly doesn't have a clue about the number of boats built. I'll bet less then 1% of the plans sold produced a completed boat. Glenn-L isn't a design firm, nor a manufacture of yachts, being only a store where plans are sold, plus some supplies and kit materials, none of which is done in house. I don't think they can even offer advise for the person who is building from one of their plan sets, if a problem comes up.

The Amigo is a fat bellied little boat that tries to do to much for it's length, in an effort to please as many people as possible. With the shape built into the ends of her, I'd think she be a bear to plank. An Amigo with her stations spacing increased say 10% would be a better boat. You'd get a little more elbow room, the material would flow around her easier, she'd look a lot better as a 24'er, the performance would improve slightly and the increases in materials would be nominal.

 

Thank you for the information PAR. I agree that probably only a very small percent of sold plans ever evolve into a completed boat. One of the questions I asked in my e-mail to Glen-l is if the length can be increased 10% like many of their power boat plans. Their response was that it was not recommended because it would throw off the balance and CG. I am sure if done properly it could improve the design, but I am not sure I could do it properly. The headroom of 5'10" to 6' listed on their site for the Amigo is very attractive. Do you know of any other trailerable 22'-26' boats that would be considered "offshore capable"? I found several site's, even one company that did business via several different websites selling the same plans but I have not found many plans for fibergalss construction in that size of boat.

 

There are hundreds of plans available in the size range you require. That size boat is about the most popular in this country. As for off shore ability in a 7 meter boat, sure, it will not be much fun, but for the calmest of days or the most burdened of vessels as the seas generally will be near as big as the boat, making for less then comfortable accommodations afloat.

What are your needs in a little yacht, listed in the most important to least? Make this list, then very carefully look at what conflicts will cause trouble, like shoal draft and standing headroom in a short boat, or trailerable beam in a ocean crossing vessel. You'll quickly see the difficult job of the designer, trying to please as large a market as possible and still provide a safe product.

After you've made this list you'll need more, one of your skills, one for a budget, one for time (multiply all estimates by 2x at least) one of trusted friends or local craftsmen who will be tasked during the project.

When you're done with all this, now you'll be ready to make a design decision, based on your needs, your skills, the skills of help and hired work, material availability, budget restraints and time limitations. With this new information you'll have the perspective to make a wise selection, the beginnings of the organization necessary to complete a project like this.

Glen-L and ClarkCraft are the starting point for design ideas. There are many better plans and designers out there to choose from. Take a look at Bruce Roberts stuff while you're on line.