Freeboard preferences...

Question. How much will they rip you if you hire a gazibo type thing or a tent for a few months ? Extention lead for lights and then you have decent space. It will cure the big boat in a small garage illusion .

You can calculate how long the boat will take by carefully calculating the process very conservatively and that will also serve as a calendar to motivate you to do at least that part each working session.

You can probably pre-manufacture and prepare the parts before you assemble and finish outside, so the hiring duration is even less.

Then all you need is the motivation you need to keep you going. For some it's the wife nagging, then get her to. If it's a picture then put up a big one, yes in colour. If it's girls then get the local university's girls to phone you twice a day. Or phone every one you know and tell them you will have it finnished by such a date please hold me to it... you get the idea, whatever it takes, right

 

Unfortunately... I am maxed out on temp buildings. I am surprised that the City hasn't made me take my soft sided garage down already. You usually need a permit...which they don't like to give out. I didn't know about it when I put it up and no one has complained so I guess they just turned a blind eye to it. Right now it is full of plywood, lumber and one of my boats, along with a couple of lawn mowers and a couple of snow blowers. I am positive I could not get away with another structure...nor do I really have the room for one. The only way I could go bigger is with a folding boat. I'll just content myself with what I can build. 18' is 2 ft longer than my canoe but at almost 6 ft wide it is over twice as beamy and will be 5 times the build or more.

 

Lewis,

Okay, you have a hull, or at least a strong preference for the type of hull you like. But it won't sail with a crew inboard and dry.

Here's a shot of a lightning in maybe 12 knots. First guess is they are generating about 2600 foot pounds of RM.




source:
http://www.photoshop.com/users/jpmo...1736671/view#370229034dc74efb9bc97ec1818765f3

The boat is about 20% bigger than what you drew. So if you came in at around 650# hull and about 5'4" beam at the second chine, you would want to be making 2100 ft pounds RM to go like a little Lightning. I get it that you don't want a sport boat, but you can't drop from 2100 to 1000 either and expect to go anywhere. You'd be losing to the PD racer with those numbers. You can lower aspect ratio, (and should). You can reduce area a little. This should be done with a reduction in freeboard if possible, which doesn't help you stay dry. As it stands, Your hullform doesn't much matter because you can't drive it very fast with a sail. Wave drag won't be more than a small fraction of total resistance. Single handing, your 18' would maybe generate 1000 (and 1350 or so double) foot pound RM using the same guesses I used to figure the lightning's RM. Do you really want to put your boat to bed if the wind exceeds 8-9 knots?

You need to go look at sail parameters for different small craft. Preferably sit inside, dry butt craft.

SA/RM for different conditions and venues.
SA/Swet, SA/D for boat size. Appendages should be figured in. They will need to be larger than the norm for a boat with smaller sail area. It sometime works out that the board has to be made bigger if the sail is reduced. Particularly if you need to work in bad conditions occasionally. At 16', there aren't too many dry butt boats, but at 18', there are lots to compare to. I quite liked my friend's Precision 18. photo source and specs:http://www.gisails.com/boats/precision/18/

This old article might also interest you. Hampden boats. Narrow beamed, seaworthy, often lapstrake. Figs #6 and #7 particularly.
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/ships/hamptonboatchapelle1938.htm

 

You know...I sailed in one of these in 10-12 kt winds without ever having to hike out or even get uncomfortable. I also know that reefing is an option as is hiking out when necessary. I just want a boat that I don't have to hike out in all the time. I already have a few of those.

 

That is why I asked if you considered a cat. One that I am very impressed with is the V8 catamaran, It's 8m long though, but when I watched the videos I was impressed.

The thing with a mono hull is it is a bulky construction and although a cat is double the work, the parts handle very different. I also think a cat is lighter and lends itself more easily to extra beam without creating more drag etc. This is just my own opinion.

 

8 meters!... You must import that really good ganja from Jamaica!
I have a Travel trailer (caravan) that is about 8 meters... I have to store it a dozen miles from my house because I can't get it into my driveway or my back yard. No...I think I'll stick with the mono tub in a length I can work with.

 

But Lewis !



Sorry about the space restriction. I can tell you're not a real boat builder because a real boat builder will think along the lines of demolishing half the house to make space for the boat shed

Good luck with what ever you decide... and post pics. I'm sure it will work out well.