Hopeful new builder

I know almost nothing about boats, i have never been all that interested in boating and infact almost anything related to water i would shy away from.
Recently however, i have been finding myself more and more drawn to boating and water sports, namely Rowing and kayaking.

Watching the news this evening i noticed a report on a boating event at a local marina and had the sudden and spontaneous urge to build my own boat. Not being totally unrealistic in my youth i do realise this is likely a massive undertaking.

And so i begin my research into such an endeavour, but find myself overwhelmed with new and foreign information. Any assistance anyone could provide in way of helpful resources, personal thoughts and opinions and an idea of what im likely to experiance would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to this learning experiance

 

Start small and read lots. Keep your first project simple. My first project was a fibre glass tri hull type lake boat, 16 ft. long. The neigbors and many friends thought I should be committed. I had no plans but I found a hull style I wanted and did a lot of measuring and picture taking. I built a female mold out of masonite and lumber stringers. This was a one off application. A lot of prepwork and elbow grease later I was ready to start the layup which was done in one gruelling day. But the following day when I removed the mold it was all worth it. However that was the last boat that I completely built. Since then I have thought about it and even got plans for one but I find that rebuilding and modifying boats more to my liking. This was when I was still a landlubber but the hook was set. This was all about 10 boats ago. I now I am itching to do some modyfications to my latest boat. You will find that a boat is never perfect and the spending never ends. Maybe you should just take a cold shower and let the feeling pass. Good luck.

 

not so massive...there are many boats plans out there that require minimal amounts of effort and cash to produce a useful floating/moving boat. Building one of these...even if it turns out not to be exactly what you want or dream of... is an easy way to build confidence towards that "dream boat" you are looking to build. Building boats is addictive anyways...there is always another that catches your eye that you 'just gotta build'. Each is a stepping stone to a more complicated and more satisfying design...except you never seem to find the ultimate one that ends the desire to build...Welcome to Boat builders annonimous (SP?)

Steve

I have a few freebys that I have put up for folks to build...my addiction(s) are to building but more to modest design...have a peek here and see if anything appeals for a first cheap effort...ON ME! http://angelfire.com/ego/lewisboatworks