Selway Fisher Micro 8 Sailboat, bought plan, Capability of the Design plus Questions

[mtumut]

After studying boat design and boating for 28 years and not learning nearly anything scientific and useful boat design process and adding that lots of
dream small boat designs ,

I said my self you are been old and buy a plan.

I have read lots of good things about small boats and their survivability and I dont want to expose to sun or waves at the back of a half open boat and I bought Micro 8 boat plans from Selway Fisher.

I will build it with 4 kilograms of cheap glass rowing and 5 kilograms of polyester per square meters. This is safe ratio for lots of small boats.

My aim is to go to Venice from Istanbul.

Can I do it ? Is supply capacity enough ? Is there a self steering solutions for these boats at night ? Is there anyone built and tested these boats at the sea ? My other concern is the keel and its stress load.

May be I can cover the bottom of the boat with lots more fiberglass.

What is the keel been made of ? I dont access to lead casting but plasma cut iron sheet , 2.5 mm thick per sheet.

Umut

 

[messabout]

Istanbul to Venice in such a tiny boat is not a practical plan.

 

[Richard Woods]

As always it is the crew that fails before the boat

try living under your kitchen table for a week or two

The Aegean is the roughest part of the Mediterranean

RW

 

[gonzo]

Why are you choosing a plywood design and building it in solid fiberglass?

 

[Milehog]

For the same labor and material you could build a much faster, more comfortable vessel.
Richard's advice about camping under the table is sound.

 

[Westel]

When I was younger I made two road trips of 2500 km in one go (with sani stops) in a modest sedan . No way I could sit that many hours (27) on a kitchen table........
I dont know about you guys but I would prefer sailing 2 weeks in a Micro 8 above camping 2 weeks under the kitchen table......doing nothing.
Just saying that it's perhaps not the best comparison.

Building a plywood design boat in polyester/fabric seems a bit of an odd choice though. Better to use even cheap plywood and cover it with epoxy/fabric.

 

[rwatson]

Glass rovings instead of plywood ?? Not even cloth ?

A formulae for failure. Too heavy, to much work and not engineered.

 

[sharpii2]

This particular boat was intended to set a record for the smallest (shortest) boat to sail around the world. It is intended for mainly down wind sailing.

It will be slow, most certainly less than 3 kts.

whether it can sail up wind well enough for your purposes is a good question. It might make good 2 kts upwind if you're lucky. More likely it will make 1.5 to 1.75 kts.

So, if there's any contrary current, you're out of luck.

I have expressed interest in a 10 ft around the world boat, but I think that's the minimal length.

After that, to get the necessary internal volume and displacement, the boat begins to acquire beach ball proportions. (see attachment of a 10 ft boat proposed by me. Notice the trend is already starting)

If you still want to go through with this, at least build the boat to its design, out of the material specified by the designer.

Built out of fiberglass, it will probably be too heavy.