new to everything

hi... i'm new to just about everything to sailing. I'm looking for all info on building a 1 or 2 person wooden sailboat for both myself and my daughter to build and sail. All suggestions from size, type, plans, books, etc on the subject would be appreciated. Thank you, and I'll appologize for my newbie-ness/

 

Take a look at the inventory of the Glen-L sailboats. good plans and usually easy builds.
https://www.boatdesigns.com/Sailboats/departments/12/

 

The Glen-l plans are great and the forum is very helpful with every step of the build, I am on my second build not sailboats but I do know a guy who is building one and his blog archive is very good and may be of help to you.
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/

 

If you want to sail now then buy. If you want to build and sail later then build. But how old will you daughter when it's ready? Will she still go with you or have her own life by then . . ? ? And does she want to build or sail this summer..? But maybe you can do both, or build only in winter...

A good ready to sail second hand boat will be much cheaper than a new DIY one. Plus what you see is what you get, and you can test sail it first.

But even if you and your daughter really want to build... get some sailing experience first to find out what you and she like. Try to board some other boaters and / or hire a boat of the size you're thinking of. Then, when you kinda know what you want, buy a matching second hand boat and enjoy sailing with your daugther. Then decide if you rather go sailing or building. If it's the latter then you will be much better able to choose which boat to build from your own preference. The second hand boat can be sold when there is no need for it anymore and there is little risk of losing money in it as they are cheap now.

Good luck!
Angel

 

Check out PDRacer...you can build it in a few weekends and be on the water before summer is over. They are well into the 600's in hull numbers and that doesn't count the ones that haven't had numbers assigned. Cheap, easy to build, stable and fun.

 

Glen L is a very good site with a great forum.

You could also try Bateau which also has a builders forum: http://www.bateau.com/

And there is also Duckworks; http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/r/plansindex.htm

These sites have forums and informational resources (books, DVD's, build plans, etc) to get you started.

Good luck and enjoy your time!

 

WOODENBOAT magazine has a wonderful series of articles on simple beginner's boatbuilding with some nice small useful small craft. The late "Dynamite" Payson wrote a book on instant boats. Follow his lead and go sailing in two weeks.
His plans are very well illustrated for those who are beginning their skills acquisition, such as you and your child.
http://www.instantboats.com/

 

EDITED: I SEE THAT YOU ARE IN "WASHINGTON STATE" NOT SEATTLE. FOR SOME REASON I THOUGHT YOUR POST SAID "SEATTLE." SORRY ABOUT THAT -- JUST TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR REAL LOCATION.

Let's assume you are looking for a straight-forward build that won't take too long (you don't want to exceed your daughter's attention span), and that you are looking for something to sail in fairly protected waters like Green Lake, Lake Sammamish or Lake Union. As a newcomer to sailing, I would suggest avoiding the Sound or Lake Washington unless it's a very nice day with little or no waves. Lake Washington can get to be a very wet, bumpy place when the weather is nice and the speed freaks are out in their giant ski boats.

The easiest way to get into building your own boat is an 8-foot dinghy, but I would not recommend it. They are nearly all poor sailers and you would want something bigger very soon. If your daughter is a teenager, you've probably already outgrown a boat that big.

A nice size that won't cost you too much, take too long to build, and still be reasonably fun to sail for two people is around 12-14 feet. Since Green Lake (for example) only allows hand-launched boats, I'd keep it smaller and lighter. You can wheel a small boat on a dolly, but a bigger one will require a boat ramp.

Something like Mertens' C12 (http://bateau.com/boats/C12/index.html) would be a nice choice in this range. It only weighs 150 pounds or so, the rig is easily learned, and it shouldn't take more than 100 hours to build, depending on how much sanding you want to do. The most expensive thing on the boat will be the sail.

If you want something even simpler and faster, take a look at the D5 at the same site, or Bolger's Elegant Punt: http://www.instantboats.com/epunt.htm. My father built one of these more than 30 years and it was an honest little boat for years. About a zillion of these have been built.

One of the best things you have going for you is that you live in Western Washington, which still has a very active wooden boat building community, where you can easily find materials and assistance. Try Edensaw for marine plywood and Fisheries Supply for other materials.

Good luck!

 

If you get a chance, drop by the Maritime Center in Port Townsend and see their public shop and talk to them. Some very nice quick first builds have come out of there.

 

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock and the Center for Wooden Boats on south Lake Union are two other excellent places to see and talk about traditional wooden boats, if that's what you are interested in.

 

Take your daughter to the above mentioned Center for Wooden Boats on So. Lake Union and rent a small catboat for a few hours on a sunny day with a little breeze, or row one of their delightful Whitehall skiffs together and explore the shoreline. It's great to build a boat, but for a kid whose whole world in "now" there is nothing like taking the time and effort to show her what the goal is.