| Have you ever thought about drawing up your own | | | | been drawn up by a five year old. More like floating |
| boat plans? Like I used to, you might well think that | | | | buckets than attractive-looking sailing craft. |
| such activities are best left to the professionals. Well, | | | | The solution! |
| I can tell you that nothing can be further from the | | | | Anyhow, to make a long story short, a guy at our |
| truth. | | | | sailing club recommended some design-it-yourself |
| Small beginnings | | | | software so that I could draw up my own plans for |
| About two years ago I decided I was going to build | | | | the boat that I wanted. It was cheap (under $50) so |
| a dinghy for me and the kids to have some fun with | | | | I went for it. I was a bit apprehensive at first, I must |
| at weekends. I had a little space in my garage and I | | | | admit. I'd never designed anything before but hey, |
| knew that I had pretty much all the tools I needed in | | | | once I'd got the hang of it I just couldn't leave it |
| my DIY kit. The only things I had to borrow were a | | | | alone. It was easy to learn but it also teaches you a |
| couple of sash cramps for holding large parts while | | | | lot about boat design as you use it. What I found |
| they were glued. | | | | particularly useful was the way in which you are able |
| Forget free boat plans | | | | to constantly recalculate the potential cost or benefit, |
| I searched for some suitable boat plans on the | | | | in terms of speed and displacement, of any changes |
| internet. Nothing suitable came up. There were some | | | | you make to the design. |
| free boat plans, but quite frankly they weren't worth | | | | I ended up building my first self-designed dinghy |
| the paper they were printed on. I visited a couple of | | | | some months later and have had several requests |
| sailing stores and they did have commercially | | | | from people at my club for a copy of my design. If |
| produced plans but some of them looked like they'd | | | | that's not a compliment, I don't know what is! |