The Dream Begins

Alright. So I think we've finally decided to do it! I think... I hope... We're going to build a boat! And not just any boat. A wood sail boat! This boat:

Hopefully. For your information, that is the Exploration Ketch, designed by Tad Roberts. The plans are free and can be downloaded directly from his site. *Disclaimer* - I do not own any rights to this boat or plans. 


Lemme tell ya a bit about my journey. Firstly and formostly, I have never built a boat before. Well... There was that one cardboard... thing... But that I could not sit in (it was 12 inches long) and it did NOT float. But my husband and I are builders. And we like ships. Like this one:

That's the Lady Washington which was featured as the Interceptor in the first Pirates movie. Pretty little boat... Ship! That boat began our interest in all things nautical. We got to tour the Lady in San Pedro and then were able to sail on the Privateer Lynx.

Privateer Lynx

Still later, we were able to take a full day passage cruise on the Hawaiian Chieftain. Such an amazing day! If you haven't guessed by now, we're fully in love with the Sea. Movies, books, historical models. Yup. We learned the Shanties, studied the rigging. Anything we could get our hands on. And in spite of all of this antiquated geekery, we still managed to keep our friends!

Hawaiian Chieftan

We've looked at and been on many tall ships now, including the ship they used for Master and Commander. These ships are huge, yes, but they're much smaller than the movies make them out to be. A cruise liner literally dwarfs the tall ships we've seen. Others maybe larger. Whatever. I like small. :)

However small they may be, the ships, brigs and schooners were all too large for a middle class family to build and own.

Thus began our quest to find a free, or mostly free boat plan that I liked. Rather, I began said quest, because my husband seemed only half interested. He likes boats, don't get me wrong. He's a better sailor than I am, but he's a bit overwhelmed at the thought of building our own. I'm the dreamer of the two of us.

So here are the boat plans that I found that I actually considered. In this order:

 This was the Coot. Free plans here

Super Skipjack. Plans can be purchased here. 17' LOA.

The SwiftSure. I thought this guy was very close to my love for the classic Tall Ship. However I didn't like it enough to foot the bill for the plans. They can be bought here.

 This is the Light Schooner. Totally in love with this boat. Plans can be purchased here. Or there's a REALLY fun website about this boat here.






The Bluestone. I like the design of this guy, with double centerboards. Free plans here.

This is the True Love. I dug up this historic Hoy (I think that's what it's called) from the archival naval records of Great Britain. No kidding. I'm that much of a dork. I have a cleaned up, larger version if you're interested.

So all of this, then I landed on the Exploration Ketch. It had the double mast that I liked and the clinker/lapstrake plywood hull that my husband liked. AND a group of college kids built it and sailed it from Seattle to FRIKIN' ALASKA! That's a well designed boat.

We'll see what happens next. My next few steps is to decipher the plans and come up with a materials list and a cut list. I need to also figure out what wood will work that is actually available to me in So. California.

The adventure begins!