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I was looking for a hobby that, for once, did not involve sitting at a monitor and keyboard. So I decided to build a sailboat. Chesapeake Light Crafts sells kit

I was looking for a hobby that, for once, did not involve sitting at a monitor and keyboard. So I decided to build a sailboat. Chesapeake Light Crafts sells kits. Basically, like a wooden model except 1) it's full-size, and 2) you are going to actually put your body in it and hopefully not drown. It's all thin plywood, which you assemble with wire (temporarily) and then epoxy. And sanding. Lots of sanding. I have zero wood-working experience, so I went with the kit, providing pre-cut pieces, as opposed to buying plans and doing everything myself. It's been slow of late, because my work area has been too cold for epoxy. I've been documenting my progress here: http://geophile.com/boat http://geophile.com/boat. (Can you tell I'm a backend developer?) About that getting away from a keyboard thing: Funny how that worked out. As a complete newbie, I am very reliant on their excellent support people (phone, email, forum). At one point, I ran into a problem in which the parts didn't seem to line up with the manual. As it turned out, I had the 2.1 parts with the 2.0 manual. So they sent me the updated manual. This weird interlude was much closer to a software experience than I could have imagined.

yobananaboy 7y ago
Just checked out your blog, this is awesome! I'm going to keep coming back to check out the progress, can't wait to see a pic of it in the water.
hadlock 7y ago
That looks like a great boat to start with. I wanted to suggest another beginner boat; The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints. Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat". http://pdracer.com/ http://pdracer.com/ I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.
- lazyant 7y ago
  reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)
  - hadlock 7y ago
    Puddle Duck is sort of a scaled up, plywood version of an Optimist. Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs. Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat. The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.
mleonhard 7y ago
Thanks for making the website. I enjoyed reading it. I hope you get to finish the boat soon. :)

yobananaboy 7y ago

Just checked out your blog, this is awesome! I'm going to keep coming back to check out the progress, can't wait to see a pic of it in the water.

hadlock 7y ago

That looks like a great boat to start with. I wanted to suggest another beginner boat; The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints. Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat". http://pdracer.com/ http://pdracer.com/ I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.

lazyant 7y ago
reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)
- hadlock 7y ago
  Puddle Duck is sort of a scaled up, plywood version of an Optimist. Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs. Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat. The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.

mleonhard 7y ago

Thanks for making the website. I enjoyed reading it. I hope you get to finish the boat soon. :)