Boat-plans online? Your experience....

[GRIT]

I have to respectfully disagree with my learned colleague.

If "almost all" of anything ends in a negative, then that "thing" or "occupation" would surely cease to exist.

In these days of connectivity, everyone would know that building a boat "almost always" ends in money thrown in a pit. If that were true, designers would have no clients building their own boats, and therefore would stop designing for home builders. This hasn't happened. So I respectfully submit, that there must be a fair percentage of those builders, who actually do finish their homebuilt boats.

I'm sure Richard Woods would be able to toss numbers around better than most.


Cheers.
Paul.

[Redreuben]

All a designer needs to stay in business is income from the plan sales, wether they are finished, half finished or sit in a drawer is irrelevant.
It would be interesting to know how many plan sales actually get completed though.
Over at boatdesign.net oldsailer has sold a heap of Buccaneer 24 plans at $150 a go, very few are being built.

[Boracay]

The WR36 Adriatico design looks good to my eye, and the plans price also looks good.

Have you considered buying the plans and building a balsa and cardboard model at a suitable scale? I did this before I brought Boracay and it crystallized my ideas of what I wanted and while Boracay is less than perfect she's still useful to me some 7 years later.

There are some aspect of DIY that you need to keep in mind. You need a building space that the boat can be moved to a launch site from that is available for at least the estimated building time, you need a job that provides the required income and you need a very understanding significant other.

In particular you need to find the hours to build. I built a 32' ferro and a 21.5' ply from scratch and the WR26 looks to be bigger than both. My limited experience suggests that you'll be looking at more than 6 years from start to launch, with time to completion even longer. Building a model first may shorten this. If you have commitments that will keep you in one place for the anticipated building time then a big project may be feasible.

Some serious costing is also in order. Draw up a list of materials and equipment and cost it. Smaller engines may also help.

I'd also strongly recommend power only (trawler cat?), unless you have a dream of sailing.