Deciding What Boat to Build,
I Chose the CLC Skerry

I have always liked being on the water and had canoed a great deal. I had also been brought up with a small motor boat. Safety in those days pretty much consisted of avoiding busy roads and not hitting your brothers. I was permitted to operate our little 3 hp Johnson motor boat at the age of 10. (As soon as I could get it started mostly).

Deciding to build a boat was a gradual affair. I first figured out that there was a method of building called "stitch and glue". That led to various internet searches on the process. I ended up looking at Merten's d4, the Bateau website, and all kinds of cheap or free plans. Very exciting!

I have a page of links to boat plans both basic and sophisticated.

By then I was certain I wanted to build a boat. I was now deciding WHAT boat to build.

I got hold of a CD of free boat plans and seriously considered "Conga". These were plans that had been published in 50's magazines and whose copyright had expired. I was also still very interested in canoes. I have never clicked much on kayaks. I find them a bit restrictive and uncomfortable after a while. Fun for a short exciting ride but cramped.

I had crewed with a friend on her Wayfarer and considered getting one. Fabulous boats, steady, safe and quite fun to sail but difficult for one person to handle. Sweety, although supportive and tolerant (Remember I built in my living room!) is not much of an athlete and is not likely to ever be very interested in hanging out of a sailboat pulling on a jib sheet. This pointed me to a boat that could be handled by one person and occasionally 2. Although I could probably coax Sweety onto a keelboat, it is not likely that I could easily handle one safely any time soon! [NOTE] I have since then bought my Tanzer 22 keelboat, but Sweety is still not all that interested in sailing.

I made lots of little cardboard models and this helped me get an idea of how plans translate into 3 dimentional shapes. The models helped me figure out that I really don't much like the look of prams. Don't get annoyed, I know they work well, and lots of people love them. I simply couldn't love them! I was quite interested in the sailing canoe idea.

Later after I bought my Tanzer 22 sailboat, I built a little stitch and glue apple pie pram to use as a tender, cute and zippy.

One day I stumbled and fell onto the picture of the Skerry and it was love at first sight. The Skerry was a boat that could be sailed with a simple rig, could easily be rowed, and looked fabulous. THIS was it. I had decided what boat to build. And so it began . . .

Here is a link to a more in depth article on how to decide what kind of boat to build.