Choosing Wooden Boat Plans
Many people shy away from building their own boat, because they are intimidated by the project. They automatically think its something they cant do, and theyre wrong! Building a boat requires basic tools and its possible for it to be done without much previous wood working experience. It will certainly be easier with more projects under your belt, but dont feel you cant tackle it! The first step is..
Choosing The Right Boat
Step one is choosing the type of boat you want to build. Some will of course be easier than others, but if you have your eyes set on a sailboat it doesnt mean you have to settle for a row boat. The best method is to find an easy to follow plan or even somebody to work with who has a little experience. You might even be able to get guidance from locals. Try online forums or even requesting help in the paper. You might be able to get a stranger to help out if youre willing to pay a little bit. This fee could be worth its weight in frustration and wasted materials.
Make sure you choose a plan youre comfortable with and is in your price range. Remember that a large or more complicated boat will be more costly to build and more time consuming. If you dont have the patience or budget to stick with a project of the size then move on to something else. At least for your first boat.
Are Boat Plans Worth Paying For?
Theres plenty of places online that you can get boat plans for free. A quick Google search will reveal plenty. The problem with these plans though is that they are not the best. They can often be vague, and if you download free plans youll get no support. Purchasing a kit is an options but leaves you limited in what you can do in terms of building. Itll basically be like building a model ship on a large and difficult scale.
You can instead do what I did though and purchase a plan or set of plans. The good thing about purchasing is that you can usually ask the provider lots of questions to help with your project. Since this is their business they are typically very happy to help you out in your boat building ventures. Theres no support line for freebie plans - youre on your own.
Many times plan packages also come with other perks like instructional videos. These are amazingly helpful to a newbie. It can make all the difference between success and utter failure to actually see some of the steps. You can see things like building joints and how to properly bend the boards. Most of these are provided as free bonuses to the product you need anyway.
Are Boat Plans Expensive?
The answer to this question is maybe. Some websites charge hundreds of dollars for boat plans, but if you know where to go you can get them for a fraction of that cost. I spent a lot of time surfing the internet to find something I could really use that was in my budget.
Again, Google is your friend. There are thousands of sites providing good quality plans to amatuer boat builders the world over. Since Ive already done a lot of research work myself I can recommend a great package Ive used to you.
The great thing about it is that it only cost me $67 for 500 plans! Some of the sites I visited wanted a couple hundred dollars for just one plan. There are plans for pretty much every kind of boat youd want to build too. Whether youre into hunting, fishing, or just like boats in general.
If youre into large scale boats or specialty boats like mega yachts then you might need to check the plans yourself before buying. While there is a lot of variety its a little lacking in these categories. However, the average boater will most likely be more than happy with the selection.
Theres also the support feature I was talking about earlier. The owner of the package runs a forum where he answers any questions and answers, and you can talk to other serious boat builder. This was pretty instrumental to the success of my boat building in the early stages. He also offers other helpful bits like instructional videos and the plans are very easy to follow. Checkout this package here.
