Anyone know where can I get a good small boat plan free?

[taekwondo]

where can I get a good small boat plan free or inexpensive? I've sailed the caribbean on board my 39' pearson center cockpit, but now I find myself wanting to build a small wooden boat, either a dinghy/sailboat to mess around in the inland waters. Any ideas or better still links?

[bljones]

How small?

Try here:

Hannu's Boatyard | Free Boat Plans

[QuickMick]

dude, its called google.

www.svensons.com - Free Boat Plans From "Science and Mechanics" Magazines

[blt2ski]

Sheet, talking about being cheap! You can get 8' dinghy plans with full size patterns that make life WELL worth the $25-50 cost from MANY places. Glen-L marine, Wooden boat, Clarkcraft, to name three. Glen-L 8 ball is easy to build, at least as I remember it from a 12yr old at 49!LOL still have the plans. I also built one of there 12' sailboats, again, plans and directions with photo's etc were well worth the minimal cost!

Marty

[taekwondo]

Maybe 8' to 14' or so.

[QUOTE=bljones;701670]How small?

Try here:

[sailingdog]

I think you'll probably save at least as much as you spend for the plans in time, effort, aggravation and wasted materials. Many of the plans will come with a materials list as well as patterns that make cutting the pieces and assembling the boat much simpler.

[taekwondo]

I saw them online, but I'd hate to pay if their not good. I really want to build something out of wood that floats, not stare at photos. I once bought a book from Benford called small craft plans. It's fun to look at and dream but the plans are a tad incomplete for me and so I could do nothing with it. I need an actual how to guide. Something that says measure 1/4" plywood like so and cut here and screw her. Something a non professional cqn possibly build.

Originally Posted by blt2ski

Sheet, talking about being cheap! You can get 8' dinghy plans with full size patterns that make life WELL worth the $25-50 cost from MANY places. Glen-L marine, Wooden boat, Clarkcraft, to name three. Glen-L 8 ball is easy to build, at least as I remember it from a 12yr old at 49!LOL still have the plans. I also built one of there 12' sailboats, again, plans and directions with photo's etc were well worth the minimal cost!

Marty

[taekwondo]

I like the Hannu site, thanks so much!!

Originally Posted by bljones

How small?

Try here:

Hannu's Boatyard | Free Boat Plans

[blt2ski]

I have the benford book. One could make a set of full size plans, or go to his website and pay the $50 for a full size set of plans.

The plans from Glen-L are VERY complete and WELL worth the minimal cost you will spend. Both boats I built had FULL size templates to work with. No measuring etc. A scale drawing of where to put the parts on a given 4x8 sheet of plywood to use the least amount of material. My step dad built the 21' trailer sailor from them, again, plans were VERY complete. Two folks in my YC have or are currently building little power boats. BOTH have commented on how easy the plans are to read and use. As far as Glen-L is concerned, they have been around since the 60's, very good rep, they have a forum for folks building there boats, to get answers etc.

As mentioned by SD, you could spend more time and waste materials going with freebies vs paying the $25-50 maybe a bit more depending upon the length of the boat and how many parts and pieces are needed.

The other options, is a S&G boat, you buy the parts already cut etc. granted a bit more money to a degree. but a couple of folks on here have built some boats this way. Neighbor built 2 or 3 kayaks from kits, granted a kayak is not a dingy, but I would assume the wherry offered by the same company would be comparable in ease of directions and build etc. Well, actually maybe a bit harder to build per say, because a 14' wherry will be harder than a 16' kayak........

Marty

[RobertKWFL]

It's also worth checking out bateau.com and clcboats.com. Both have good designs and very complete plans suitable for first-time builders. Both have extensive online help materials and active forums where you can get questions answered quickly by the designer or other builders. You can buy pre-cut plywood kits or build from scratch.