: I'm wondering what the feasibility is of building a large wooden sailboat?
: I'm talking something that is 30'+. Or is this something that is best left
: to fiberglass or metal hull? Are there any decent books on building larger
: sailboats? Perhaps I should be referring to a "sailing yacht"
: instead of sailboat.

: cheers

Hi. I have never owned a yacht of any sort, although it was a dream when I was much younger.

Over the years I found myself able to sail on some beautiful boats owned by friends (much cheaper) and the more I sailed, the more I began to realise that there is a mathematical equation relevant to the whole lifestyle: That is: The bigger the boat the less it gets used. The reasons for this seem to be 1. That much time is needed to earn money to throw into the hole in the ocean. 2. Preperations for embarkation, bearthing, entering and exiting marinas, supply, fuel, running repairs, insurance, etc etc. all this logistical stuff increases with the size of boat, along with the expense. There is no running under the radar, no mater what your dreams.

I have to say that I have noticed two obvious exceptions to this general rule. 1. If you have unlimited funds you can do what you like and get others to do the donkey work. 2. Some people seem to be able to make their boats their homes and a whole new lifestyle is be born with its attendant joys, sacrifices, costs, and commitments. They drift into the harbour here at Oysterbed sometimes and seem to be very happy. I guess those who aren't happy bail out at some point.

I have owned various small boats over the years but in the end I sold them all. I have limited storage and the maintainance to use ratio was just too high and life is just too short. My motto now: If you can't launch it with one hand it is probably too big.

The commitment to seeing a large boat building project through to a propper conclusion is akin to building your own house, in time and money, except that your house doesn't have to look after you in a force 10 with 30ft seas. Short cuts could cost you.

Of course this is a boat building forum. One should be encouraging people to pursue projects of all kinds. Part of the reason small boat building is of such a huge interest, I think, is because they form projects that have light at the ends ot their tunnels. ie: they are doable, usually without resulting in divorce, strangulation, bankruptcy or all of the above.

Before embarking on ay project of this scale:
I would take a serious and objective look at my motivation,
then I would seriously consider the practicality of my dreams,
then I would ask myself, "Do I have the temperament to see this through to the bitter end"

Then I would give the same amount of consideration that I gave to all of the above to "How is this really going to effect my family, who probably love me and want me to be happy so I can't necessarily believe everything they say when I ask for their opinions."

A final thought: Modern man is losing the appreciation of simple pleasures to the lure of the extravaganza. There is more value in meaningful conversation with good friends than there is in a visit to DisneyLand. We are all famous amongst our friends. We should not undervalue our small achievements.

Etienne

PS: I considered not posting this as it seems to ramble. But then I thought "What the hell."