My First Boat
Article by Andrew Dahlin
This summer, I built my first boat. She’s an 8-foot sailing dinghy— a Bolger Nymph, to be exact—and man, oh man, is she a hoot.
I spent a couple years deciding if I should do it and my only regret is not starting sooner. I was amazed at how much I got out of the building process and how much fun I’ve had sailing her. Not only that, I’m convinced you should build one, too. So, I’m going to share some thoughts and experiences with anyone who’s thinking about building a boat but hasn’t actually started yet. Hopefully this will be the nudge you need to get going.
First: how much and how long? I spent about $1,500 in materials (including a few tools) and 80-100 hours, which for me was two months of nights and some weekends. For reference, I’m pretty handy, but this was my first woodworking project—of any kind.
I had initially thought about going with something bigger, but I’m really glad I went with an 8-foot boat: they’re easier to build, transport, and launch than their larger counterparts; plus no scarfing of hull panels. I can carry my boat solo and that’s definitely helped me get her out more often. And really, getting her out is the whole point, right?
So, if you want to build a boat, but are haunted by the big question: “Can I actually do it?”, allow me to help. The answer is “Yes”! And while I certainly struggled at times, it was more “don’t eat cheeseburgers” hard than “run a 4-minute mile” hard. Boat building doesn’t take super-human abilities or prodigy-level skill, just perseverance: Keep plugging away and you’re bound to end up with a functional boat.
The best advice I can give is to build the simplest, cheapest boat you can find and get it on the water ASAP. A friend of mine started building his boat at the same time as me—he built an Elegant Punt (basically a box with a sail) using only plywood, waterproof glue, sealant, and house paint. And, yeah, I think my Nymph is sleeker looking and faster. And yeah, my mast is tapered to keep the CoG lower… but you know what? He was on the water six weeks before me! His boat was also way less expensive, coming in at only a few hundred dollars. I’ve sailed both, and his is every bit as much fun.
Do I regret spending more time and money on the Nymph? Not at all. The point I’m getting at is this: If you’re not starting your project because you’re looking for the perfect boat or you want to learn everything about boat-building before you start, it’s not going to happen. You’ll make mistakes no matter how much you plan or research, but that’s also how you’ll learn. Embrace the uncertainty, the hiccups, the mistakes. The truth is no matter how rough-looking you think your boat is, there will be a lot of people who will think it’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen. And let’s face it, odds are you’ll build a second boat anyway, so look at your first one as a cheap boat-building class.
Now, on the topic of making mistakes: the plans are quite possibly going to be confusing. There will be times when you have no idea what the heck they’re talking about. When I first read my plans and instructions, I couldn’t figure out the sail rigging from the description: “The sheet bifurcates amidship bulwark lateral skeg thwart gale cleat gauge mogwai.” Are these even in English? There will also be ambiguous instructions like “now attach the tiller arm to the rudder” with no further explanation, like everyone innately knows how to do this already. You might become demoralized. But this is normal. Breathe. You’ll figure it out. Just keep plugging away and use your common sense—the plans will (usually) make sense in hindsight. Once I started doing the rigging, I realized I needed to run a line around the mast…oh, that’s what the directions were talking about!
At the end of the day, you’re building a silly 8-foot sailing dinghy, and all it has to do is float—anything else is just an optimization! When you do something wrong, you’ll realize it a few steps later, so just go back and fix it. You’ll be amazed what a little epoxy can cover up!
Instead of focusing on small frustrations, enjoy the process. I actually broke the tiller launching my boat for the first time. Some might consider that bad luck, but to me it was just another thing to figure out; one last lesson before the maiden voyage. I was feeling pretty frustrated, but luckily I had a couple resourceful friends with me; we lashed a paddle to the rudder and were able to sail. Elegant? No. One of the best sails I’ve had? Definitely! The quality of a boat has very little to do with the amount of fun the boat provides. If anything, it’s inversely proportional.
Building boats is a lot like sailing: you can read all the books, get certifications and training, but you’re still going to run into new, confusing situations. The subtle shift is transitioning from an I-know-how-to-do-this mindset to an I-know-I-can-figure-this-out mindset. The only way to do that is by showing up and doing the work. So, stop procrastinating, and roll up those sleeves!
THINGS I LEARNED
Here are some of my quick takeaways:
1. It’s going to take longer than you think—start early.
2. It’s going to cost more than you think, but not wildly more.
3. Know when to take a break! Working while frustrated leads to mistakes and injury.
4. The staff at the hardware store will soon know you by name.
5. Once you get the hull fully epoxied, you’ll think you’re almost done, but (timewise) you’re about halfway there—painting and hardware installation takes up a lot of time even if you’re just going for “good enough.”
6. Building the sailing rig will take almost as long as the hull did (even now that sounds insane, but it’s true).
7. The final stretch of the project will be mostly spent waiting for things to dry. Cut all pieces that need to be glued and glue them at the beginning. I lost a week or two of sailing because I was waiting for laminates, primer or paint to cure.
8. Get a good set of printed plans. Get good rulers and dividers. You’ll be doing lots measuring on the plans when the instructions don’t make sense.
9. Don’t be a pansy when making your cuts: cut to the line. I was worried I mis-measured or I’d cut too much and thus ended up with a lot of extra wood I needed to remove. It’s much harder to get it right after the initial cut and is really time-consuming, not to mention annoying.
10. Speaking of, measure twice (or thrice); cut once. Find ways to double-check your measurements—if a mark is 3 inches from station 1, it should also be 9 inches from station 2. If you’re confident in your measurements, you’ll be less scared to cut precisely.
11. For a batten while lofting, just use a piece of narrow plastic molding (you can get these at the hardware store). Skip the 15-page forum posts on making wooden battens and get on with your life. In practice, anything flexible (but not too flexible) will work.
12. Sanding is your life now; buy the bulk pack of sanding discs and wear a good mask.
13. Take the time to get proper sawhorses, braces or stands to support your boat. Mine were too narrow and my boat fell off several times (the boat was fine, but it was frustrating).
14. On a related note, know when it’s time to stop and modify your set-up. When you find yourself forcing something, stop and see if you can come up with a better way. You’ll know this is happening when you’re in a contorted, possibly inverted, position sweating, swearing, and grunting. An ergonomic setup will be easier on you and will make a better boat.
15. You don’t need to understand every detail of the boat plan ahead of time, just the next couple steps.
16. You’ll need more clamps than you think. A few pistol-grip models are handy because they go on quickly, but also get several smaller C-clamps.
17. Ratchet straps are great for holding the panels together while working alone.
18. Anything you can do to make your life easier is worth doing: little things add up. Don’t be modest about screwing temporary cleats or blocks onto the hull when you’re stitching it together if it makes your life easier. The holes you make will be filled by epoxy.
19. Make sure the hull is sound and sturdy, but the rest is probably okay to half-ass.
20. Tyvek sails are awesome.
21. Borrow tools when you can—be sure to return them with a 6-pack.
22. Convince your friends to build one so you can start your own local yacht club!
Andrew Dahlin currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska and enjoys building, repairing, and sometimes even sailing boats.•SCA•
First appeared in issue #120
Great advice! Have fun sailing
This one’s a classic! Made me want to build a boat, so I had to lie down till the feeling passed.