bharleyh

Good choice, the Belhaven 19 is a good looking boat. Best wishes on your building and future sailing. Bruce

I like the Wisstock designs, they have the traditional English fishing boat look to them. The reasons I'm not serious about them is they are round bottomed (still looking for the Skipjack hull) and I've never built a boat. They may be a little too complicated for me. Also if you download the plans you'll probably have to take them to Kinkos for large prints. Or wait for the full size to be delivered (which really isn't a big deal). I think I would go for the fullsize plans. Selway-Fisher has similar designs with ply on frames and I think stich and glue.I think I would be more comfortable attempting one of those kinds of build. These are my opinions but remember I'm a novice sailor / Weekender owner Enjoy your search Bruce Hagan

I really like the look of the CLC Pocketship. Clean and elegant in its simplicity. With mostly stich and glue construction this would be a good first boat or a great second project after building a Weekender. I still think building a Weekender is a great way to get into sailboat building. You can learn a lot and not have to deal with monster steel plates on a pivot. As a carpenter's son I (of course) did most my lifes work with metal. I know how hard it can be to manhandle a big steel plate. If I were smart (as a novice boat builder and sailor) I would build the CLC Pocketship. But, I've fallen in love with the gaff rig and a skipjack hull. And there are darn few skipjack plans for the home builder. And all of them are of traditional designs and construction and probably over my skill level. Except for the Weekender. And that is her appeal and her niche in boat building, and why she is so popular with first timers. I've read lots of forum strings bad mouthing the Weekender design but guess what? She's fun to sail. Thanks for opening another door for me Frank. Bruce

Wouldn't it be eaiser if we went north? It's a lot eaiser pull from your house to the harbor up there. Name your day and I'll come up and crew for you. Like I said I even know the names of some of the ropes now. Bruce

I love the looks of the Belhaven and the the Glen-L Tango would look very similar with a sloping cabin front. These are designs I'm serious about if I go for modern styled boats. However there is one thing I've learned with Aslan, one mast is enough! And I want to be able to get to the mast or bow with out climbing over the cabin. That means side decks or a hatch big enough for me to get through. Winter Wren II probably has sitting head room. Devlin's site has Builder Testimonials (with pics) and the Winter Wren is posted there with an inside pic. There's a low v-berth-seat combo and cabinets (under the hatch). This assumes that the cabins of the Winter Wren-II and Winter Wren are similar. The head room on the Ptarmigan 17 is listed as 4'6". I'm probably going to order study plans of these two designs. My interest in the Penquin is very high, but my boat building experience is very low. If I had built a boat or two the Penquin would be at the top of my list. My only concern about the Penquin is she's a little heavy but I believe that's what makes her a true coastal trailer sailer. As a complete novice sailer/builder Penquin is the one that looks like she could handle some Pacific swells. Maybe I should have two boats. One for lakes (Weekender) and one for coastal. But that would mean I would have to sell a jeep or two to get storage room.... Again thanks to every one who has taken the time to voice their opinions. Bruce Hagan

Thanks for responding guys. I had no idea the Nanny-Gay would end up so heavy, kinda puts the kabosh on pulling her up steep mountain roads. I might look into converting her to stich and glue but I'll get my own Devlin book Frank. As you know I tend to keep books that are loaned to me. Looks as though I'll be adding weight to my criteria. Two boats I was interested in prior to finding the Nanny-Gay were the Winter Wren II (Devlin) and the Ptarmigan 17 (Selway-Fisher). Both are stich and glue and much lighter. The Ptarmigan 17 has the most interest for me because of the gaff rig and the pivot for the keel plate is mounted in the keel instead of the CB trunk. Having never built a boat (like father, like son) I wonder how much trouble I can get myself into with stich and glue. Couldn't be any tougher glassing a surfboard. Right? The search goes on. Again always open for suggestions. Bruce Hagan

I've sent away for the Nanny-Gay study plans so I'll soon have more details on the boat. My main interest is for a trailerable gaff rigged boat that can be plywood planked, be coastal seaworthy, and not have a steel centerboard. I would rather fuss with getting a 2'3" draft boat on a trailer than trying to build a boat with a couple hundred pound steel plate in the middle. Call me silly but I just don't like holes in the bottom of my boat. My Weekender has a simple hull and that is one of my criteria for a coastal cuiser. I think the Nanny-Gay could be beached on steep shores. However my first boat project is going to be some sort of folding dingy that could be carried by my Weekender. I could also use that dingy for the Nanny-Gay. So if I can't beach the Nanny-Gay I'll still be able to go ashore. Thank you for your thoughts on beaching the Nanny-Gay, I welcome any future replies and opinions. I will also follow up this post when I receive the study plans. Bruce Hagan

I have a Weekender and love it. I also live near the So. California coast and would love to sail the big pond but I'm aware of the design limitations of the Weekender. I took a line drawing of the Weekender and drew in modifications that I think would make her more sea worthy. They were beyond what you could do to the Weekender so off to the internet for a boat search. I found a design at Atkin & Co http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/Sail/NannyGay.html that has the modifications that I wanted and is very similar to the Weekender. Has anyone built the Nanny-Gay or built any of the Atkin designs? She looks like she could be built with plywood planking but the hull materials aren't mentioned in the description. Any thoughts? TIA, Bruce Hagan

What's interesting is the price range for Weekenders. $10,000 (gasp) to $673. I wonder how much the $10,000 Weekender really sold for.

The Belhaven 19 is a great looking boat with lots of cockpit room. I've also looked at the Princess Sharpie 22, Vacationer, and the 21' Fancy Free (Glen L design). These are all great looking boats but I'm not sure they would be the boat for my sailing plans. I would like to have a "camper" type boat that would be capable of sailing from Dana Point (CA) to Oxnard and possibly Catalina Island or the channel islands. That pretty much rules out the flat bottom boats. I would also like to sail some larger mountain lakes which means I need to keep the boat trailerable and light enough to take up twisty mountain roads. It looks like I might have to have two boats, the Weekender (for mountain lakes), and something that can sail the inner waters in southern California and still be launched from a trailer. Is the Potter 19 capable of sailing to the islands in So Cal? Maybe I should buy a fixer-upper production boat. Possibly fixing up a beater will satisfy the boat building urge. So many decisions. But retirement is years away so I have tome to study the options. Thanks for the reply. Bharleyh

Hi everyone. I've become a Weekender owner and have only sailed her once. My brother gave me a sailing lesson in it and got me hooked on sailing. I've since read everything I could find on the 'net about Weekenders and have learned so much about the boat. I've become interested in the Vacationer also and I'm starting to think about building one when I retire (7 years from now). I love the Weekender and the only gripe I have about it is the small cockpit. It seemed cramped for three adults, I like a little more elbow room. Does anyone have some side by side pictures of the Weekender and Vacationer that can give me an idea of the size difference? Or maybe the dimensions of the Vacationer cockpit? I could then compare these with my dimensions on the Weekender. TIA Bharleyh