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Mr. Scott

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I am not computer literate, so I am going to try this again. I built my first boat early this winter, and liked it so much that I am going to build and learn how to sail a sail boat. I have chosen to build one of 2 boats, the mini-cup, or the mini-cat. They're both small so I think that they should be good beginner sailboats. Any thoughts from experienced sailor would be helpful. Now for me. I am a "non-traditional" engineering student at the university. (non-traditional is a polite way to say OLDER) I have 2 kids, one just joined the NAVY, and the other is a new teenager (HOO BOY). I am married and have cats. I was a welder for 18 years, and turned a layoff into the dream of a lifetime! I have also been a back yard gear head since I was a kid. Now that I am older I find that big loud motors aren't the only fun things around.

Enough for now,

TA-TA

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Welcome Mr Scott! :)

Good luck with whatever you decide to build. I'm building the PC, click on my www below for a look. Shawn Hancock is building a minicat and there are several builders of minicups around. Check out the BYYB:

www.byyb.org

where quite a few builders hang out.

Let me be the first to say it: "Mr Scott, Ahead warp factor 10!" :D

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Welcome aboard, Mr. Scott. I also claimed my bachelor's at age 44, quite some time ago now, so congratulations on your scholastic, as well as boat building ambition. I also built my first boat while at college, a pocket cruiser, chosen because it was about impossible to capsize, and had a place to get out of the weather. I completed a vacationer last year, which is our present boat. You will find both old an young dogs here, and they will be most helpful with old and new tricks to aid you in building. As to learning to sail, not as difficult as far as the basics, but always more to learn, and always provides a feeling of usefullness and accomplishment.

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Welcome indeed Mr. Scott.

I'm another one of those that have grandkids and builds boats. If you are looking for a solo most of the time, I think the mini-cup would be a lot of fun. The catamaran isn't the easiest of boats to sail for a "first boat" but would certainly be a lot of fun to sail.

My first boat was a 12' sailing surfboard from Boy's Life plans some 50+ years ago. Looked a lot like a plywood Sunfish. But it sailed great and I've been hooked since then. Currently building a Weekender so my youngest son and I can do some gunkholing around the Puget Sound area. But plan on building a Vacationeer for the rest of the family to go along on weekend outings.

Good group of people here with lots of good input and help. I think you will like the group.

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Mr. Scott,

Hello and welcome. I am building my first sailboat, the weekender. I am starting to get some lumber to work in my basement until I can get out to the garage. I moved to Wisconsin, western Wisconsin, River Falls, 3 years ago. I cross the St. Croix twice a day and decided I need to be on it, not over it. What part of the state to you hail from ?

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What a great welcome! Thank you! Who knew that a website could be nice? Any how.....Barnacle Jim, hmmmm cheese, and I thought we just liked beer hear in the frigid northland! However my current projects will only carry me (cheese and driving is a nono!)

Whflhff (an anacronym?), I agree with your choice of instructors, my favorite boss should have tried out for the lead in grumpy old men!

Marshal, I hail from Eau Claire.

Capt Jake and Simon (Simon from American Idol?!), I couldn't very well be Captain Kirk! (My hero, yes I am a geek too!)

Dave, Barry, and Capn Trey, I feel welcome thanks to you.

Thanks again everyone, and I will see you on the web if not the water!

(Arizona has water? Who knew?)

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Scottie, when I first found this discussion group, I was likewise amazed at posts from the Southwest and Midwest. Not famous sailing country a zillion years ago when I took geography classes. We have the Army Corps of Engineers to thank for this confounding situation, but these folks are at the mercy of the rains - no need for flood control in a drought, for instance. One of the most useful builder's websites is from Phil Gowans who has the goal of sailing all the lakes in Utah. That will always sound odd to me but you should take a look at his boat and sailing logs.

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Mr. Scott

I built a weekender for my first boat. It was a large learning experience for me but I am glad I did it. It was easy to learn how to sail and it is a very forgiving boat to sail.

The site that Johannah was talking about is.

http://www.pragdata.com/philboat/

It has a lot of good information on it. He has done a good job of showing the parts that are a little vague in the plans.

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I am not computer literate' date=' so I am going to try this again. I built my first boat early this winter, and liked it so much that I am going to build and learn how to sail a sail boat. I have chosen to build one of 2 boats, the mini-cup, or the mini-cat. They're both small so I think that they should be good beginner sailboats. Any thoughts from experienced sailor would be helpful. Now for me. I am a "non-traditional" engineering student at the university. (non-traditional is a polite way to say OLDER) I have 2 kids, one just joined the NAVY, and the other is a new teenager (HOO BOY). I am married and have cats. I was a welder for 18 years, and turned a layoff into the dream of a lifetime! I have also been a back yard gear head since I was a kid. Now that I am older I find that big loud motors aren't the only fun things around.

Enough for now,

TA-TA[/quote']

Welcome Mr. Scott. You will find that you have a lot in common with most of us and that everyone here is really nice and very helpfull. For instance, I took 21 years to get my BS degree, finally going the non-traditional route via U of the State of NY Regents, which is now Excelsior College. I also, as your son is doing, spent years in the Navy. I have 5 children, 24, 22, 18, 9, and 7, and 3 grand kids, with #4 on the way. I am currently building the new baby a cradle which should be finished this weekend. I too got laid off, got rehired, then left my career seeking a better way to live, and have found it so far. Here I think we all love boat building and enjoy learning from each other. We have professionals and skilled amatuers, novices, and those just thinking about it. Frank is a wonderful host. Incidently, if you are buying from Amazon.com, link via messing about and Frank gets a little cash to help defray his cost of running these forums.

Good day! :D

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Welcome to the forum. I looking to become a traditional engineering student at a university this autumn, but I have to get myself in gear and write a few college entrance essays before the Feb 15th deadlines at some of the schools I am looking at and mail those applications. I chose the Weekender as my first build and have neither had any troubles building nor regrets in choosing to do so. I'm sure the plans for both the Mini-cup and the Mini-cat will be just as easy to follow as the Weekender's were, if not much easier. Good luck and happy building!

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Mr. Scott,

Welcome to the site!

We are glad to see that we have another convert to our way of life. Building boats is an experience that is unforgettable. Whatever your age when you start, there is a tendency for you to want to make more boats once you make one. The motives for doing more vary, but I think it is primarily because it is fun. :lol:

I was floored to see that there really was more than one person that has built the "Sailing Surfboard" that was in Boy's Life all of those years ago. That was my first boat too, Barry. I had a ball on that boat around Boynton Beach, Florida and learned a heck of a lot about sailing. Started me on a lifetime in and around the sea.

I too was laid off from a 20 year job in Florida and found myself working in Nebraska for the last 10 years. We long to get back near the ocean, but my present Spindrift project will get me out on the water in Nebraska, if I can find water that isn't frozen.

Good luck on your project. You will have a lot of fun with it.

Steve

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Well Steve, the little Sailing surfboard taught me a lot of things besides the fundamentals of sailing.

1) Patience

2) That you can make mistakes, but they can be fixed.

3) That if I had time to do it over, I had time to do it right the first time.

4) That if it is worth doing at all it is worth doing right.

5) To take the time to understand what the project is all about.

6) How to loft out parts from drawings and offsets.

7) To use some very fine traditional woodworking tools and more importantly, how to take care of them.

8) That little brothers can be OK.

9) That you can't rush a good finish, it takes time to do it right.

10) That if you take care of it, it will last a long time and give good performance.

The sailing surfboard is on its 3rd. generation of novice sailers. It taught all my cousins how to sail, their kids, my kids, and some grand kids as well. It has traveled from Pennsylvania where it was built, to Washington State, California, up into Canada, into Idaho, Oregon and Montana. On rooftops of cars, in trailers, beds of pickup trucks, strapped to motor home and camper roofs and even to a motorcycle. It is the absolute favorite of the kids on camping trips. It is on its 5th. paint scheme, 5th. mast. 10th or 11th. generation of sail and hardware. 5th rudder and tiller. 9th centerboard.

And it still has the original rattle in the hull where I locked in my father's phillips head screwdriver when I put the deck on it. It has been glassed and had several minor dents and dings repaired. But the kids still love it and they have a hard time believing that Pops built it when he was 10 years old and learned to sail on it in a pond just outside Hershey Pennsylvania.

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