I'll use this blog to document the process of the boat I am currently designing and building. What first started out as a boat that would fall under the "National 12" class rules, has taken a slight change of course and will end up being a 10ft boat with slightly less than 60" beam (width).

I'll start with the original design. Using a program called "hulls" I came up with a design for a "three planker", which means the boat has 3 panels per side. This was a slight departure from a "four planker" design which is   a common building design. My idea was that less panels would make for an easier build, but I later found out that 4 planks were probably more commonly used because the smaller panels would be easier to bend. This would be the first of many "hindsight is 20/20" moments.

Here's the original design:

                                
General Specs: 
Length Overall : 12ft
Max Beam : 6ft 6in
Sail Area : around 103sf (main + jib)

The Hulls program allows you to output each panel's shape, which can then be transferred to plywood, and cut out (the panels are not straight, but have curved edges, so that when you put them together they "automatically" form the hull shape). The panels were then cut and assembled via the "stitch and glue" method, to form a hull:

Trying to form the very bottom of the bow ended up cracking the plywood (so this is why four planks are used...) so after researching a bunch of dinghy designs, I decided to cut 2" off the bow, and fit a piece of oak  for a more solid structure. This was eventually capped with a 1.5" piece of douglas fir, which was then faired to the hull shape.

that tiny piece of wood sticking out was used as a wedge to hold the shape while the glue dried. 

Once the hull was finished, the seams were glued inside and out, then finished on the outside with a strip of fiberglass over each seam for added strength. After lots of sanding, a primer coat, more sanding, and more coats of primer, I arrived at something that was starting to look alright.

homemade scrapwood sawhorses proved to be very helpful

Finally, it was time to flip the hull over for finishing the interior. Somewhere I was reading online a person suggested this was the point of being "50% complete, with 90% to go". Sounds about right. 

However, now I was thinking "wow this boat is much bigger than originally planned." Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue, except the original idea was to car-top this boat, and also be able to get it out of my yard via a narrow alley. Not so much! Ideas of "sell it", "take it apart and start over", and "burn it" were all suggested. After a day or so of fiddling with the design in AutoCAD, I decided I would be able to shorten the boat to 10ft, and also bring in the sides to a max beam of 58-60". My plan of attack was to leave the bottom panels as they are, and just adjust the top. I also figured it would be easiest to install frames that reflect the new shape, and then attach the upper panels to the new frames. This brings us up to present time: frames have been built and installed, transom cut down to the new size and moved forward in the boat, and the panels are (hopefully) ready to be reattached. 

frames fitted and held in place with whatever method seemed to work while the glue dries

Hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on out, but I guess only time will tell!