Introduction: Newbie to sail & oar, and building in central Texas
Hello,
I'm new to posting here, but I've been reading various topics here on the Plan and Designs forum for over a year.
I grew up in south Louisiana near shipyards and beautiful wooden trawling and oyster boats that were tied up on the bayou side. My family was in the horse industry though, and my life went that route as well, which took me to Texas. Now at a little over 40 years of age, I'm not owning horses at this time, and I've been interested in dinghy cruising for a couple of years. The boat won't eat while parked or need acres of space and buddies!
Thankfully, I have a retired cabinet maker friend who has been sailing his whole life, and has built 5 + wooden boats over the years. He's taken me sailing several times, and he's handed me the main sheet a few times too.
I asked him to help me build a flat bottom boat just under 14' this fall. He has agreed. So, I decided to finally sign up here in case I wanted additional opinions, but also I might post a few pics of the build.
I have long been interested in doing a mashup of a Garvey. He has the plans of Chapelle's "Mule", and I was going to buy the plans for Little Peter from Adkins, which are not currently available for purchase. As of late though, it looks like Gardner's 14' sail and row skiff might be a better choice. I'd prefer the longer waterline and the bow will be lighter for me to pull up on shore.
I'm more attracted to ply on frame building, so those types of plans are typically what I've been looking for. I had a high school friend that would build mud boats (12' John boats with a small inboard engine) that way, and it appealed to me quite a bit back then.
I'm mostly planning to mess about on Texas Lakes, or a few of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, but I might also drift down a couple of bayous in south Louisiana.
Well, I just wanted to say hello!
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Originally Posted by johngsandusky
