Speaking of VolksCruisers in general, a reader recently pointed out a book and asked me for my opinion and it raised a bit of a question… What the hell exactly does affordable actually mean? “Twenty Affordable Sailboats to Take You Anywhere” by Gregg Nestor is not a bad book… Fact is, we seem to like …
Since we’re speaking of sharpies I really have to mention Phil Bolgers Breakdown Schooner… It’s always been one of my favorite love/hate designs and, as such, deserves a bit of discussion. Of course, it has a lot working for it… Shoal draft, reasonable accommodation, a low sorta/kinda tabernacled rig that stows within the length of …
When most people think of sharpies they think of something like this… Ted Brewer’s Mystic Sharpie Kind of neat, is it not? At 32′ it’s about what most people think a sharpie should be. Salty as all get out and for me the little Pinkyish detail from at the stern just kicks some serious butt… …
All boats have limitations and are going to be a compromise to some extent, it’s just part of the gig… Why should sharpies be an exception? Sharpies have two big advantages: they’re inexpensive/fast to build and they are very shoal draft. I’m not sure about you but I find those pretty frelling big advantages. In …
“Once the departure is made from the true sharpie hull configuration and concept, one is beginning to gild the lily. Costs soar and the result is seldom an improvement.” – Tom Colvin In my mind, the only possible exception for a boat that just might pull off the VolkCruiser concept/budget that you can build yourself …
Dudley Dix has some excellent thoughts regarding the whole why it’s smart to build your own boat… I’d call it a must read. That said, I still think the most logical choice for a VolkCruiser budget is to rehab something cheap/free in reasonable shape but I’d much prefer to build from the keel up if …
Yesterday’s mailbag was sorta interesting so maybe a good time to set the record straight. First of all, I like multihulls. Sure, I’m somewhat critical of a lot of modern low bridgedeck multihulls fobbed off on an unsuspecting public but, on the whole, I think multihulls make all kinds of sense when they are designed …
Yeah, what about multihulls in the whole VolksCruiser universe? Problematic at best as multihulls are just silly expensive. I see old Piver and Jim Brown trimarans at reasonable prices that make sense from time to time, the odd Wharram or other cat home-built with issues, but, to be truthful, on a VolksCruiser budget, multihulls are …
So, what about building your own VolksCruiser? The thing is, I really like building boats but I have to hesitate when it comes to recommending that someone build a boat these days on a VolksCruiser budget. The truth of the matter is, I’m not sure it can actually be done in the current economic climate. …
So, where were we… I’m pretty sure we were describing how a cheap fixer upper can be a lot more expensive than a turnkey boat. That said, I’m a big fan of fixer upper boats. It’s just that a lot of people don’t do the math and, as a result, wind up unhappy campers. Happy …
