A nice design

They say if you think long enough you will find clarity on a given subject...Oh if only that were true! Boat design is an interesting area as there are truly so many answers to any given problem and there are so many variables that finding a design is easy and yet nearly impossible. A conundrum for sure...

I'm pretty sure I am a bit odd in that I have never really desired to design boats though I have flirted with becoming a Naval Architect on more than one occasion. My thinking was there were so many truly brilliant NA's floating around and so many wonderful designs in existence that I hardly thought there was anything that I could bring to the party...So many boats and so little time!

That said there are far too many holes in the available designs and niches left unfulfilled and I very much find myself one of those clients searching for a design to suit needs that do not seem too difficult yet enough off ( apparently) the beaten track to be uninteresting to NA's time and energy. So it goes...

One design I certainly like the look of is one of those project designs that some designers will run up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes exercise...Simplicity by the NA Mark Smaalders is certainly appealing and like its name it is a simple concept and makes a lot of sense in the process. Smaalders first came to my attention some time back in an article in Wooden Boat magazine as someone who understood why people build boats rather than buy them and seemed to design for those types of folk...A cruiser himself ( He is one of the authors of "Tropical Cruising Handbook") who certainly understands what is needful on the water.

I really like the Simplicity concept yet it is not quite the right boat for me without making it bigger and if you will forgive the pun even yet a bit simpler...I do like the idea of pulling the length out to say forty eight feet and keeping the same beam allowing a modest hold to be added in the process. Then again just as it is it is a very nice example of a very practical boat for most home builders who actually want to get out and sail in the not too far distant future...A nice design.