Boat design involves a lot of engineering knowledge that, although I attempted to learn, I would need to take several courses on the subject in order to fully understand how to do it. The easiest way to make a boat is to buy plans that someone else has already designed. I found several companies in magazines and on the internet. The first thing that struck me, as I began to research boat design, is that boats take many different shapes and forms. Hulls can be wide or narrow, keels can be long, short, or non-existent, and sail rigging comes in many variations.
Boats vary depending upon what they are needed for and where they are going to be sailed.
I quickly realized that before I could do anything else, I had to decide what I needed my boat for, what it would be made out of, and where I would be using it. Since I grew up in Connecticut, on Long Island Sound, I chose to design a boat for use there. I wanted something that was flexible. I wanted a boat that I could row when I wanted to, sail when I felt like it, and attach an outboard to when needed. I decided that my design had to incorporate all of these aspects.