CL

Which boat

Until recently I hadnt fully appreciated the term "wracked by indecision". Ive always considered myself decisive. How painful can it be be to make a blasted decision?
On the horns of a dilemma?
Get over yourself man. Youre not balancing the national debt or deciding how much aid to send to Africa; youre making up your mind about which boat to indulge yourself with next.
So buck up, knuckle down, get a grip.
Here are the main criteria for selection:

Traditional Clinker (obviously).
Will fit through the house when Ive finished (less expensive than a crane).
Will teach me about as many aspects of traditional clinker boatbuilding as possible.
Finished within two years of weekends.

I plan to use the boat as a tender for my Hurley 22. It doesnt have to sail but it would be nice. It must be a sensible size for an electric outboard.
Many plans for boats of this size are prams. Paul Gartside recommends them as a good place to start for a novice Clinker builder. But that means Id miss out on learning one of the trickiest bits - fitting the planks to the stem.


So here are the runners and riders:

Gartside #127
Gosh thats a pretty boat.
Stirling & Son General Purposes Dinghy (adapted for sailing?) or wait for Stirling & Son to produce plans for their new small sailing boat
Oughtred Auk - designed for glued clinker construction but could be adapted
Oughtred Puffin - as above
Duck Trap Sunshine

The Gartside needs lofting. A lot of people are put off by lofting and I can understand why; the more I read about it the more of a muddle it becomes. Id love to give it a go just for the challenge but space is an issue. Just like the last boat this one will be built outside. Lofting outdoors would be tricky.
I could probably do something with Mylar sheets and boards but it would get messy. That said, having to loft the boat is as much a draw as not having to - I want to learn the skill.
The Stirling & Son has templates and patterns for all the moulds, the stem, knees and transom. Even better, it has marks on the templates for lining off. More so than lofting, this is the bit that worries me the most. If you get the lining off wrong your boat will look ugly. However its not a sailing design. I could put in a simple daggerboard from Gartsides plans and a balanced lug rig. But I dont know how it would sail.
The Duck Trap Sunshine comes with all the templates and plans you could hope for. Its definitely more of a tender than the Gartside which may be the boat most specifically designed to sail.
The Oughtreds have templates but are for ply construction. I simply have no frame of reference for how much and what kind of work is required to make the conversion for timber. Perhaps I should email the designer?

Well thats a relief. I can put off making the decision a while longer. I find Im so much happier when my procrastinating is deferred.