Why Build a Welsford Pathfinder...

Those of you who are long term followers of my ramblings, may know that i had (or am currently trying to sell) my Jedda 22 trailersailer...

The plan is to replace it with a sail boat which can live in my garage. The main reason for this is so I can do any required maintenance, upgrades, and just general tinkering without having to waste too much time travelling back and forth to the marina.

The size of boat which can fit in my garage is limited to about 16ft or so. And with the low headroom, it only leaves daysailers as a viable option - as they don't have cabins.

The other issue is the variety of conditions in which i want to go sailing.  The waterways around home are generally open to the prevailing winds, with quite expansive fetches, thereby enabling quite choppy conditions to develop both in a short time, and in quite light winds (in the order of 15 kts).

The "keep it in the garage" criteria lends itself a daysailer quite nicely.

After my initial investigations, i really liked the look of the Islay Skiff...

However, the "choppy conditions (and try to remain relatively dry)" criteria lends itself to something with high(ish) gunwales and internal buoyancy (in case of swamping).

So after a little more searching, and the watching of a few YouTube vid's, i found the Welsford Navigator...

I love the look of the Yawl and thought that was that...

Then i saw that John Welsford also designed a slightly larger version, the Pathfinder...

and was absolutely sold!

Quick check of the dimensions showed it would fit on the garage, and now i'm the proud owner of a set of plans...

Just need to do some major landscaping works around the house (and various other things), and then it's time to build!

List of links which may come in handy...

This post is more of a scrap book of links and ideas which i've found on the interwebs which may come in handy.
I'll be adding to it as stuff comes to my attention.

Well what does one need when building a timber boat...??  Fittings!! Hopefully i'll end up making all the said fittings, but if not --->>>    http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au./index.htm

A boat building specific search engine... that'll surely come in handy!! -->>  http://www.unlikelyboatbuilder.com/2010/12/ubb-search-engine.html

Looking at updates from other builds is going to be a great benefit...so here's a start -->>
http://chinookbuild.blogspot.com.au/
http://arandbe.blogspot.com.au/
http://jonspathfinder.blogspot.com.au/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrettfaneuf/sets/72157602099500675/
http://pathfinderriksbuild.blogspot.com.au/
http://suzyj.blogspot.com.au/

I've started a Pathfinder Scrapbook

Over the past week or two i've been reading a lot about the Pathfinder (and the slightly small, yet almost identical Navigator) from other people's blogs and Rob Ditterich's Something About Navigator coffee table book, and keep on coming little gems of information.

So i figured it was time i started a scrap book.

Now every time I come across a piece of info which i consider to be beneficial...into the scrap book it goes!

Looks like i'm planning to build a boat!!

So after a bit of umming and aarrhhing (i don't know if there's an official spelling of that expression, so that'll do) I've decided I'm going to put my Jedda up for sale. 

It's not that i don't like the Jedda - i really like the Jedda, i think that's why this decision has been so hard.  But with the ongoing maintenance that a sail boat requires, having the boat at home seems the best solution.  And as space is at a premium, a daysailer capable of fitting in the garage is the only real option...

I'M PLANNING TO BUILD A BOAT! 

Well, i think i've decided on the Welsford Pathfinder, which looks like this:

I mentioned a few blogs on my last post about Pathfinder builds - but they were built as gaff rigged sloops (single mast), whereas i like the idea of the gaff rigged yawl (two masts - shown above)

As well as the Pathfinder, Welsford (amongst other boats) designed the Navigator.  The Navigator is the slightly smaller, and very popular, predecessor to the Pathfinder.

These two blogs have some brilliant info on the build:

http://middlething.blogspot.com.au - the builder also has published a book about his build and the boat in general (which i have just got my copy of).

http://navigatorjoel.blogspot.com.au - this builder has produced a 388 page pdf of his build - which i have saved on my Mac!

But...before i get too excited, i need to re-arrange the yard at home so i can use the garage as my workshop!!  Oh, and there's also that whole training for the Ironman Triathlon thing too. 

Based on the two things mentioned above, i'm hoping that within 12 months i'll start to see the build progressing :)