BUILD YOUR
OWN SAILBOAT
STEEL . FIBERGLASS. TIMBER
CHAPTER 1.
History of Cruising Sailboats
CHAPTER 2.
Budgets & Planning
CHAPTER 3
Choosing the Hull
CHAPTER 4.
Decks and Superstructures
CHAPTER 5.
Rigs and Sail Plans
CHAPTER 6.
Choosing a Building Site.
CHAPTER 7.
Building in WOOD
CHAPTER 8.
Building in FIBERGLASS
CHAPTER 9.
Building in METAL
CHAPTER 10.
Sailboat Engineering
CHAPTER 11.
Sailboat Electrics
CHAPTER 12.
Sailboat Interiors
CHAPTER 13.
Sailboats 19ft to 30ft
CHAPTER 14.
Sailboats 31ft to 40ft
CHAPTER 15.
Sailboats 41ft to 50ft
CHAPTER 16.
Sailboats 51ft to 60ft
CHAPTER 17.
Sailboats 61ft to 80ft
CHAPTER 18
Spray The Ultimate Cruising Boat
CHAPTER 19.
SAFETY
CHAPTER 20.
Ground tackle
CHAPTER 21.
Catamarans
CHAPTER 22.
Sailboats - steel & Aluminum
Appendix - Other information.
Introduction &
Acknowledgements
Firstly let me apologise / apologize for the ‘Trans-Atlantic’ spelling in this
book ! Having lived many years in the US, being of Australian origin and
having finally settled in Europe; one may understand that when it comes to
spelling I use a ‘mix’ which causes the editors of my printed books to give me
a lot of stick! Also as this e-book will be read on both sides of the Atlantic and
across the Pacific, I could not quite decide which of the main spelling choices
I should use. I hope you will enjoy reading BUILD YOUR OWN SAILBOAT as
much as I have enjoyed collecting the material from my correspondents who
as you will see are
sailboat owners
themselves and have
made massive
contributions to this book.
Where to start! So many
people have contributed
so much; if your name
or perhaps a photo of
your boat appears
within these pages; you
are one of thousands of
sailboat owners &
builders who have
helped to make this
book possible; my
thanks to you all.
Special thanks are due
to the following people:
to my wife Gwenda, who
has supported me in my
work for forty years; to
Andrew Slorach, my
long-standing associate;
Edgar van Smaalen my
partner in Holland, to George Love, my boatbuilding mentor; to the editors of
all the boating magazines worldwide who published notices that helped me
collect the details of so many of my boatbuilding projects; to David Sinnett-
Jones, the circumnavigator who encouraged me when I was starting this
manuscript; to Philip Sheaf who assisted in collecting the material.
This book is written for those who are still undecided as to which boatbuilding
method and or material they would use to build their next boat. The word
‘build’ is meant to cover a boat you totally or partially build yourself or have
totally or partially professionally built by others.
My own exposure to custom boatbuilding began in the early 1960s when,
after purchasing a boatyard as an investment. I decided through choice and
circumstances, to take a more ‘hands on’ approach to protect my
investment.The latter involved serving a five year informal apprentership (after
all I was the boss) under three great boatbuilders: George Love, a wonderful
old time boatbuilder, Barry Long, who served a apprentership himself and had
considerable experience in all aspects of his craft, and finally Len Freestone,
a pioneering fibreglass boatbuilder who had immigrated from the UK to
Australia and brought his considerable skills with him.
My next step was to enroll on the US-based Westlawn Yacht Design course.
As with many things in life, my decision to study further was caused by a trick
of fate when a so-called ‘expert’ we hired to design a boat for our yard made
a mess of the job, so I decided some in-house expertise was needed.Thus
began my yacht design career over all those years ago.
Experience in plywood and timber boat construction using the cold moulding
technique was soon followed by the introduction of fibreglass boatbuilding
methods. During the early 1970s when the oil crisis at the time made the
supply of fibreglass resins doubtful at best,
I explored steel construction methods by visiting Holland and spending
considerable time in the local boatyards. Fortunately the Dutch are very
forthcoming when it comes to sharing their knowledge and I was able to
quickly grasp the finer points of this boatbuilding technique. Now, over 30
odd years and 35,000 boats later, I am pleased to share my boatbuilding
knowledge with you.
Bruce Roberts-Goodson. www.bruceroberts.com
THE FOLLOWING PAGES SHOW-
ING COMPLETED SAILBOATS
ARE MEANT TO GIVE YOU EN-
COURAGEMENT BEFOFE YOU
START YOUR OWN PROJECT !
LEFT: Centennial Spray 36
built in UK in round bilge steel.
BELOW: Cenennial Spray 33
built in wood epoxy in New
Zealand
ABOVE & RIGHT
Centennial Spray 45 built in Thailand in
wood epoxy..
LEFT:
Centennial Spray 45 built in
Latvia from round bilge steel.
BELOW:
Cenennial Spray 45 built in
wood epoxy in Romania
THIS PAGE:
The NEW YORK
55 is a very popular
design and several
are already sailing
world-wide.
ABOVE:
P.C.F. 40 one of
over 100 of these
popular motor sail-
ers that can be built
in steel or fiber-
glass.
LEFT:
P.C.F. 40 this one
featuring the op-
tional aft cabin ar-
rangement.
THIS PAGE:
The Roberts 25 makes an
ideal trailerable family boat
and can be built in either
fiberglass or wood epoxy.
There are over 2,000 of
these boats currently in ser-
vice throughout the world.
ABOVE:
Roberts 31
reaching across
Bass Straight in
Austalia.
LEFT:
A small selection
of the many Rob-
erts 35’s already
completed and in
use by their
owner-builders.
ABOVE:
The Roberts 36 is a very popular design and over 500 have been built and are currently sailing
in various parts of the globe. The versions include raised fore-deck and pilot house models.
THIS PAGE:
The Roberts 392 plans and full
size patterns are available for
building in steel, aluminum or
fiberglass and many have been
constructed by people just like
you ! The one shown here was
built by Peter Boast in the UK
PREVIOUS PAGE & ABOVE:
The Roberts 58 plans & full size patterns are available for building in steel, aluminum or fiber-
glass. The first example was built in Russia seveaal years ago & is cruising northern waters.
ABOVE: The Roberts 432 plans & full size patterns are available for building in Multi Chine
steel, radius chine steel, aluminum or fiberglass. Over 1,000 have already been completed !
THIS & NEXT PAGE:
Here we see just a few of
the over 1,000 Roberts
434‘s that have been build
in fiberglass, radius chine
steel, aluminum and wood
epoxy!
THIS & PREVIOUS PAGE:
The Spray 36 is a very popular de-
sign that can be built in Steel, alu-
minum, fiberglass or wood eooxy.
Here we see just a few of the over
1,000 examples that can be found
in almost every country throughout
the world. There are many differ-
ent versions, accomodation layouts
& rigs available.
THIS & FOLLOWING PAGE:
The Roberts 532 (200 built so far) has proved a worthy
successor to the earlier Roberts 53 (over 600 built). The
Voyager 542 (steel kit) and Voyager 543 (wood epoxy) are
all derivatives of the these designs.
THIS & PREVIOUS PAGE: This Voyager DS 440 was built by Tamás and Norbert Toth.
Voyager DS 440 built by Tamás and Norbert Toth in Hungary from Bruce Roberts cutting files and
plans. See chapter 9 for step by step photographs of the building of this beautiful sailboat.
THIS & PREVIOUS PAGE: This Voyager 495 was built by Karal Navara in the Czech Rebublic
using our Cutting files and plans. Later in this e-book you will find a range of similar kits and
cutting files and plans for Voyagers ranging in size from 38 ft /11.5 m to 76 ft / 23.16 m
