About the Designer

I've been in the metal fabrication field for over 30 years. In various custom job shops, my experience has included metal fabrication/ship fitting, drafting, and CNC programming. I've always been interested in making pieces that fit perfectly.

Having acquired working skills with hand tools, fabrication methods and such, in 1980, I contemplated building my own metal sailboat because ... I'm a sailor too.

After searching numerous designs for homemade boats, I purchased plans from Bruce Roberts, a well known designer of metal boat plans. I settled on a steel 34' hard chine sloop. No small endeavor, it took a year to complete the hull in my spare time on a rented strip of property. Boy - was it grand the day it was launched.

I named the boat "Notion" because building it began with a notion (get it?). I sailed that boat for about 18 years. I knew every inch of it like the back of my hand, every weld on every plate.

After I sold the Notion, I thought seriously about the only thing that boat was missing ... a curved hull. A round hull was what I really wanted when I first searched out plans but they didn't exist for amateur metal boat building.

(This is me, younger, thinner and with a lousy camera!)

For fun, I studied small craft design at Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology. I graduated in 1991, a yacht designer.

Recently, I've been playing around with the idea of exactly how to achieve a true round bottom hull for amateur builder. I'm happy to say, I figured it out.

I would like to share this process with all who are interested. Homemade boats of aluminum and steel, with true round bottoms, are within the skill level of amateur builders.

Email - info@metalsailboats.com

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