Building a Comet
By Dick Robertson
Introduction.
For reasons detailed below, I’ve decided to build a plywood/epoxy Comet.
I thought that perhaps Comet owners might be interested in this process. In any case I’m going to document it for my own enjoyment and to see how much it really costs me to build a boat; this will be my fourth one.
1/4/2002 8:19 AM
Who am I?
I’m a sixty + year old retiree. I live in a very small town in North Carolina called Marshallberg. It is located on Core Sound about seven miles North of the Cape Lookout lighthouse. My house is on the sound in a very shallow inlet called Great Marsh Creek.
This area of NC is one of the last in the US where wooden boats are still built for fishing.
Like everywhere this is a dying art, but many wooden boats are still in daily use. My own boat is a Redwing 18 (almost!) that started out as a tunnel hull inboard open fishing boat. I was planning on building a Redwing coastal cruiser with a 10hp 4-stroke outboard; my wife dislikes fast boats. This boat had a white cedar bottom and plywood sides covered with fiberglass and was almost the exact size of the Redwing. As it turned out, the sides had rotted under the fiberglass covering so all I ended up with was the frames and bottom. Live and learn!
Most of my previous boats have been sailboats, so although the Redwing is OK, it lacks the ongoing excitement and challenge of sailing. My other sailboats have been Macgregor 21, Cape Dory 19, Pearson 26, Laser, and a Sea Pearl. It has been at least 15 years since I’ve sailed and I miss it.
Sometime during this succession of boats I got interested in boat building, one of the finest and most satisfying activities ever invented by mankind. If you haven’t done it, you’re missing one of life’s greatest pleasures. There is nothing quite like taking some flat pieces of wood and seeing an elegant three dimensional, functional object slowly take shape.
My first boat was built pre-epoxy using that purple glue, the names escapes me now. It was a Cuningham Gunning Dory built with plywood using plans from John Gardiners "Dory Book". Even though I did a poor job of it, this boat is so aesthetically pleasing from any angle and works so well that I was hooked. [An aside — I gave the Cuningham and a Laser to the boy scouts. The scout leader told me later that he took the dory only to get the Laser, but much to his surprise, the scouts had much more fun with the dory.]
Since then I’ve built a 14’ dory skiff and the Redwing using the amateur boat builder’s friend - epoxy. No misstep is so severe that it can’t be made right with this both unpleasant and wondrous stuff. OK, I know your saying that it is no substitute for craftsmanship, but trust me, it is. My skill is improving however; I’m no longer ashamed of my creations. Back to the Comet!
Why a Comet .
I decided to build a day sailer, something big enough for two to enjoy, that was challenging to sail, and was of classic design. I came across the article in Wooden Boat Magazine on the Hampton One Design. I liked it. They have a web site with a classified section and since I live near the area where these boats are kept and raced, I thought I’d look for a used one. The first one was advertised as a "restoration project". It turned out to be so badly dry rotted that it would have turned to dust as I hauled it down the road.
I decided to look at a fiberglass boat, a disappointment as it turned out, in Cambridge Md. This put us in close proximity to the Chesapeake Bay Mariners Museum so we decided to stop by. Oddly enough on the road to the museum was a Star for sale, a boat that I’ve always admired, but that is impractical for the shallow waters where I live.
The small boat shed at the Museum has a wood Hampton and, lo and behold, two boats away was what appeared to be a small Star with a centerboard; another example of how our lives are ruled by chance. To make an already long story finally end, I decided to build one.
One of the problems (opportunities) of building boats is that there are more candidates than time. At some point you finally have to make a decision on a boat and get started. Every boat is a compromise of sorts, it’s often difficult to decide especially since huge amounts of time are involved and the very real chance that the resulting boat will not live up to expectations. In my case this risk is mitigated because building boats is an end in itself, independent of the result. I might point out that for those of you who are considering building, there are "builders" and "sailors". If you want a boat to sail, buy one; build only if you like the process more than the product.
In answer to "Why a Comet" I can only say that it has a strong aesthetic appeal (for unclear reasons), appears reasonably easy to build of epoxy/plywood, and is I hope, fun to sail. If you have any ideas on another, better boat, I don’t want to hear them.
I am now eagerly awaiting the plans ands specs. My garage is clean and I’m ready to go.