THE BLACK SWAN

Building a boat is something new for me.  I got interested in it when a customer of mine (and the owner of the boat on the last page) approached me about building one for her.  In the course of my research, I came across hundreds of links, plans, and some very helpful people.  To make a long story a little shorter, I never did build her a boat, but I am now building my own boat with another in the works as soon as the first one gets her bottom wet.

So where did I get the name?  It comes from an old pirate movie called The Black Swan. There was lots of swashbuckling, and lots of piratical stuff, but not a lot of pirate ships.  Still it was a good movie, and I liked the name of the ship for which it was named.  Besides, it was different.

The boat itself is a Skylark 14, designed by Selway Fisher in England.  The plans are distributed here in the USA by SBI Marine.  It is a pram with a triple chine hull.  I chose this plan for a couple of reasons.  First, my wife made me.  Well, she didn't make my pick THIS particluar plan, but she did make me pick out a smaller boat to begin with.  I was all set to start out with a 16' pocket cruiser that has the capacity to sleep two people, but she wanted me to "get my feet wet" (so to speak) on something a little smaller, easier, and cheaper.

I ended up with this plan because it was very close in hull design to the bigger boat I want to build.  It is also probably the smallest boat that I could build that would enable me to put anyone else in the boat along with me and teach them to sail (I am larger than your average sailor).  I also happened to like the shape as being different than anything else out there on our local lake.

But on to the construction process.  I took a lot of pictures and will continue to do so.  In the beginning I started out to keep a detailed log.  That lasted about two days (I hate any kind of paperwork).  So, what I have is a lot of pictures and vivid memories, on which I will draw as I explain the pictures.  If you are reading this and have questions, suggestions, or any comments, please write, and I'll be glad to correspond with you.