by John C. Harris on Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:17 pm
Well, I appreciate all the nice remarks. Having just finished a CLC-branded 31-footer (Madness-the-proa) it's not necessarily all tiny boats here, but of course the 31-footer in question only weighs 1400lbs.
There are loads and loads of great pocket cruiser designs that are a size or two up from PocketShip. There's a difference, though: the whole PocketShip thing is about having an extravagantly detailed set of instructions, which lowers the barrier for builders, and also a tight and sophisticated kit for those who choose. So the big problem with going up a size is that the development cost varies as the cube of length. Like I say, there are loads of designs out there, but most of them are just a roll of plans---for intermediate-to-advanced builders, only.
When the dust settled, PocketShip's initial development cost was about $55,000, with the majority of the expense going to the documentation and tweaking of the kit. CLC could only afford the project in 2007 because I kicked in a chunk of that personally---I wanted PocketShip for my own use! I won't mention how much Madness-the-proa cost; it was unspeakably expensive, and again only came about because it was a personal mania of mine. The name gives a clue, and fortunately home-built versions will only cost about 20% as much. I had a yard build mine. But while its kit and roll of plans are nice, it will never have a manual with PocketShip's level of detail. An 18- or 20-foot PocketShip, displacing a ton or more, is beyond us until I win the lottery and can engage in recreational kit development.
I HAVE gotten a lot of mail looking for a bigger PocketShip, which is gratifying, and it's impossible for my nervous hands not to sketch up some ideas. They all fall into two categories: Either exponentially more expensive than PocketShip, or, if I try to mitigate the cost by simplifying the design, capability is lost and you might as well just build PocketShip. There was a partially strip-planked design I liked a lot, but its cabin volume was no larger. I looked at just stretching out the 15-footer a few feet, which gave you an outboard well and room for a mizzen mast, to create a yawl with the same main and jib. But it would just be too expensive.
I was startled to see a bright red PocketShip ease into Port Townsend today, marking another rare moment with two of them floating in one place.