Hello

[alihelmy]

Hello mates,

I am new for the sailing community, this forum and boat building as a whole i have never really done any sailing, but ive done a lot of wind-surfing, and hope that would be the same... im looking to taking some courses on sailing a small boat here in the nile in the coming months...

Anyway, im also pretty interested in building my own boat (or anything else for that matter, engineering freak )... im going to start off with a little free plan i downloaded for a 17' small boat (is it pram, or dinghy?) from Wooden Boat Plans & Designs for Small Boat Building Projects... hopefully, one day ill build myself & my gf a trimaran and cruise the world with it...

Well, thats about it for me... just thought of popping in and saying hi...

Wish me luck

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Ali,
Welcome aboard!! Good to have you here. Windsurfing is not quite the same but does give you some idea of how a sail works. If you can apply that knowledge to propelling a boat with it you'll do just fine.
On the Nile there are lots of falucas and dhows with lateen sails, right?
Good luck on your boatbuilding project and ask questions if you like. The Wooden Boat plans are great. If it has a blunt bow then it would be known as a pram but 17' feet is a bit long to be called a dinghy.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[alihelmy]

thanks a lot there mate, it's nice to get a quick reply

Anyway, i know surfing isnt the same at all, since their, my weight is a lot more than the "floating" device, but in the boat, its all about the sail i guess... but hopefully, knowing about the points of sails and such in the surfing would make it easy for me to learn to sail...

As for the Nile, YES it IS filled with falucas... and i often go with my girl on rides on them (though im not the one working the sails or at the helm) and its always nice...

As for the boat im building, what IS a blunt bow? i'm a bit new to nautical terms, so forgive me

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Ali,
The English name pram is taken from the shape of a baby carriage which is called a pram. The front of a baby carriage is flat or blunt (not pointed) therefore a pram boat also has a flat bow.
I looked at the advertised for the 17' Norwegian Pram at the home page of Wooden Boat Plans. Is that the one you are doing?
Regards,
JohnL

[alihelmy]

oh, ok... now i get it... thanks for the explanation

No, actually im doing the sea scout at the bottom... the free plans one

[alihelmy]

ok, after a lot of thinking (and calculations), i have come to the fact that i cannot build the sea scout at this time of my life... the main reason is that the scout is 17' long, and i currently dont have anywhere to build such a sized boat (actually i do, but i wont be able to get it in or out of the place)

So, i am going to build THIS boat here... its not free, but 25$ isnt exactly killer... plus, it folds up well, which will suite my building area and wrangler well, till i build myself a trailer

[Boracay]

Looks like a good project.

Are you going to build it in your lounge?

[alihelmy]

yeah... im currently moving in to a new apartment that is quite completely empty at the moment, so i am more or less going to be building it in my living room