Want To Buy: Wanted: small sailboat for child

[mariner36bob]

At 9 years old a friend gave him a busted up little dory. We glassed the bottom repairs, replaced the rubrail, painted it and varnished the bench. Slapped a 30lb thrust trolling motor on it. Went slow but he learned how to work a tiller...

He then sold it to another friend for $100.00 whose father still tows it behind his C&C. It was fun.

It's decided, we're building. Thanks for the motivation.
Clark Craft- gorgeous. Ex-Pen-Sive. Wow.
We like all the suggestions especially the duckworks boatworks and the bateaux.
The cat models seem about right, single sail, plenty of freeboard and the noses aren't square



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[Pacific_sojourn]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

Look for boats that are commonly used for training by yacht clubs.

I second this.

Thinking of one example, Lahaina Yacht Club's Junior Sailing Program, according to its website, uses the "RS Feva" in its training. It always looks like mayhem in the harbor, but the kids seem to enjoy it.

[sully75]

Chesepeake light craft kits would be good.

I really like Russell browns nesting dinghy. You could bring it on your big boat easily.


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[capn_billl]

I bought a laser on craigslist.

It turned out the seller lived on my block.

You just have to dig through the trash to get the gems.

My son loved it, it was fast, and just tricky enough to be exciting.

It was crowded for 2, but with MY 200 lbs hiking over the rail he could make the thing go airborne. (we passed some power boats, you can't get cooler than that).

It's small enough to tow with a car, and a single person can carry it.

Time to get on the water 10 mins, VS months for a build yourself.

Cost <$500 including a trailer, mast, and extra sails.

[tropicalescape]

I have 2 small sailboats for sale..Both are skipper 20s and one has a trailer..very easy to sail and they have wonderful lines and accommodations for a small boat..Something he would be proud to own and would give the experience and confidence to sail any type sail boat in the future..I could deliver it if you would like..Not sure the photos show up here so if interested I will email some photos of the boats ..Thanks and have a very merry Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwonsa or whatever else some might call it...DVC

[JerseyJoe]

You could buy my Boston Whaler Squall posted for sale on here. Not only can he use it for sailing plus you may want to use it for dual purpose as a tender, dinghy or runabout. Fit easily in the back of any pickup.

[ejlindahl]

I second the idea of looking at what the nearest yacht club uses for junior sailing lessons/racing and looking for one of those, with his requirement of a pointy nose of course. Or a laser if he's ready for that.

But it sounds like you are going to build, so this reminded me that I have a complete set up for an El Toro: Mast, boom, rigging, nice mylar racing sail, mainsheet, dagger board, rudder and tiller. The El Toro is 8' but has a square bow. However, you could probably use this stuff for most small boats you build with minimal modifications.

Unfortunately a storm blew the hull, (which was tied down with too light of line), off my dock. So this stuff has been sitting forgotten in my crawl space for a couple decades.

Shipping would be an effort; maybe a BIG box and a couple 4" ABS pipes would do it….). A couple hundred $ would motivate me to pull it out to see if its still all there and send it along to you. Then again, you got me thinking of doing this with my grandkids. However, let me know if you are interested and we can talk. All the best to you and your son's project, very admirable.

Eric