New Member gearing up to build my first sailboat

[Chotu]

Chris White is basically a genius as far as I am concerned. He understands everything about this.

on the phone, he once told me, "it costs the same amount of money and takes the same amount of time to build a crappy boat as it does to build a good one. You might as well build a good one."

Absolute genius.

before that statement I was looking at building a Wharram or something because I didn’t figure I could afford to build a good boat.

[Celestialsailor]

Please note that the OP has not responded in almost 2 weeks. Could it be it was a fleeting fantasy?

[pbmaise]

One area Chris and I may disagree, and most disagree with me too, is which epoxy should be used. I assume you will use epoxy.

I became partial to using an in expensive slow curing epoxy that was made in the Philippines. The slow curing allowed me to work it into even thick layers of fiberglass matt. It was called Pioneer and was about 1/4 the price of West Systems

[Sailing55]

I took a slightly different way to a cruising boat. I stumbled upon a derelict classic, walked away, couldn't stop thinking about the boat, and ended up buying her, building a covered workspace and jumping into the project. At one point I was ready to get out the chainsaw and put an end to it all (the boat, not me). I had to deliver a boat to Sausalito, ran into an old guy at Andersons BY with white hair riding a bicycle and asked him which boat was his. He replied "the 70' schooner anchored over there...it took him 20 years to build her! I told him my plans for the chainsaw cure, and he asked me if I wanted to know the secret for staying sane long enough to complete the project. He would reach burnout stage, lock up his tools and shop and go do something "different with his life".
I tried his approach, kept coming back with new energy and it worked.
Every night for the last 22 years,I lay in my bunk and look around at my home, and my life, and the feeling of accomplishment and pleasure is like nothing I have experienced in my 72 years in this world. Every time I row to shore I look back at my world, my life, and (to me at least) the most beautiful boat in the world. That feeling never goes away even in the worst weather or conditions imaginable.
Bear in mind that I love boats, living in nature, and working on boats.
My advice is to go for it. The worst that can happen is that you learn something about yourself no matter the outcome. There is no shame in trying something that does not work out.