I met Doug Hodder on the Glen-L forum some time back. I've been working on a Zip. That's a Glen-L design that's 14' long and calls for a 40hp short shaft outboard. Doug had built a Zip before he built his Malahini (a 16' Glen-L design) and I would compare notes with him via email and the phone. Anyway, he asked me how I was coming on the Zip and I told him that it had gotten pushed off into the side room of my shop because I was giving first priority to my teardrop. So I referred him to my Yahoo photo album and this forum and that's how he found out about this forum, came to be over here and building his own teardrop.
Here's the URL for the Glen-L site:
www.glen-l.com
They have a boatbuilding forum that is really very informative. Go to their site and then click on "boatbuilder's connection." They HAVE been having server problems this past weekend so if you can't get it, please be patient and try again later. It's worth the wait.
Anyone that's ready to try building a boat has my attention. I'll help anyway I can. I will say this though. It is WAY more involved than a teardrop but it is certainly NOT out of reach for anyone that has the desire. Any person that is patient and takes his time can achieve as good or better results than even Chris Craft in their heyday. The critical steps are:
Building form must be plum and level and then stay that way throughout the build.
After the framework is completed and before the planking goes on, there is a critical step called "fairing the hull." If this step is done wrong, the boat's appearance and performance could seriously suffer. So it's simply a case of taking the time needed to insure that it's correct.
Everything beyond that is basic carpentry.
I am NOT a complete idiot! Some of the pieces are missing.