Introduction

If you want to contact me, please email me on: parvezhusnoo@gmail.com

Here's a small description of us and our boat.

Click on "MyBlog" in the menu to proceed to our boat blog.
Click on "Construction Summary" for pictures of the major milestones in the construction.

We live in Terre Rouge in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and are making this blog to show to people that making a boat by themselves is actually possible. We also intent to help anyone who is already willing to embark on this endeavor to be better able to achieve their dream.

Our boat, that we are building ourselves in our yard, is 18 feet 4 inches long and 6 feet 7 inches wide and has a draft of only 8 inches, meaning it can stay afloat in only 8 inches of water.

This boat has captivated our imagination as it is a small one ( that can easily fit into our yard) and of simple shape and easy construction (hence great to give us basic boat building experience and skills we lack)

We also chose this boat as it requires only a small outboard engine and is quite comfortable with about 15 hp of power. Other boats of this dimension require quite a large engine that would have cost way too much for our current budget

Our Boat
Boatplans.dk

Site we bought plans:        http://boatplans.dk/
(Master boat builder and Naval Architect : Morten Olesen.)
(Please consult the blog of Mr Olesen for more details, he is our main follower and you can see his link to the right of your screen.)

Our Boat:                          http://boatplans.dk/boat_plans.asp?id=63

Photo gallery :                    http://boatplans.dk/pictures.asp?no=21&of=23&id=63&page=2


How the boat is supposed to look like once completed(Though we are planning some minor changes to fit our needs)

Boatplans.dk has a great advantage over other websites in that it allows you to download and print ur plans by yourself once you paid for them. Hence if a particular sheet you are using gets torn during handling, you simply print a new one and get along with your work again. You can also do any additional noting on the plan itself as if it gets ruined don't lose it. You simply print in on a standard 4 printer.

The website also provides a set of 5 books that can also be printed or read onscreen. They detail out the boat building process for anyone new to such a hobby.

The books are:
Manual 1 : Beginner's Guide to Boat Building.
Manual 2 : Lofting manual.
Manual 3 : Assembly Manual.
Manual 4 : Laminating Manual.
Manual 5 : Epoxy Manual.

Our Story with the sea until now:

 The pages below tell a story about how we came to love boats and also provide a number of useful links to anyone interested in boat building at home amateur level:

Why we love the sea and boats :
Our Love of the Sea
Dad's Trip on a sailing yatch
Books that got us inspired to own a boat

Our Research and studies in the field of boats:
Boats we initially fell in love with
Courses that taught us how to build a boat
Tools that we're using in the construction

 Obtaining our Skipper's license:
Our Practical Exams
Theory Exams


 Our Suppliers

 > Amro Chemicals

We are currently buying our epoxy and woven roving fiberglass from a company named Amro Chemicals, located in the Industrial State at Plaine Lauzun in Mauritius. Their service is very good and we have been met with much kindness and enthusiasm on their part since they are quite wiling to give to us any advice that we regularly require for our use of epoxy.
Photo from Amro Chemicals Website
Their Website : http://www.amrochemicals.com/en/index.html

>Wong Chap Lan & Co (Dragon D'Or)
(Tel : 242-3993)

Our supplier of wood is found in Port Louis opposite the northern bus station. We bought our marine grade plywood from this shop. We had a lot of advise about the strength of wood and types of wood that we could buy. The man there was really courteous and generous of his time to talk to us about our project.

The man in the middle of the picture is our supplier.






















Below are some of the plywood we bought, note the "1088" inscription indicating marine grade plywood.

3/8th plywood

1/2 plywood





















> Chantier Chiu Yuan
(Tel: 242-4250 / 242-9689)

We went to Chiu Yuan on Tuesday the 24th July to buy some wood logs for our boat mast and reinforcements. We met Mr Phillip there and had a good talk to him about the type and size of wood to use for our work. We thus bought a big log of Iroko wood also known as African Teak. They had it cut to our dimensions and we took delivery of our wood on Wednesday the 25th.

When we talked to Mr Phillip, we had a really warm welcome and he did take a lot of his precious time to share his experience of wood with us who are still novices when it comes to buying large quantities of wood. He was also fascinated by our idea of building a boat and despite being busy with his work, he told us he also harbors a dream of building his own boat as he has already preciously kept a huge piece of mahogany wood to be used as keel.

Below is a picture of the cutting process of our wood log by Mr Phillip's brother. (The image quality turned out quite low as our camera lens quickly picked up a huge amount of wood dust from the cutting machine.)


> A1 Hardware Store

 Since we do need a lot of tools and equipment to build a boat, we bought a large number of our power tools online. However, we're constantly in need of fixtures and hand tools that we have to search for and buy. For that, we have just one address that we go to: A1 hardware store at Royal Road in Port Louis. There we have a long time family friend in the person a Chinese lady who's always ready to give us advise and discounts whenever we buy stuff. She has also been very helpful in terms of where and what tools to buy whenever we needed something we were not sure about. Her enthusiasm is also visible whenever we talk about our boat.

A1

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