We all have boats for different reasons and certainly I'm sure there are a variety of reasons for building a boat beyond that of getting out on the water.

I share your priorities, but a difference between your boat and mine is that Fanshi is also my home.  I find that having things that I find beautiful and enjoy using, add tremendously to my pleasure in life.  To me, joy comes from lots of small things rather than one or two large ones.  That being so, it was important to me to make the boat as attractive as I could, without sacrificing either longevity or practicality.  (And please I don't want to hear anyone telling me that varnish isn't practical.  I don't find it a chore or time consuming to maintain.  Unlike a diesel engine!)

Part of the reason for having a boat is the pleasure of simply owning one, otherwise, surely, everyone would simply hire one when they wanted to sail.  Some people like to spend tens of thousands on a fancy paint job; some regard that time spent on getting details 'right' are worth it for the endless pleasure that they will get from them; some are perfectly happy to take whatever comes their way and go sailing.  How boring it would be if we all liked the same things.

As to pink being girlish: it used to be a colour associated with men until the 20th century.  Blue was for girls: Mary's robe being a fine example.  I feel a little sorry for men being worried about being girlsh: for at least half a century, very few women have worried that they might be considered boyish and that has liberated us to do what we want.

I, too, will defend your right to play in the 'Good Enough League', Arne.  After all, ít's not a competition.  But if my colourful little boat brings a smile to people who see her, I shall get even more satisfaction out of what I have achieved.

Paul wrote:

BLIMEY,

FABULOUS.

Ps

what’s the story with the dragons Annie?

please don’t tell me you can carve as well.....

No, I nowhere near clever enough to carve anything.  I didn't even dare attempt the eyes.  They were done by someone a friend recommended, who learnt his trade in the Philippines.  They ARE fabulous, aren't they?

 Ueli wrote:

congratulations for fanshi – she looks great!
thanks for sharing the pictures (and her whole development anyway…)

there is one point, i'm not sure about: the webbing which is partly soaked with epoxy resin could develop a weak spot in the small stress area where it changes from epoxy stiffened to flexible. i would keep this webbing under regular inspection, at least at the beginning. (or did anyone try this epoxy-webbing thing before?)

can't wait to see her in the water…

ueli

Well, there's only really one way to fnd out!  In fact, the epoxy hasn't saturated the webbing in a hard rigid line.  If it does stress and start to come away, I don't anticipate that it will all happen at once and that the rig will fall down.  There is  spare block at the top of the mast and there are two separate blocks and webbing loops for the halliard.  With the mast being in a tabernacle, I should hope to be able to examine the mast head quite without having to go up it, but if I get someone to hoist me up after a few months, that should tell me if anything worrying is happening.

David Webb wrote:

Arne, I have a very similar philosophy to yours, but slightly different.

1 Strong. If your boat is strong it will not break while out at sea and will bring you home safely even if it leaks a bit here and there.
.
.

David

You are of course right about strength, David. The 'problem' is that all my grp boats have been stoutly built, so offshore strength has never been an issue. The hardest loads my boats have suffered is no doubt from running aground. Both my Malena and Johanna have been thoroughly tested there.

As for what is beautiful or not, that varies with what we have grown up with. Personally, I think my Ingeborg is the best-looking boat I’ve had, and will ever have  -  but then I am biased...

Arne

Hmmmm...

Deciding for a standard of workmanship and finish can be difficult, sometimes. On a scale going from ‘leaky shed’  to ‘Taiwan Rococo’, I try to land on a level in between. Not being very patient, and not being too fond of doing carpentry, I have to cut corners:

• ·         Priority number one is to avoid rot and rust (read: avoid water ingress).
• ·         Priority number two is to make things work without getting very complex.
• ·         Last priority with me is to make things look neat. I spend little time on sanding, and I never hide (plug) screw heads unless it is to stop water ingress.

Still, I don’t completely disregards the looks of things. When I got my Ingeborg, she had been refurbished inside, and like all boats of her time, her interior is dominated by ‘brown tree’, mahogany, I guess. It took me over a year before I dared to do any changes inside. I didn’t want to install ‘pale tree’; spruce or fir among all the brown. Neither did I want to cut down a rain forest to get it right. The compromise has been to use ‘teak on a can’ to stain the fir I have installed. It’s a kind of cheap, quick and dirty way of doing things, but that’s me, for sure.

Annie, by contrast, clearly wants Fanshi, her pride and joy, to look very, very smart, even if it has cost her another year to achieve that standard of finish. That’s fine, I respect that. As long as she and I share the same first priority; avoid rot and rust, I am fine with this (.. btw, I think her way of using colours, including pink, looks great  -  in a girlish way...).

So I surely defend anyone’s right to set a high standard of finish  -  as much as I defend my own right to play in the ‘Good-Enough League’.

Cheers,
Arne