Research Complete
Great news – the research phase of the sailboat project is complete! Over the past six months, I’ve gone through every portion of the boat to develop a plan for the final stages of construction and installation of systems. Here’s the basic structure of my research:
- Questions and answers – Pertinent questions were asked, then answered with as much research to back-up my decisions as possible.
- Research – I read book after book to get the best understanding of all the components of a cruising sailboat. I broke the research into different areas of the boat and even re-organized this project site based on the research structure I developed.
- Product List – Each area was broken into the products required to complete the project. This allows me to begin purchasing items for each project right away.
- Project List – With all of the above research complete, I was then able to develop a detailed project list which included the order of operations for each area, as well as the specific order of projects up until launch
The reason I decided to spend six months researching was multi-faceted. One reason was due to noticing that when working on the boat in the past, I would get ready to start a project, then realize that I still hadn’t considered “x, y or z”; greatly slowing down progress and making decisions less sure. As a sailboat is a network of interrelated components, a decision in one area affects a number of items down the line, forcing one to have a complete understanding of how the final arrangement will come together.
Another reason for all this research is due much to my own lack of experience with boat building and sailing. Six months ago, I had the basic construction techniques down, but I wasn’t quite fluent in the language of sailboats. This prohibited me from making decisions for fear of choosing an improper selection. Now, I have much more confidence in my knowledge as well as more confidence in how the final boat will come together.
At this point, I am completely ready to start construction and am hopeful that the next few months will be the greatest progress on the project thus far. Get ready, because it’s about to get very exciting!
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