> I'm new to all this and have what may seem like a silly question. I'm
> planning to build the S&G guillemot and d/l'd the plans from the webpage.
> The trouble is there are no instructions about where to put the cockpit,
> (or anything else for that matter). How do you figure this out? Is there
> some formula, or have I missed something?

Hi James,

I have just about finished building this boat. I've had lots of problems because there are no instructions, and for this reason I wouldn't recomend that anyone build it (though, I remain greatful to Nick for providing the plans). There have been several occasions where I've done no work for several weeks because I wasn't sure how to proceed, only by coming to this board and really turning the problem over in my mind have I resolved these difficulties.

Since I started building I've bought both Chris' and Nick's books, and can see how easy it could have been if I had only waited until I could afford these books (they cost about $50 apiece here in Australia). The amount saved by building one of Chris' boats from the plans in the book would easily cover the cost of both books-for example 5 sheets of ply for Nick's S&G, 2 Sheets of ply for the Yare in Chris' book. Chris's boats seem to go together a lot faster and look prettier (well, prettier than mine).

If you still feel that this is the boat for you, and I must admit that I've enjoyed the challenge, I seem to remember that the plans give a measurement from the stem to the front of the cockpit, and mention somewhere else the length of the cockpit (sorry i can't be more specific, but I'm at work and don't have a lot of time to look it up).

Hope this has been some help,

Paul.