Right on Arild! Never forget to use Bell's Law of Projects, which says: "The first half of any project takes at least ninety percent of the resources -- time, money, materials, patience and everything else. The second half of the project takes at least another ninety percent of the resources originally available. The third half of the project will require even more. " >> From: Bill Allen >> Given enough time custom is the best. I suppose the >> really issue is do you want to cruise or do you enjoy building a >> boat. >> Most never finish or start to cut so many corners it becomes a nightmare. >> A boat that will be sold at a horrible unfinished discount. > > REPLY from Arild: I suspect the lure of a "custom" boat that perfectly suits every whim of the owner is so seductive and alluring it causes common sense to fly out th eporthole. I have seen plenty of customized boats by commercial yards and the horror stories you hear is enough to scare you away from boat building and ownership. A thousand little change orders, each adding "only an hour to do" will accumulate into six months longer for the completion date of the construction. I can only suppose that when a prospective owner realizes that his or her whim can be accomodated with the stroke of a pen on the design drawing or build plan, it becomes too seductive to have it all exactly like they want it for personal convenieence. At that point the subjectivity gets lost and the future owner gets seduced by the process. In reality, how important is it to have everything exactly right? Certainly large design aspects like galley up or down and three small staterooms versus two larger ones is significant. But all the small details may or may not be significant in th elong haul. Isn't it more important to get out there crusiing that having the "perfect" cruising boat. Life and expectations change. Chances are your so called perfect option will be of little consequence a year or two later. cheers Arild