Good and Bad Reasons to Build Your Own Sailboat

When people hear that our company makes sailboat kits for DIY builders, they almost always ask the same question:

“How much cheaper is it to build your own sailboat than to buy a new one?”

My answer invariably surprises them: You don’t do it to save money. There are cheaper (and quicker) ways to get on the water than to build your own sailboat.

So, why DO people build a boat? Our clients are a diverse lot, so it’s a bit risky to generalize too much, but each Puur builder I’ve met expresses his/her own unique mixture of these core motivators:

The Artist builds a boat to create something rare and beautiful.

The Engineer builds a boat because it’s better than a boat she can buy.

The Benefactor builds a boat as an heirloom to enjoy with and bequeath to later generations.

The Guide builds a boat as an experiential classroom for teaching skills and confidence and life-lessons.

The Student builds a boat to become a better sailor by understanding the machine from the inside out.

The Explorer builds a boat to discover new frontiers in skill-development and in nature.

The Technologist builds a boat to be grounded by working with something real and tactile.

The Executive builds a boat for a few hours per week of drama-free personal time that’s therapeutic.

The common denominator is that our customers build a boat for two experiences…of building, and then of sailing proudly the boats they’ve built.

As a bonus, people who build a boat are much more interesting at dinner parties.