How to Recognize a Quality Sailboat
Ask 10 boatbuilders or boat designers whether their boats are of high quality, and you will likely get 10 HELL YEAHs. Ask those same folks to define "quality boat," and you will likely get 10 very different answers. Is "Quality" lightness or durability or clean lines or classic materials or low maintenance or the latest or the oldest or the fastest or the simplest or the most adjustable...or...some combination of several of those things?
To me, Quality is ... Beauty that is more than skin deep. That is, quality is the result of careful, clever design and construction ideas that allow a sailboat to achieve a superior combination of appearance, strength, and speed.
Appearance and speed are observable on the outside, but the third corner of the triangle, strength, is hidden on the inside. In this way, boats are a lot like people: outward appearance may not correspond to inward character. You can make a boat lighter by making it flimsier, but that isn't a quality boat. A quality boat is built to last, but it is also designed and built to avoid unnecessary material that does not contribute clearly to strength. The same applies to appearance: you can make her lines cleaner by removing gunwales or sheer strakes, but doing so will require clever design and engineering on the inside to make sure that the boat retains the strength and stiffness required for longevity.
When choosing a DIY sailboat kit, the previous sentence holds the key to understanding "quality": you have to look inside, into the hidden structures. How do you to THAT? As I've explained in another post, you should read the assembly manual first, before you buy a kit. That’s how you see what’s going on inside the boat structurally.
What are you looking for? The video below is a good example: it is a CAD virtual assembly showing how clever design gives the Puur 17 beauty and strength with a minimum of parts, materials, and weight. Watch, and have a look inside the Puur 17.
Build a beautiful boat. Just make sure it's beautiful inside and out.