Usage & Program

The original idea was to try to build a boat that would allow us to go on extended cruising in European waters, and - later - eventually be a home-on-the-seas for just the parents, with occasional visits from the then grown up kids.

This means there should be no limitation as to where to go, including worldwide cruising, but without targeting the boat at any particular extreme conditions like arctic waters etc.

At then 56, it was also supposed to be my "last boat to build", meaning I would like to be very ZEN about it and get it absolutely right and lovely.. but then you never know, I am already cooking with other ideas ;-)

Size

Given age and financial situation we wanted to go for the smallest possible boat that will go far for little money and still give us basic accommodation, shower and good comfort. A waterline of about 8 meters is just enough, and will also give good movements at sea if the boat is not too light.

A boat of about 9 meters over deck is fine, was not so long ago even considered as a sort of standard size for a couple with occasional guests and there are many many notable cruises made in boats this size.

Still, 9 meters are not much, and if you want any sort of volume inside, you would need quite a bit of beam, a hull that is not too shallow, a U-shaped main section to get enough floor space and careful design for your superstructures to really make the maximum out of it without building an ugly, top heavy monster.

I hope i manged to make it fit together is style..

A "Modern Classic"...

YAGO is unusual in that this design tries to marry old and new elements for a blue water yacht in a way that does make sense to me, but may surprise others.

What I would like to have is

• A modern hull with lines that you would find on today's lighter production yachts, but
• "medium" displacement of 6.5 to 7 to., due to the use of steel on a smaller boat, but also because this will to a certain degree useful to give the boat power and sweet movements.
• Twin, high aspect dagger boards for good sailing performance, to be able to hit the beach and go up every river and to give easy maintenance
• A very classic Rig, because I like it, and also because it is cheap to build from raw materials and requires no "yachty" fittings on deck. Savings in deck hardware should be considerable.

Cost

As we have a very limited budget, and at the same time as we start building the boat still have to invest in small old house we recently bought, keeping the financial engagement as low as possible was very important. Reasonable size, traditional rig, steel hull and low-tech equipment will help.

Hull Material

We opted for Steel, because it can be built outside and you can get started for VERY little money, especially with ORIGAMI. The boat could also be built of aluminum of course, giving you a lighter hull and thus more weight to carry in stores and tanks.