Built & Launched is a brand-new registry dedicated to preserving the boats people build and the stories behind them. Help us grow the fleet—add your home-built boat and become part of the registry from the beginning.
Work in Progress
See what home boat builders are working on right now.
Work on boats that have already been in the water.
Build Update Mechanical
September 2024 - Motor, controls, and folding mast
The build gallery records this stage to September 2024; the individual workdays were not retained. The 20 HP Tohatsu was hung, the motor well trimmed for steering clearance, and the throttle, steering cable, controls, and wiring harness…
Build Update Modification
The build gallery records these additions to September 2025; the individual workdays were not retained. AWOOGA gained perforated cartoon eye decals, logo stadium seats on folding supports, a mascot, and a working bubble stack made from PVC…
Build Update Hull
Four sections of Meranti marine plywood became AWOOGA's bottom. I laid out the curves with a fairing strip, cut the panels, and routed shallow channels at the joints so the fiberglass tape could sit cleanly in the surface. Source reviewed…
Build Update Cabin
After months spent making the cabin bulkheads, hatch, and other pieces, I joined the cabin sides in jigs and raised the house on the hull. Roof beams, visor, roof skin, and helm station followed. AWOOGA had acquired the unmistakable…
Build Update Fiberglass
The first attempt at glassing the bottom did not bond properly. The cloth's fine weave would not wet out the way I expected, so I pulled it all off, sanded the surface back, and started again. It was an early and memorable lesson: wet the…
Build Update Hull
The stern skin needed patience and a recut from a template when the plan dimensions did not fit quite right. Once those pieces were on, every hull skin panel was complete. Fir rail caps and the forward rub rails finished the sheer, with…
Build Update Paint
The exterior moved through fairing and primer into its finish colors - some lipstick on this pig, as the build notes put it. The hatch top and scuppers went on, and the cabin and helm components were laid out for final installation. Source…
That is the whole of it — you have reached the beginning.
Keep Looking
This page is the work, in the order it was done. The other two are the boats it is being done to, and everything else that has happened.
Your Bench
A boat can be entered in the registry the day the plans arrive. Add an entry when you have done an afternoon's work, and it appears here.
