Building Sea Minor
by Kent Georgeson
https://www.georgesons.net

Sea Minor is a name stolen from a boat in one of my daughters books. I am not musical but instead chose the name as I hope to one day have a Sea Major!

It all started when I moved to Auckland (New Zealand). Auckland is the City of Sails. I did not want to miss out. Thus, my quest started…. I needed a boat.

At the time of making this decision my wife was 7 months pregnant with our first child. I figured that if I bought a boat, I wouldn’t get much time on the water until our first child was a little older. So if I had some time, why not build one.

Well, last weekend I just finished painting the hull… my first child, a girl, is now 2 and ½ years old and my second child, a boy, is now 7 months. As it turns out, having kids didn’t leave much time for building either.

In the early days, it was cosy and comfortable working in my garage. It was not until I had the bulkheads standing on the bottom panel that I discovered that the garage just wasn’t big enough to be practical. I also found when the stem went on, the boat was about 3 inches too long. Therefore, I relocated to the carport outside. Working outside on a boat is a lot less fun… especially in a wet Auckland winter.

About half way through the build, we bought a new house. Relocating a half built boat, even one as small as Sea Minor, was not something I wanted to tackle alone. Best leave it to the experts, so I called in a boat haulage company.

This is the first time I understood the true value of a John Welsford design. We stopped at some lights and another car pulled alongside me. The driver wound down the window and asked “Mate, that your boat?”, “Sure is” I replied. “Navigator is it?”, “Sure is” I replied… slightly stunned. “How did you know?” I asked. “Recognise a John Welsford design anywhere” he replied.

In the new house, my garage is much larger, and cosier. I have Sea Minor all painted now and have begun the procrastination around how I will manage to rig her. Each option with their own advantages, but none that stand out enough to make the decision easy.

Sea Minor needs to get onto the water soon… or at least before the kids move out of home!

More photos can be found at https://www.georgesons.net/photos/index.php?cat=3