With some time and energy, you will likely be able to locate several free sailboat plans posted online. If you dream of building a sailboat but are looking to save on money, you may think that free boat building plans are the way to go. And they very may well be a great solution, if the plans you have found meet the following criteria:
1) The plans have been tried and tested. You need to make sure that any sailboat plans you choose have a proven track record - be they free plans or paid for plans. If the plans are posted anonymously or if you cannot find any boat builder who has used the plans, you should proceed with much caution. Remember, just about anyone can dream up a boat design and post it to the internet, but this is no guarantee the boat will float.
Ideally you will be able to find wooden boat plans that have a variety of testimonials supporting the plans from people who have actually built boats using the plans. Unfortunately, most free sailboat plans available online do not have this kind of documentation supporting them, although there are some very cheap sailboat plans that do provide this kind of information.
2) The plans were developed by an experience sailboat builder. You should also do research on the person who is posting the plans. If this person is known as an experienced boat builder, than you can be pretty sure the plans are reliable, be they paid or free sailboat plans.
If you know who has made the plans and know of people who have used the plans successfully you can be fairly sure that the sailboat plans you are considering will be worth using.
