The state of amateur boatbuilding, 2026
The year so far, updated daily. Figures as of 11 November 2026.
People building boats at home rarely write down how long it took, what it was built from or whether it ever got wet. The builders on this site do, entry by entry, while the work is going on. This page adds those logs up. Nothing here is a survey or an estimate: every number is counted from what builders recorded, and none of it identifies anyone.
The most-logged designs
Public logs per design, for designs with at least 3.
The most-logged designers
Public logs of each designer’s boats, for designers with at least 3. All designers.
How many hours, by type of boat
| Type | Builds | Median hours logged | Launched | Median hours, launched |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row | 5 | 100 | 3 | 100 |
| Sail | 5 | 16 | fewer than 3 | n/a |
| Power | 4 | 44 | fewer than 3 | n/a |
New builds with hours logged. “Median hours logged” includes boats still being built, so it runs lower than a finished build; the launched column is the finished figure, shown once 3 launched boats are behind it. Design by design, see build times.
How the boats are built
Share of public logs by the construction method of the design. Methods with fewer than 3 logs are grouped.
How many reach the water
39% of new builds logged here have launched (18 of 46).
Many logs on the site are young, so this rises as builds finish. Restorations and modifications are not counted.
Where the builders are
Builders with a public log, by the location on their profile where it names a country or a state. Countries with fewer than 3 builders are grouped.
The busiest month
September was the busiest month of 2026 so far.
Entries by the month the work was done. A month with fewer than 3 logs active is left blank.
How this was measured
- Only public build logs count: published, kept by an active member, and not one of the site’s example logs. Entries a moderator has taken down are left out.
- The figures are the site as it stood at the end of 2026 (to 11 November 2026, while the year is still going). The busiest month looks at 2026 alone.
- Hours are what builders recorded on their entries. Anything not written down is missing, so the hours are, if anything, low.
- Hours by type of boat use new builds only. A restoration or a modification is real work, but it does not answer how long it takes to build one.
- Designs and construction methods come from the site’s catalog. Countries come from the free-text location on builders’ profiles, where it names one; the rest are counted as not stated.
- No group of fewer than 3 builds is shown on its own. Small groups are folded into “other” or left out, so no figure points to one person.
- Medians, not averages, so one very long build does not move the figure for everyone.