More than 2500 clients, worldwide, have produced thousands of sophisticated seafaring vessels for a variety of uses from our designs. Our drawings provide the simplicity, clarity, and the high level of detail necessary for efficient construction by ordinary craftsmen. We advocate wood/epoxy construction for all of our designs. Why wood? Wood is the most affordable, high strength, and easiest to work of materials available today. When combined with epoxy glues and coatings, it gains the one property that other construction materials possess—permanence. Wood boats are favored by charter operators because they cost less, are easier to repair, and are stronger per unit cost than other materials used in boat building.
We offer three different design series to satisfy the various requirements of our builders. The Seaclipper Series is the simplest--designed with the novice builder in mind. Lengths range from 10 to 41 feet. The Searunners are sophisticated plywood designs by Jim Brown featuring cutter rigs, central cockpits, and centerboards. These ocean-going designs run from 25 to 40 feet. Our Constant Camber series are modern cold-molded designs featuring pre-laminated hull panels and other components. All are constructed of wood; lumber, plywood and/or veneers, bonded with epoxy. All are sheathed on the exterior with light fiberglass cloth to reduce maintenance and improve surface quality. Most of our plans include full-size bulkhead patterns. Since we are builders ourselves, we strive to make the construction easy to understand and the finished vessel satisfying to operate.
If you are interested in building, but aren't sure which design is for you, spend some time browsing through our design pages. We have information packets and study plans for all of our vessels. We are glad to answer questions about any of these designs by email, phone, or snail mail. Once you start to build we offer direct online and phone consultation to help you reach a successful conclusions to your building project. John Marples also provides professional consultation about other projects, including commercial boat certification, at a reasonable hourly rate. These services come with a background of more than forty years sailing and building experience.
The Marples Marine design office, located in coastal Maine, operates 5 days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone). Send an email to John at marplesmarine(at)gmail(dot)com or call 207-326-8096 today for a personal consultation. We look forward to assisting you with your boatbuilding project.
