To be sure, the plans for the Mark II Sassafras 12 and 16 have long since escaped my feverish gourd and, as drafted by our colleague Jay, exist in corporeal, printed form (below).  Full-sized patterns, at that!  What isn't done yet is the new instruction manual, which replaces the slim, 18-page, 1990's-era Mark I Sassafras manual with an abundantly illustrated spiral-bound book that's over a hundred pages.

Of being over-optimistic on Sassafras plans release date, I am guilty.  All brickbats and disapprobation should be directed at me.  My email box overflows with requests for those plans.

The flip side, if you've browsed this Forum much, is that instruction manuals aren't to be hurried.  The Builders Forum has spoken clearly on this.  Howls and shrieks, really, all but open insurrection.  This isn't an excuse for under-delivering on a release date for the plans, but against this backdrop of arch disapproval the Mark II manual project has dragged, hung up at my desk.

I guess I could send out the old manual with the new plans, and most builders could wing it from there.  But we aspire to a lot more than winging it.  Great manuals---I am good at that.  Release dates? Terrible.  

John,

How about making the manual type an ordering option? Call them the Pro and Newbie versions (or some self esteem sustaining version of the names) and have a terms of use clause that agrees to no complaining if the Pro manual is chosen.

The Pro would have just enough info to build the boat, mostly boat type-specific stuff. There would be no full-sized patterns, just dimensioned drawings. Everything else would be supplied by the builder's experience.

The Newbie would have the hand-holding, the color pics, the full-sized patterns, the ultra-detailed materials list (which would be ignored), the exact methodologies and procedures (which would also be ignored) and so on.

This way someone who knows what they're doing could become an early builder. Not only would there be great satisfaction, but the early builders could help find any issues while the Newbie manual is being written and produced.

Laszlo

   Send me a 12 and Ill put it together and give my opinion, lol im always available. I am debating in a strip canoe to pole around. Whatever your gut tells you is the correct thing to do.

Bruce