The hull sides are four straight-cut 9” wide strips of plywood. And even with flotation foam in all four water-tight compartments, the weight is kept down to the same as the popular Laser Class boats.

Sealed flotation compartments means the boat can be capsized and righted, and sailed off without bailing—while an arc bottom and hard chines provide great stability for beginners. A cockpit-controlled kick-up rudder and daggerboard make beach launching easy. Deck-mounted grab handles double as tie-down hooks for simple car top transporting. Add to these features the fact that it’s a really inexpensive boat to build on the market and we think you’ve got a definite winner in the MINI-CUP.

The MINI-CUP 12’ sailboat featured in POPULAR SCIENCE is a fast-handling, wet-and-wild little sport boat that’s a good bet for beginner builders, as well as first-time sailors—or for anyone looking for a lot of performance for little outlay.

The MINI-CUP tacks on a dime and in a gust she’ll show her heels to a lot of bigger boats with fast reputations. Simple box-section plywood construction makes for easy building: the deck and hull bottoms are identical and can be cut at the same time by stacking the plywood.

The MINI-CUP is one of our personal favorites at Stevenson Projects; I have very fond memories of a summer when I was twelve — many hours of exhilaration and adventure sailing the MINI-CUP! Some favorite sailing memories with this boat...(I may just have to make a new one!!)

Click Here or on the image above to see the Mini-Cup's building sequence.

The Mini-Cup is such a fun boat to build and sail, it's no wonder people send us shots from around the world! Take a look at the photos of some of the great boats people have sent us over the years!

Click Here to start exploring the photo galleries!