1. Run! If you have already purchased the plans, you can probably get half your money back if you. sell them.
2. Get someone to help you. Get a therapist. When I decided to build my own house, my designer said "Well, you have a head start; you already have your divorce".
3. Learn to curse.
3. Site selection. Make sure you are far away enough from your neighbors so when you yell "F***" at the top of your lungs, no one will hear you.
4. Get proper tools. The Wharram concept of building on a beach with spit, string and rocks won't work.
5. Have enough money. Calculate the costs to the penny, then triple it!
6. Have enough time. Calculate how much time it will take and triple that, too.
7. Don't set goals. You will only disappoint yourself.
8. Plan on the unforeseen time when you will have to stop building for a while so you can spend the time in the sanatorium.
9. Site selection #2: Have enough space around your hulls so that when you throw a hammer with all your might you won't hit anything important.
10. Remove those rose tinted glasses from atop your nose. Place them on a decently paved road. Jump on them repeatedly until it's nothing left but a carnage of ground glass and twisted metal. Leave them in the road for the traffic to finish them.
11. Try not to kill everyone who asks "When will the boat be finished?"
12. Read "Attempted Escape from Western Civilization" by Tim & Kingsley Cox. Read this blog if you can stomach it.
13. Learn to love epoxy and being sticky.
14. If you decide to go ahead anyway, never give up. Never, ever give up. Remember, it's nothing but a pile of used plywood and lumber with no value unless it's afloat and at the dock.