Buccaneer 24 Builders Forum

That boom tent construction and stowability is a terrific idea Samnz. I'll remember that.

 

Green Death Trap Resurfaces

Another video of the GDT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQ2mVPt5-c
18 knots must get a little exciting

Anyone else have new videos of the b24? I am always interested to see the differences between boats.

 

how far is your boat ?

hello Bruce,

how far are you with the building of your boat ?
do you have a picture of the foulding system on it ?

greetings,

Marco

 

I'm also really interested in the idea of a folding mechanism. I would love to see pics

 

rot repair

Hi, Bruce has been busy rebuilding the bottoms of my floats- and I have run out of time for this season to build my folding system. I have installed dagger trunks in my floats, and i am FINELY done! I will post pics soon. I will be building the folding system parts, but it will be several months before anything is ready for testing. I should have more info soon on the Buc "26" that a friend has purchased, it looks like a very nice boat. B

 

ply thicknesses

Looking at the materials list, the plywood thicknesses listed are 3/16",
1/4" and 5/16". My local supplier has 4mm, 6mm, and 9mm "Hydrotek" marine ply.
Does anyone have experience with this brand? Would these be acceptable substitutes? He also has 1/4" douglas fir 3-ply with
too many voids, and 3/8" douglas fir that looks good but I'm guessing might be
too heavy.

 

I am not familiar with Hydrotek marine ply, but if you can be sure it really is a "Marine" ply and has waterproof glue between the laminations, I would think it's alright. The three thicknesses as offered to you match the designers specs, so I guess it's OK in that respect. I would not recommend Douglas fir ply. Not just because it is heavier, but it also rots quickly in fresh water. You cannot prevent fresh water (be it rainwater or spills) getting into your bilge---even if you always sail in the sea.

 

Hydrotek is marine meranti ply, comparable to fir in strength and weight, much more rot resistant than okoume, nicer to work with than fir. Fir is pretty rot resistant with good air circulation.

 

ply choices

I have just used a couple of sheets of "hydrotec" rebuilding my floats, and I used some last year re-doing bulkheads. (all 6mm/ 1/4") I really like it- I also use it as a contractor in kitchen and bath remodeling. The good- it is "durable" (rot resistant), much more so than okume or fir, I have never found a void, it is pretty, and strong for its weight, (6mm is 33 lbs a sheet) and reasonably priced for the quality. The bad- it splinters some when cut (a really sharp blade helps), it is heavier than okume, and bending it takes some serious clamping. Like any ply, it needs to be well edge sealed. I think one of the few errors in the Crowther /Buc plans shows the ply running to the edges of the bulkheads, and it is not possible to properly seal between the hull skin and the bulkhead ply edges. Water DOES get in and ruin the bulkhead. Most modern construction leaves a 1/4-1/2 inch gap that is filled with an epoxy putty fillet- a much better system. I epoxy/fiberglass tape any other exposed edges. B

 

Yes it is important to seal the edges of the ply, preferably with a soak coat of thin epoxy when preparing the bulkheads.
However the ply SHOULD be carried right up to the inside skin and EPOXY GLUED, so that it can carry it's share of the compression load. If this is not done the lumber edging has to transmit the load to the ply via its glueline, which will be put in sheer and may eventually open up a void which will allow moisture to enter, starting deterioration.
In foam sandwich construction it is necessary to fillet the edges of the internal frames, to allow sufficient dispersion of the pressure forces into the skin.
In ply construction this is not necessary due to the area provided by the width of the frame plus ply skin at the surface.

 

details

OS7, I have to disagree. Five out of seven of my main hull bulkheads and all of my float ones were rotten- not just a little, but crumbled from the bottom up. They could not even support their own weight. The frames and the skins were/are in pretty good shape and carried the loads. Even though it is light, the Buc is strong. In the Gougeon books and several other designer's plans, a gap is always left and filled with epoxy- i in some designs the fillet takes the whole compression load. It is also a lesson in ply choices, I think using a durable or treated ply for the bulkheads would be my first choice. Most of the epoxy coatings in my boat have not failed, but the bulkheads must flex against the skin ply enough to break the seal, and the fir ply just fell apart. I also found several voids in critical areas, and Murphy's law says of course nails happened to hit those voids- and I wondered why I had some slow leaks in my floats. (I think this is in "marine" grade fir three ply 1/4" material. Definitely not my first choice for ply. I will post some scary pics soon. B

 

Make sure any fir ply doesn't contain hemfir which is weaker and rots easily. Marine grade fir should be all douglas fir and shouldn't have voids. There aren't many places making marine fir anymore. You can tell the difference because the hemlock/hemfir is lighter colored, more white than the douglas fir.

 

Thanks for the input, guys. Sounds like the hydrotec would be a good choice.

 

new guy

All this talk about plywood is helpful. As someone told me it would be best to nuse different types for different applications as for bulkheads, hulls, frames ect. Any suggestions/reasons before I start buying ply would be helpful.

This weekend after I get the steering system installed in the Cobra I'm letting my grandson help me trace out the frame from the plans to some paperboard. I had several copies of that sheet made in case of accidents grandchildren/grandpas make when cutting stuff. I figure If he gets interested and he already seems so it'll help keep him out of other less desirable stuff.

 

"All this talk about plywood is helpful. As someone told me it would be best to use different types for different applications as for bulkheads, hulls, frames ect. Any suggestions/reasons before I start buying ply would be helpful." Quote.

No need. Just use one good quality ply in the thicknesses specified. Buy in bulk for lowest cost.