50ft strip plank sailer

[tane]

then your first post, PAR, says it all: it's going to be one-hell-of-a-job, particularly for one person! The finished hull will account for nearly nothing compared to the whole job. It has been done, BUT in many, many more cases been abandoned...

 

[PAR]

I've seen lots of larger projects taken on, many by experienced small boat builders and very few actually get completed. There are several natural stopping points I've found in projects like this, where the amount of work to finish the project, can become overwhelming. The classic is the "roll over blues". The builder has erected molds, hung planking, sheathed, faired and smoothed his brains out, eventually putting a fine paint job on it and then he rolls it over to see what appears a completed hull shell. As he drops it into an upright building cradle, he realizes the amount of work that's left to do and starts to cry. I've actually purchased projects that have reached this stage and come to a screeching halt. As to the percentages, yes they can be all over the place, in regard to the hull shell, depending on type, build, etc., but in most cases, it's a fairly small portion of the total build effort (time and costs) and this can be depressing after the roll over.

 

[DCockey]

Alizée, a new family built 40 foot Didi 40cr was at the WoodenBoat Show in Mystic, Connecticut last month. It had been built by a family in their driveway next to their house in Boulder, Colorado, and they trailered it 1900 miles to Mystic.

The construction was reported to have taken six years. I spoke briefly to the son and he said getting to WoodenBoat Show provided the inspiration for the final push to finish the boat. From what I saw from the dock and heard from folks who were aboard the standard of finish is excellent. She is outfitted as a comfortable cruising boat, not a racer.

The Didi 40cr at 40 feet long but relatively light displacement. Dudley Dix, the designer estimated the as built displacement as around 7 tonnes. That may be considerably less than the 50 footer contemplated by original poster.

More information about Alizée at:

http://dudleydix.blogspot.com/2016/02/didi-40cr-in-rocky-mountains.html

http://dudleydix.blogspot.com/2016/06/another-successful-wooden-boat-show.html

http://www.apresboulot.com/2016_06_01_archive.html

 

[TOALL]

as a joiner I continuously make kitchens. some very complicated. I would be very disappointed if it took longer than 3 weeks to build a large one.
I'm having difficulty with the notion that fitting out the boat will take the bulk of the build time. Surely all the lockers and cupboards don't amount to a large kitchen! Every thing will be built in the adjoining workshop, sprayed in the spray booth and then fitted to the boat.
Am I being to simplistic.
Ok so there's electrics/plumbing/rigging etc. but I honestly am having difficulty with the timings being posted

 

[gonzo]

It can be done fast if they are built at the shop instead of in place. Most amateurs fit the deck and bulkheads before the interior. That takes a huge amount of time.

 

[PAR]

I've install plenty of interior in boats, as well as houses and the two just don't come close to comparing, not even remotely. In a house you can build boxes and with the judicious use of some filler pieces can fit them in about any kitchen. This isn't the case in a boat, except for a few Bolger monstrosities. In a lot of builds, the cabinetry also serves as part of the structure, which simply isn't the case in the average homeowner's kitchen either.

 

[tane]

...with life in general & particularly with pleasureboats I'm finding that people tend to believe what they WANT to hear ("...fast & cheap to build...") & not what people who've-been-there-&-done-that-multiple-times tell them out of their own hard earned experience...
superb your "building tips & tricks" btw! we should'a known that in the 70ies when we were building our own...

 

[pdwiley]

as a joiner I continuously make kitchens. some very complicated. I would be very disappointed if it took longer than 3 weeks to build a large one.
I'm having difficulty with the notion that fitting out the boat will take the bulk of the build time. Surely all the lockers and cupboards don't amount to a large kitchen! Every thing will be built in the adjoining workshop, sprayed in the spray booth and then fitted to the boat.
Am I being to simplistic.
Ok so there's electrics/plumbing/rigging etc. but I honestly am having difficulty with the timings being posted

Ha ha ha ha - I once thought as you do. How hard can it be, I said to myself, as I started on a *much* more modest 12m steel hull...

Tell me - when was the last time you built a kitchen when EVERY SINGLE PIECE of material that went into it was a different size & shape??? Same for every piece of cabin sole, lining, settee etc etc?

And tell me - just *how* are you going to get those large sub-assemblies into your boat? The only way you can is to leave the cabin top off until you finish the interior. Regardless, you're going to have to lift them some 3 to 4 metres up in the air and move them sideways to lower into place. Just how much headroom and how big a crane do you have? Will those assemblies lend themselves to being lifted/slung in such a fashion?

When you *didn't* have 100mm or more to run your wires and plumbing?

When *every single piece* of the plumbing needed to not just run downhill, but sometimes run uphill as well, be sealed off if necessary from water *ingress*?

When you have 5 or 6 different plumbing systems to deal with, and their pumps, sea cocks, vents etc etc (salt water, fresh water, grey water, black water, holding tanks, deck fills/vents with waterproof fittings, water tankage, diesel tankage - probably something else I've forgotten)?

I have built 3 houses in my life, including a 3 storey 54 square steel post & beam one. I am a tool tragic of the worst type - I have a complete metalworking machine shop and a lot of big powered woodworking tools as well (3 phase industrial stuff, not big box hardware store). I am telling you, from my personal experience, that I could build 3 entire houses including doing all the plumbing & wiring, in less time than it'd take me to build one 12m boat.

I'm not trying to stop you from doing this - I'm just trying to make you realise just what you're letting yourself in for. It can be done and it has been done, but it's one hell of a lot of work, and it won't be quick.

PDW

 

[PAR]

Tane, I wish I knew all this stuff in the 70's too, it would have saved quite a few forehead scars at the very least.

 

[SukiSolo]

Tane, I wish I knew all this stuff in the 70's too, it would have saved quite a few forehead scars at the very least.

As long as you still have all your fingers......

 

[peter radclyffe]

toall have you ever worked on a boat

 

[PAR]

This has been a great fear of mine throughout my life, but somehow I've managed to retain all my digits, though enough divots on my skull, that any well used fairway would be proud of.

 

[nzboy]

Interesting series on a motor build. Search you tube "building of a core sound style round stern boat " lewis boats

 

[SukiSolo]

This has been a great fear of mine throughout my life, but somehow I've managed to retain all my digits, though enough divots on my skull, that any well used fairway would be proud of.

Good to know, I had a very narrow escape on fingers when the ratchet retaing pin sheared on a press a second after I'd removed the work....amongst other close shaves...one colleague was not so lucky with a radial arm saw at 2am....

The advantage of a full head of hair is it hides the the 'divots'....

 

[TOALL]

I'm beginning to realise the enormity of my project. I haven't built a boat before and starting with a 50 footer is probably not the normal course. I'm only ever going to build one boat so why not aim high. I'm in the best situation having a large building shed (60 x 20 x 16ft high) and a adjoining fully equipped workshop. If you let the negative aspects of a project rule then no one would ever start anything.
Knowledge is the key to success and knowing from the outset that it will take 15 years on a part time basis makes it a non starter.
I am now looking at it differently. Perhaps if I Spend a continuous 6 months at the beginning to get a running start, and then revert to weekend work.
I haven't really been able to determine how many man hours are involved over the entire build. perhaps some more input would help.
In my mind though build time must be 5 years max.