Buccaneer 24 Builders Forum

Timber is used for all the longerons in the boat. (gunnels, keels, stringers etc: ), for edging of all frames, and for compression posts under the mast step, and at the fulcrum of the water stays in the crossbeam bulkheads.
If you read the building instructions(shown at the same place as the parts list) you can dope that out.

 

Currently doing the math-
But I am trying to decide if this is the boat now, while you have the plans.

 

Would Okume marine plywood work well? What woods do you recemmend?

 

Yes Okume or Gaboon is good, or any lightweight mahogany, marine or at least exterior grade. Three ply is OK but make sure there are no voids in the centre ply. For timber use spruce or poplar, Douglas Fir (Oregon) is very strong, but is heavier and these days is hard to find.

 

So if I were to do all the work myself and be as frugal as possible, would 5k still be crazy?
(from material list)
$1800 us for the wood
? for timber
? rigging (like to figure out)
$1000 sails from the company in honk kong
I figure those are the main things in order to have a sailable boat. Not includin epoxy. Could anybody help me by filling in some question marks?

 

PShip.
You say the quote for sails was from Hong Kong.
There are several sailmakers in Hong Kong.
Was your quote from LEE SAILS. They have the B24s sail set on their computer and can quote for the full set of sails as a package deal including shipping. http://www.leesails.com/

 

I can't recall, but I know it was posted somewhere also. I will look into it.

 

At Sailrite they quote the basic headsail from $550 and the main from $620. I'm sure better deals can be had but this is what I found in 10 minutes.

 

Buc costs

Pship, I think you will spend a little more on ply and epoxy, but you can pick up some very good used sails, rigging and equipment if you take your time and shop. I was just at used equipment store in Florida and saw most of the necessary parts to equip a boat like a Buccaneer. I just replaced my rear crossbeam "timber" and several Ama beam saddles- it is not very much wood. You can usually find pieces that size as scraps Crowther doesn't give you the cut layouts, but if you make some scaled paper patterns you will find that the ply use is well thought out. It is well worth while buying the best ply you can find, even if you are on a tight budget. I think you "could" build the 24 for $5000 but you would have to spend a lot of time shopping- 7-8k would do it with normal suppliers and produce a first class boat. I also think a first time builder is going to waste some material and probably take 600-800 hours, but that is still a very economical boat. B

 

Thank you for this information. If i decide to go through with this, I didn't want the first boat i build to be too complex and expensive. And the okume 1088s marine grade in florida came out to that. I didn't include epoxies as I am clueless about the price.

 

Epoxy

I just priced epoxy here in Sydney last week. If I buy 20 kg of epoxy it is approx $14 (Aussie dollars) per kg. The necessary hardener is about $30 a kg. You need 1 kg of hardener for every 5 kg epoxy. I was told that to wet out a 400 gram cloth I'd need about 600 grams of epoxy per square metre.

I'd be interested to know how much epoxy per square metre is required for the necessary three coats on the plywood.

 

You would be better off if sheathing to buy a 240 kg pack, try fgi, not the cheapest but very competitive. About $2700AU as I recall. 1:1.5 is careful layup, you might manage it, but if you haven't glassed before you might find it a bit higher.

Personally I'd use biaxial rather than cloth, but if your not relying on the glass for strength cloth might be easer to get a smooth finish. I think fgi do a std 320 gsm which would save some weight and cost.

 

Boatcraft Pacific, in Brisbane, manufacture and supply Bote-Cote boatbuilding epoxy. It's the best WEST type epoxy there is and reasonably priced too.

 

Thanks for the advice. Do you have any guidance on approximately how much epoxy is required for the three coats to coat the plywood?

 

For the Buc 24, take the mean area of one side of the main hull in square metres and multiply it by 5.34 = litres of epoxy needed for the whole of construction.
The method is explaned in detail in the booklet which accompanies the B24 plans.