Buccaneer 24 Builders Forum

Barry
Stick with the basic's until a proven better option is available.
Regards
Toby and the Ezifold team

 

Kiss

Barry, I think composite chain plates are a great idea too, but I will also share that the external stainless design is one area that doesn't seem to have issues on the Bucs, or most other boats. My 40 year old ones didn't have any issues when I re-bedded them on my 24, and the 33 had suffered an impact on one that had bent the top of the chain plate about an inch aft, bent the top bolt a lot, yet was still functioning ok.
Sometimes simple is just fine.
B

 

Agreed on all counts!


Barry

 

Yeah.! Like i've said many times. Just build it like Lockie designed it.
If I could build one in 6 weeks and have it racing in 9 ------so can you.

 

Hi everyone,
A bit of an update on the Buc. I've been slowly adding things to make it easier to go single handed and to stop a few of the annoying little things that happen whilst sailing and after yesterday im pretty happy with what I've done.
Firstly i added a tillerpilot. It's a raymarine st1000+ that I've connected to my gps. I've never had an autopilot before but I'm hooked now!
Second was to change the head of the mainsail. Initially it was a boltrope set up but i changed that to slides but i was having an issue of the head slide pulling out of the track. There was to much pressure on the track when reefed with just the one slide so it would open the track and come out. I cut the head and fitted a headboard and ive webbed 3 slides to the headboard now so the surface area is greatly increased. Housting the sail now and reefing is incredible. So so easy.
Another issue i tackled was the spray going all over the motor from waves hitting the outboard the outboard. After i bit of thought a simple solution of a piece of rubber matting to deflect the water has worked perfectly.
All in all the setup now is working great and I'm really happy with the boat. The speed of these boats never ceases to amaze me. I'm not sure what the breeze was yesterday but it was probably only about 15 knots. Because i was trolling lures around i was trying to only do about 6 knots but i ended up with a reef in the main and no headsail reaching along cracking over 8 knots!

 

rcracing2

If that's a B24 you have... I'd appreciate any and all details and pics of the rudder case, transom mounting, and the rudder blade itself.

If you have stuff, please PM me and I'll provide my real email.

Oh, and some shots of the set up of the mainsheet track would be appreciated

Thanks a lot,
TomH

 

Hi Tom,
Yeah it's a b24. I'm going back out to work today (i work away for a week at a time) but i can get some info for you next week when I'm home if you like. The traveller is a harken set up and again I'll get some info for you next week. The beauty of that traveller is it has a 7/8th internal track on the bottom side which was perfect for mounting the extension plate i had to make for the tiller pilot.

 

Go Buc!

RC, I see about the same performance- Bucs are fun. My racing "target" speed up wind, very close hauled, is around 6.6-6.8 kts, cracking off just a little gets speeds in the low 7s for the best VMG with any wind between 6 and 14kts. Any point other than close hauled gives speeds in the 8-9kt range until you power up and get over the "hump", then 11-14kts + is typical, but a little more exciting.
I like my autopilot also!! Besides sailing with it some, the pilot makes raising and lowering sails under power safer and much more controlled. I believe any fast boat needs one. I run mine for short periods with a 12V power tool battery, and for longer days with a auto "jump" box which I can leave off when racing with a full crew.
Tom, I will get some photos this week of my rudder and traveler. My traveler is also a Harken using two linked cars for the excessive load of an 18x1 mainsheet. I tend to build rudders out of "available" parts, so my blade is a kick up Catalina 22 part, and I made the housing from aluminum plates. Very important, the pintles are 90 degrees to the water, and the blade when down is pinned with the tip forward of vertical. When the rig is properly tuned, the helm is "two finger" light and very responsive, very powerful, and feels like any other well balanced 24' sport boat. I am sure a vertical lifting blade like RC's could be even better. From my experience, the design doesn't matter much, but the area and positioning details do. On another boat, I was a little offshore at night with a broken rudder . Make the rudder and its attachments strong!, you won't regret the small added weight.
B

 

Rudder pics

I had these, I will do better later this week. The housing is 1/4" aluminum plate and, of course, could be much lighter. It is strong!
B

 

cutaway stern

I'm a big fan of that cut away stern Bruce. If i can bring myself to cut more of the boat up that's a mod is be keen on. I would also like to make my rudder more vertical. At present it follows the angle of the stern so it's raked aft. It isn't heavy on the helm by any means but it could certainly be lighter. When i first put my boat back in the water last year i didn't have a centreboard for a while (we only motored around and occasionally put the main up ). The weight on the helm was huge. Since having the centreboard, the helm is so much lighter and that's even while motoring.
One thing i have learned over the past 18 months is my boat (im guessing all bucs) doesn't like waves! I sail on open ocean so waves are inevitable but anything over say 2 feet and motoring into it is nigh on impossible. The boat just stops and If there is wind with it it turns the bow. I've tried a few different angles but nothing seems to work. Any ideas? I just put it down to having 3 bows hitting the waves and a lot of windage.

 

A long overdue Buc 24 test mule update as the beams are being finalized by Geoff has just been posted in the usual spot for those interested at https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?v=timeline&id=212821925457790&_rdr
New floats are progressing well with an update soon.
Toby and the Ezifold team

 

Changes

RC, I like the cutaway also, but you do lose a useful locker. I have float lockers, so they help makeup for the lost storage. I have thought about adding a step/fuel locker back there as a compromise.
When I got my boat, it had the rudder mounted with gudgeons/pintles raked like the transom, and it was scary. Ok on center, but as the helm and boat was turned, the un-balanced rudder would "take over" and try to snatch the tiller out of your hand. Hard! If the blade was not all the way down on the kick up rudder, it was dangerous. I have experienced the same things on several production boats. The "cure" is always the same- remount the rudder 90 degrees vertical to the water and add some forward angle to the blade to balance it. It will tame any boat's helm and is well worth the effort.
I sail on a medium sized lake and we normally don't have waves much over two feet, and if we do, it is blowing hard enough to overcome the waves with sail power. I have found my 5 hp engine will handle about 25 kts and the 2'-3' chop that comes with it, but I have to keep weight aft to help keep the prop in the water. My boat rides fairly high and I can usually lift one float mostly clear of the waves, which helps a lot- I wonder if your floats need to be raised some?
B

 

Hello everyone
I am new to the forum and I would like to introduce myself. I am a cabinet maker by trade, who got into woodworking first by doing tradional boat building. Carvel plank on frame, that kind of thing.Progressed to stitch and glue, building a couple of sailing dingys and then on to fiberglass repairs with some vacuum baging.
I have read through this thread and the alternative to the buc 24 by Gary Baigent.
Nelson

 

I would like to thank oldsailor7 and outside the box for keeping the buc plans alive.
nelson

 

Having read through this thread and looked at the photos of various builders here. I have to say that for a beginner this is an excellent choice. The build seems very simple and straight forward, inexpensive, rapid and at the end of it you end up with a boat that looks good and sails very well.
Just my take on this marvelous boat.
nelson