Buccaneer 24 Builders Forum

Buc24

Hi folks,
I still look in on the forum occasionally. I note my name/handle has been mentioned a couple of time in the past couple of months. I am not building the B24 any longer and the plans have since be re-sold on ebay £30 or £40 GBP, I cant remember the exact amount. I did make a start on the boat and with the best will in the world it just wasn't to be, not through lack of skills or determination or patience. My first love is aeromodelling, I build the big RC stuff to 'scale' with engines upwards of 60cc - I can assure anyone out there that if you build these type of model's that have to fly you can turn your hands to almost anything and build it to a high standard.

I had two problems with the B24 build that played on my mind. 1/ Firstly the design, a excellentl boat in its day and by all accounts a good performer to-day, but its still a old design that would have a poor 2nd hand resale value (important to me personnaly) when sold on here in the UK, other factors come into play as well when you look at some of the bargain boats that can be snapped up quite cheaply due to world economics.
2/ The UK being a small heavily populated country with very high cost water front fee's and charges, the narrow roads trailering this boat, compounded by several hours making it demountable just made it a no go situation.
This is not a slur on the boat or OS but my own reasons for not continuing with the build.
I still have my leaner as OS called it, but have not wetted its bottom for quite some time!
I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

John

 

What a shame John. You were doing such beautiful work on those frames.
Did you sell them too.?

 

Och RR for goodness sake, it's not about money, some of us go a wee bit deeper than that...

Old Sailor knows exactly what he is doing, and its called commercial enterprise.

The building plans should and probably do, speak for themselves. And if the B24 is a classic design, then it should be properly preserved for all to access without having to refer in some under the table way to an individual who holds some unsullied copy that you can have for a price...

I'm sure somebody who reads this will let me have a copy of the plans. I don't mind paying the costs, not one bit, but I do object to being exploited in this manner, and I'm not afraid to speak my mind on what I see.

RR go take a look at the Eventide Owners Group they have all of Maurice Griffiths designs available for a few pounds postage, and even provide videos of the complete build of the classic Eventide. You might learn how some groups keep the designer and his plans alive...

and RR please don't SHOUT at me its not a pleasant experience...

 

Tut Tut.
Methinks the Lady doth protest Too much !

 

John, and Tom, perhaps you should look at this:
http://www.teamscarab.com.au/scarab22/design.html

 

Construction of the buc 24 in progress...

Hi guys.

Here are some more pictures of my 24 buc. The last photo is the float ready to be painted. It has a thin layer of fiberglass. The other pictures are of the second float.

 

Nice going and good workmanship Igenova.

 

Having read the most recent 2 pages I think Tom may have a point.

 

plans

I never received any messages from Tom about the plans, and I did not copy everything on to the cd. I was only making some extra copies of the sheets I was using. I don't really care if OS is charging for the plans- I have a boat, I have the plans it was built from, and I paid OS for a new set with revisions in good condition. He is not selling the design, just providing a service, and I think I got my money's worth. Just my decision and opinion. Since the plans included full scale frame patterns, a re-production from a cd would have to be very accurate to be useful, and you would not know if the re-pro was correct or mis-scaled or distorted. B

 

big floats

Nice progress Igenova! B

 

suitability

Tom, IMO, you are asking a lot of the Buc 24. It certainly can sail well, but it is a small craft, in every sense of the definition. It is very light for its size, does not like to carry cruising type loads, and does not have very much space for storage or crew. It is a nice "camper" style boat for a couple (and maybe a child), and is more suited to moderate seas, weather and weekend travel.
The design IS out of date, BUT! it is still probably the least expensive boat to build in its size, both in materials and labor- and it will sail with far more modern designs. The compromise for simplicity is easy of folding/trailering and load capacity. If those are not issues, the Buc is a very nice boat for the effort and cost.
As JJ has observed, in locations that are developed and have a lot of used boats available, buying used just makes more sense. B

 

Tom , I'd be happy to sell you a copy of my plans, now lets see, gotta get them copied, gotta take the time to get them copied, gotta package them (quite large) gotta pay for postage to Scotland (other side of the planet), OK total comes to $200 US, I'll PM you my banking details

 

Just for the record , the copyright (under Australian copyright law) expired in 1994. As a result ANY ONE who has a copy of the B24 plans can digitise them, copy them, sell them, give them away----whatever they like.
They are no longer any ones intellectual property. You can build as many boats as you like from the one set of plans. You can even start building boats for other people and don't have to pay anyone a royalty on each boat you sell.

Also it is interesting to ponder on the fact that the Mariners Museum charges $25.00 per sheet to supply plans. If you include the alternate spade rudder sheet, that makes 8 sheets for the B24 plans alone. IE:-$200.00
That of course does not include all the extra information I include with the bare plans. Such as a booklet on the WEST system, diagram of a simple and inexpensive mainsheet/outhaul system and a re-print of an article from Trimaraner magazine on how a B24 was buit in six weeks and fitted out and sailing in nine, plus other stuff of interest.

The Buccaneer 24 was the best selling of all Crowthers plans and more of them were built than any other of his designs. Many (like Bruces) are still sailing, even though they are 40 odd years old.
IT IS STILL A MODERN LOOKING TRIMARAN.
Being as close to Lockie as I was, I can tell you he would be proud to see that his little fast cruiser is still being built and sailed all over the world.
The wood/epoxy composite method of building ( WEST system) has revolutionised plywood boatbuilding and has extended the life of a plywood boat by a factor of 5 or more. As a result (providing they were well built in the first place) their resale value is better than most second hand boats.
The modular design allows the boat to be built in a small space and then taken in pieces to a suitable place where it can be quickly assembled ready for launching. The tubular crossbeams are an advantage----not a problem. Suitable 6061T6 alloy tubing is readily available all over the place and the tubing can be cut, drilled and assembled using only hand held electric tools.
Patterns for all the fittings are provided and can be hand made or farmed out as necessary. Sail track is easily pop riveted to the mast tubing and the round tubing is actually more aerodynamically efficient than an expensive elliptical mast section, except when the mast is on a rotating base.
Yes there is a lot to be said for "The Marvelous Buccaneer 24".

 

OK old sailor, keep yr wig on...

Yr changing the karma, and being a wee bit more honest and open about it all.

I'd like to buy a set of plans from you, because its a project I think I could realistically manage to build. Of course I know I have been very critical about the way you conduct this, and I'm just wondering if you will still sell me a set...

The recife guy has inspired me...

 

Yeah thanks for all that Bruce. I kinda understood that about her, I'm used to wee cramped sailing boats... I have enough experience to sail it from Edinburgh to the Canaries, via the French canal system. The only dodgy bit is the 700 mile African coastline from Casablanca due south, but there are harbours all the way down Morocco...

And the only really dangerous bit of open ocean is making the dash from Africa 70 miles West across to the first Canary island which is Lanzarote. So its not ocean sailing as it were.

Its dangerous, a bit scary, but its possible. My main issue was finding something I could build, and I think this design allows me that ability.