Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat
building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Le'me tell you as a voice of experience. IF you want to get on the water in
the least amount of time with the least amount of money buy a fixer upper and finish it out the way you want. To paraphrase the first paragraph of my web site "There is no logical reason for someone to build a big boat from scratch except that he wants to create a monument to himself." I just happen to like monuments. :-) There is plenty to be creative about on the inside of a proven hull. -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com "scbafreak" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:6583fa26456f4@uwe... I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Well that definately makes sense but lets say that I want a "monument" as you
call it. Then what. I mean theoretically if i build it myself and I do a good job then I can stand on the dock and be very pleased with myself. Plus I can say things like 'i built this thing with my own two hands from scratch then sailed it around the world, that's why everyone has to listen to me while on'. Not that they would but it might be nice to be able to say. I think that buying a boat would still take some time since I would have to save up the added cost of a completed boat before I can buy anything while in the Homebuilt one, I could, in theory, move onto it before spars sails and radio equipment were ever purchased. I could be massively wrong in this assumption though as I have no idea what any of this would take. I have seen a lot of different things but I can only opperate on the assumption that I am very wrong in anything I currently am thinking. But yeah monuments seem nice. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
You have to identify yourself are you a boat builder, a fixer upper, a
sailor or all of these? The first thing you have to do is to make some financial scenarios. In making these pro formats you have to include a learning curve and add the cost to the value analysis. Next you have to calculate the cost of buying what you need on a piece meal basis or all at once. The ideal scenario is as follows: you know exactly the design you want, you have a precise bill of material, you know the time it will take including the learning curve to do each tasks, you are able to compute a critical path method (CPM) and are keeping this CPM updated at all time, you do not change the design and bill of material. If you are building a sailboat where you have lots of money invested you should have a builder insurance. It will be a wise thing to check the municipal bylaws where the boat will be build. The things to avoid is to finalized the design as you go, not using a proven design, not knowing the time and schedule requirement and forecasted cost. Also make sure that once the build is finish you have the facilities to launch it. "scbafreak" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:6583fa26456f4@uwe... I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Thank you for the advice, these are all very good points.
Well first thing: I would say I am a fixer upper that is learning to be a sailor and would like to be a boat builder. By the time the project would start then I will be a Sailor and have some experience as a boat builder, although not of this type of boat. Next, the plans I am considering come with detailed parts and materials liststhat I will price before starting the build to have an exact cost and detailed plans that I can try to plan when I will do what. Realistically, I will probably not have all of the funds in the begining of the build but I should have about 50% of them before ever starting. The one thing I will not know at that point is how long each task will take. I will spend a lot of time in planning so that I do not make any really big changes in design so i think that this will help me to stay on schedule. Thanks again for the advice anything else you might want to contribute would be most appreciated. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
My impression is that fixer-uppers can be had at prices that are less than
the cost of reproducing the hull. If you gut 'em and start again with interior and systems, you're ahead of the game both in money and in time. I've justified building some of my own boats because the kind of boat that I wanted wasn't being manufactured and i couldn't afford to pay for tha labor costs of a custom builder. "scbafreak" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:6583fa26456f4@uwe... I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Another approach is to buy a kit. In order to get better pricing you have
to group your purchase of material and equipment with other boat builders. Many localities have what they call a boat builder club and it pays off to join. Building a boat is a good training ground for planning and scheduling, budget control and procurement. "Jim Conlin" wrote in message . .. My impression is that fixer-uppers can be had at prices that are less than the cost of reproducing the hull. If you gut 'em and start again with interior and systems, you're ahead of the game both in money and in time. I've justified building some of my own boats because the kind of boat that I wanted wasn't being manufactured and i couldn't afford to pay for tha labor costs of a custom builder. "scbafreak" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:6583fa26456f4@uwe... I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
scbafreak wrote: The one thing I will not know at that point is how long each task will take. You will have to be the best judge of how long it will take YOU to do each task. Do you have the right tools, the experience, the abillity to stay on task, the schedule to allow for long periods of work vs. short broken periods, lots of friends to help? These are all questions that you have to consider. Then once you've arrived at your best estimate double it, then add 50% more for safety factor, then you may have a reasonable estimate if you work hard and don't take any time off. Here's the answer to your questions though- you either have to built a boat, in which case the rest of it doesn't matter and you will do what it takes to build it, or you don't have to and you will get mired down in worries about how much it's costing you, how little time you have left for a social life, how hard it is, how your dad wants his cement pad back, how your friends are all making gobs of money while you're sitting there trying to figure out why the heck you put the decking on before you fitted the bunks and cabinetry, etc., etc. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
scbafreak wrote:
I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs Have you checked mooring fees? Taxes? ____________ Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. Not hard to figure but you have to have a material list. Then add in spars, sails, running & standing rigging, electronics, engine etc. _______________ 2) How many man hours would it take. You have a job and intend to do this evenings and weekends? Then think man years, not hours. I have a friend that finished a strip built Tahiti ketch recently. IIRC, he worked on it for close to two decades. BTW, I'm not a big "strip" fan but I sure like it better than plywood. __________________ 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. IIRC, a bare hull - no accommodation - represents about 15% of the cost/work. ____________________ 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) That depends totally on the condition of the old boat. In some cases it could work but in others you'd be spending more in both money and time than if building from the keel up. Generally - especially given your experience - I'd advise against it. ___________________ Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. "Everyone" is right. My guesstimate - a wild one - would be $150,000 to $250,000. Here is a site that discusses both time and $$ but it is for multi-hull boats. Given the number of owner built ply cats that used to be around I'd think a mono hull would require more of both $$ & time. http://www.f-boat.com/pages/costs.html -- dadiOH ____________________________ dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
In one sense, you're 25 years too late. In the 70's - early 80's,
Costa Mesa / Newport Beach was a bee hive of 'plastic classic' boat building activity. One could buy 'bare hull' kits of some very legitimate, sea-worthy designs from area factories and finish off the project at home, returning to the factory for parts and / or advice as needed. A book that documents one person's project (a Westsail 32) - and a fine book to have for any boat-builders shelf - is 'From a Bare Hull' by Ferenc Mate. There are still a couple of world-class sail boat builders in Orange County - Pacific Seacraft and Samuel L. Morse. Perhaps they offer pre-arranged tours (if, for nothing else, so you can see what an enormous ammount of work building a 38' boat is... :) ). Mike Worrall Los Angeles |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
"scbafreak" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:6583fa26456f4@uwe...
I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. As others have pointed out, you will be a lot older and poorer before you ever get your boat in the water. But Orange County mooring space is harder to find than litter in Disneyland. Where do you plan to live once you build your boat? Alex |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
You will have to be the best judge of how long it will take YOU to do
each task. Do you have the right tools, the experience, the abillity to stay on task, the schedule to allow for long periods of work vs. short broken periods, lots of friends to help? I have a lot of wood working experience and a lot of cabinet experience. We have a fully stocked woodworking shop, so tools and experience in building isn't really the issue. It's the fact that I have never done this kind of project before. -- Message posted via BoatKB.com http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/build/200608/1 |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Alex wrote:
Where do you plan to live once you build your boat? Probably in Long Beach Harbor. I know a few people that live on boats there. I know that is L.A. county but it's still pretty close. -- Message posted via BoatKB.com http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/build/200608/1 |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Have you checked mooring fees? Taxes?
"Everyone" is right. My guesstimate - a wild one - would be $150,000 to $250,000. Here is a site that discusses both time and $$ but it is for multi-hull boats. Given the number of owner built ply cats that used to be around I'd think a mono hull would require more of both $$ & time. http://www.f-boat.com/pages/costs.html All of this is still less than buying a house. Median cost of a house in O.C. is currently 600K and in five years it will be even more. Long Beach is not any better. If I keep the boat there I realize there will be fees but is that more expensive than owning a house? Is it more expensive if I can pull of the uild without any loans at all and maybe only taking out a loan for spars sails rigging and some electronic equipment if at all? -- Message posted via BoatKB.com http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/build/200608/1 |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
scbafreak via BoatKB.com wrote:
Have you checked mooring fees? Taxes? "Everyone" is right. My guesstimate - a wild one - would be $150,000 to $250,000. Here is a site that discusses both time and $$ but it is for multi-hull boats. Given the number of owner built ply cats that used to be around I'd think a mono hull would require more of both $$ & time. http://www.f-boat.com/pages/costs.html All of this is still less than buying a house. Median cost of a house in O.C. is currently 600K and in five years it will be even more. Ah, but in five years all of us - except retirees such as myself - will be earning more. Isn't government induced inflation grand? :) Long Beach is not any better. If I keep the boat there I realize there will be fees but is that more expensive than owning a house? Is it more expensive if I can pull of the uild without any loans at all and maybe only taking out a loan for spars sails rigging and some electronic equipment if at all? I realize housing in CA - and other areas including Honolulu which is the reason I left - is ridiculous. I feel safe in saying you could build a hell of a boat for less than a junky house would cost you in CA. However, that POS house will increase in price - price, not value - over the coming inflation-is-a-way-of-life years. A boat might too but I kinda doubt it. I also forgot to mention stuff like hull insurance and maintenance. Forty years ago I was living in Honolulu and in much the same position as you are now...even then, houses were expensive there and I didn't want any I could afford. I didn't build a boat, bought an older one and wife, dog and I lived on it for 10 years. Took a lot of $$ and time but I liked it (more than did the wife). For that time and money we had a living area - in a 42' ketch - that wasn't much bigger than a tract house guest bedroom. We each had our very own but small hanging locker though. One learns to simplify... Oh yeah...hull insurance and maintenance. I don't recall what insurance was - been too long ago - but it wasn't cheap. Maintenance & dry dock fees ran me the equivalent of $10,000 - $12,000 per year. -- dadiOH ____________________________ dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
dadiOH wrote: scbafreak via BoatKB.com wrote: Have you checked mooring fees? Taxes? "Everyone" is right. My guesstimate - a wild one - would be $150,000 to $250,000. Here is a site that discusses both time and $$ but it is for multi-hull boats. Given the number of owner built ply cats that used to be around I'd think a mono hull would require more of both $$ & time. http://www.f-boat.com/pages/costs.html All of this is still less than buying a house. Median cost of a house in O.C. is currently 600K and in five years it will be even more. Ah, but in five years all of us - except retirees such as myself - will be earning more. Isn't government induced inflation grand? :) Long Beach is not any better. If I keep the boat there I realize there will be fees but is that more expensive than owning a house? Is it more expensive if I can pull of the uild without any loans at all and maybe only taking out a loan for spars sails rigging and some electronic equipment if at all? I realize housing in CA - and other areas including Honolulu which is the reason I left - is ridiculous. I feel safe in saying you could build a hell of a boat for less than a junky house would cost you in CA. However, that POS house will increase in price - price, not value - over the coming inflation-is-a-way-of-life years. A boat might too but I kinda doubt it. I also forgot to mention stuff like hull insurance and maintenance. Forty years ago I was living in Honolulu and in much the same position as you are now...even then, houses were expensive there and I didn't want any I could afford. I didn't build a boat, bought an older one and wife, dog and I lived on it for 10 years. Took a lot of $$ and time but I liked it (more than did the wife). For that time and money we had a living area - in a 42' ketch - that wasn't much bigger than a tract house guest bedroom. We each had our very own but small hanging locker though. One learns to simplify... Oh yeah...hull insurance and maintenance. I don't recall what insurance was - been too long ago - but it wasn't cheap. Maintenance & dry dock fees ran me the equivalent of $10,000 - $12,000 per year. -- dadiOH ____________________________ dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico Building a boat from scratch makes no sense financially. Currently, there are plenty of storm damaged boats available for very little that could be fixed up. In many cases, the cost of shipping them to CA would be more than you would pay to buy them. In many cases, the boats are completely outfitted but simply need some hull repairs and re-wiring. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
"scbafreak via BoatKB.com" u25927@uwe wrote in message news:658d46bc88660@uwe... You will have to be the best judge of how long it will take YOU to do each task. Do you have the right tools, the experience, the abillity to stay on task, the schedule to allow for long periods of work vs. short broken periods, lots of friends to help? I have a lot of wood working experience and a lot of cabinet experience. We have a fully stocked woodworking shop, so tools and experience in building isn't really the issue. It's the fact that I have never done this kind of project before. -- Message posted via BoatKB.com http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/build/200608/1 There are still some projects the haven't been finished. There is a guy in Costa Mesa on 16th Place, just south of Santa Ana Ave., south side of the street. A beautiful 45ft steel baby. Go talk to him about boat building and your desires. His changed. Also there are still a few guys building boats on Monrovia Ave., just north of W. 15th St. Offer to spend some time working with them. Get some experience, talk with guys doing it now. Just remember anything you hear that is negative on this new group is from guys that love to work on boats. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
Building a boat to save money is generally a poor idea. It seems to cost
more to build than to buy a used boat in reasonably good condition. On the other hand, thirty years ago, lots of people were building ferro-cement boats in the 40 foot range to save money. Some of them turned out OK. If you are considering building in plywood or strip planking, don't even think about cutting costs by buying cheap materials. You will absolutely be happier with a smaller boat built well enough to last 20 years and well enough to be proud of than a larger boat that is continually falling apart. All that said, if you want to build a boat, go for it. Don't let the negative-point-outers talk you out of it. Even if you start and never finish it, you will never know if you could have done it if you don't try. And you are right -- the satisfaction of owning (and sailing) a boat you built is worth a lot of sacrifice. Patrick scbafreak wrote: I am currently having a very difficult time getting information on boat building and I would really appreciate any help I could get here. Here is the situation. I am 26 and live in an apartment in Orange County California. I am considering building a boat starting a few years from now to live on. I plan to start several years from now to allow time to save money and get more sailing experience. I am largely plannng to do this because of outrageous housing costs in this area making it very difficult to purchase a house as a first time buyer but also because I think that I would really enjoy living on a boat. Ideally I would like to have enough money put aside to fund most of the build but I will, obviously be putting more money into the project as I build. I think that if I take five years to build then this should be reasonable. I should be able to build in my Dads back yard which has a rather large cement pad and he may be willing to let me invade his house for a while. He doesn't live far from me so i can still work and do all of the things I normaly do and build on weekends and at night. I plan to do as much of the construction as I am capable of to both keep costs down and ensure that I get a good quality boat. I like the idea of building my own boat as I have built many things before and I am currently working on building small sailing outrigger canoes. We have all of the tools needed and a lot of experiencein woodworking. My dad would be willing to help when needed as he is retired and has some free time. Ideally I would like to come away with a nice place to live that I do not need to make loan payments but I realize that certain equipment I may need to get a loan for (such as radios and navigation, sails, spars....). I want something that could potentially last the rest of my life and be sailerd all over the world. I am looking at Bruce Roberts designs. Does anyone have any opinion as to them. I will be doing wood construction in either Plywood or strip composite and the design I am currently most interested in is the Centenial Spray 38. I have never heard of a Spray as a type of boat elsewhere so i don't really know what makes that different from other designs. The best I can tell from looking at it is that the cabin seems to be raised a little further aft than the the rest of the designs giving them a little more headroom, they don't seem to have an internal cockpit and the hull shape seems to be a lttle different. I have no idea if I am right. Here is what I would really like to know. Has anyone out there done this or something similar that I can answer these questions for me. 1) How much will this cost. 2) How many man hours would it take. 3) How much of the build (in approximate percentage) must be done before I can launch it and move onto it. 4) Is it realistically cheaper to buy an old boat then fix it up to make it realiable and what I would want. (this would probably only be an option if building turns out to be too expensive but would not be limited to wood boats) Everyone seems to say that there is no real answer to these questions because it depends on the person and the boat, but that is really not very helpful. I understand that these things can range but if someone has done it themselves then that would give me some sort of comparison. Bruce Roberts designs say to buy the study plans and price out from there as they contain complete materials lists but I would like to have some sort of range before I spend $125. When i am ready I will definately do this and decide more definitavely but for now i just want a general idea of what it takes so I can think about it. Someone please help. So far I have not been able to get any kind of answers on these questions at all. |
Is it better for me to build or buy. Please someone help me!!!
On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:33:48 GMT, "scbafreak via BoatKB.com"
u25927@uwe wrote: Probably in Long Beach Harbor. I know a few people that live on boats there. I know that is L.A. county but it's still pretty close. Do you have a building site that will last you through a multi-year project? It needs to have power, water, security and access to water at the launch stage. |
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