total building costs and time

[fryenz]

Hi,

thank you all for your contributions - I read through all of them, after first studying the CLC website, and I learned a lot.

Two weeks ago, I donated my old, old McGregor 25 to charity. Now I have a vacant spot to fill, for something that is easier and faster to launch and still has enough dry space to sleep two.

As with everything in life, it is possible to strive for perfection, and some find satisfaction in spending a lot of time and money on building. I want to go sailing. I'm more inclined to the "utility approach": It has to be technically sound, but it doesn't have to be a masterpiece in perfection. I've seen a lot of homebuilt projects in aviation starting with high hopes and ending collecting dust, because the costs and the effort were under-estimated.

My estimation for the total building costs (provided I already have the space and the tools and live close enough to MD to drive there and pick up the materials) are about $11,000, without trailer. Is that about right, or did I miss someting? Paint? (Kit 3375, Sails 1400, Spinnaker 715, Sailing hardware 1700, Timber Package 2000, Lead Keel 300, Running Rig 250, Hull hardware 970).

What is the total building time for someone who has a technical background, never hires a contractor for anything, and strives for functional craftsmanship over aesthetic perfection? Those 575 hours / 30 weekends? Or less? Are those 30 weekends "fully dedicated weekends", or does the nature of the work require longer brakes (like described in John's videos), so there is still time to have a life besides the project?

Thanks,
J

[JonLee]

Based on what I"m spending, and what I have left to spend, the dollar amount seems pretty close to correct. The hours...well....

I haven't kept track of my hours...building is supposed to be fun, and clocking-in and -out does mesh with my idea of fun. My best estimate is that I've averaged 1.5 hours/day for the past 1.5 year fighting a continuous battle against perfectionism on my boat...some combination of Saturdays and tinkering after-work, with a 2.5 month "summer vacation" from boatbuilding in there too. At this pace, I reckon I've got another 3 months to go. Doing the math with blinding speed, I"ll probably clock 800-900 hours when all is said and done. I'm building from plans, though, so that probably account for about 100 of those well-worth-it hours. There's been some re-work and some "bonus" features that have added some time too...maybe 50 hours? So, building the basic boat, from a kit, without errors probably would have taken 650-700 hours.

If you have unlimited heated shop space, I bet you could jump from task to task and just about put in a full day every day you worked. If that's not the case, then there will be days where you'll spend 10 minutes applying a coat of epoxy and then call it quits.

Despite the perpetual struggle between better and good enough, I don't know how much faster I could have gone with lower standards. I spent a lot of time on the fillets, but they must be good so that the 'glass will lay down nicely on them. And no matter what, you have to sand the fiberglassed surfaces smooth, so there's not really a lot of time savings to be found there.

[jwv630]

J

I'm very early on in my Pocketship build so I really cannot comment on the # of hours to build. But me being a novice (understated) to tools and woodworking in general, I'm guessing around 800-900 unhurried hours which includes quite a bit of time for mistakes/rework, chatting with my son, cleaning up the shop, etc.

However, you might try using 'peel ply' to reduce your building time on flat and smooth fiberglass/epoxy surfaces. It's a synthetic fabric that you lay over your fresh epoxied surface as the epoxy sets up. Once the epoxy is cured, you can peel off the fabric, and what's left behind is a (supposedly) perfectly smooth surface. This would reduce the # of coats of epoxy from 3 to 1, and most of the sanding. Can only be used on flat surfaces. Chesapeake Light Craft sells it. Here's a link: http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/epoxy_ ... abric.html

Your costs estimates seem accurate although I'm not planning on purchasing the $2k timber package.

Good luck,
Jimmy Vitale
Victory II

[sean]

my 2 cents....

As far as time goes, to me building a Pocketship is great for someone looking for a great building project and willing to give up sailing time for a bit. For me, I will end up spending about 925 hours building the kit (have about 50 or so more to go). As you go along, I found it easy to do the "while I'm at it, let's just add this / that..." I think if you are technically proficient and going for utility, I could see cutting it down to ~650 or so, but not much more. The 525 hours it lists in the manual is for the finished hull that Geoff took, but does not include all the time attaching the rigging, which for many of us takes a while. I spent around 100 hours on extra electronics (dashboard, speaker and transponder mounts, light, etc), which would be an easy place to cut building time. Also, I ended up sanding and painting under the floor boards and inside seat hatches, which could easily have been left alone, saving another 40 hours or so. Not painting the waterline and having the hull all one color would further limit build time. As many have pointed out, it can sometimes be hard to know when you are striving for perfection and when you should leave it "good enough", but if you are a good gauge of that, I am sure I could have cut out another 50-100 hours or so.
For me, it would be hard to imagine building it all in 30 weekends, even working 10 hours a day. So often you apply a coat of epoxy, and not much else to do since you do not want to spread dust around, etc. I generally work 2 hours one week night a week and 4-6 hours over the weekend.


As far as costs, you are right on for the basics, but I would add another 1-2K for extra costs. $200 for sanding disks, $200 for brushes & rollers, $300 for paint (this cost can vary widely), $300 for extras (anchors, compass?), respirator, outboard, state taxes, etc. I spent less than 2K on lumber, but you will get better wood than I got locally and will reduce some build time (less time shopping and milling wood to size).

~Sean

[decurtis]

I'll try to keep this short and sweet.
My total build time (from plans not the kit) was 771 hours from Jan.1 to Oct. 10 in 2009 averaging 4 to 5 hours on most days that I worked on the boat. All materials were sourced locally or online in Canada. Building from the kit and not having to transfer patterns and cutting plywood would save 80-90 hours.

My total expenses were $11,772 Canadian broken down as:

Plans, plywood , and all other lumber $2,428
Epoxy, paint, varnish, fiberglass $3,171
Supplies, sandpaper, brushes, clamps, and all tools $1,913 This includes about $800-900 for a table saw, jigsaw , router, planer, orbital sander,shop vac, bench grinder, and some hand tools
All boat hardware $2,668 including sails from CLC (but not the spinnaker)

The trailer cost was approximately $1500 and is not part of the total shown above.