I’ve been following the build of a Bolger design of late and it’s akin to fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard to me. Admittedly, it’s a very common mistake that’s being made but I find that the misuse of epoxy just drives me batshit crazy. Epoxy is great stuff but it is expensive and it …
The real trick, where refitting an old boat is concerned, is simply to not spend a lot of money on it. Or just spend less. While spending less is a very workable tactic, it butts up against the consumerist mainstream and viewed by a substantial proportion of people as being akin to heresy. I’ll point …
I spend a lot of tie trying to come up with cunning plans where one can build a boat that works for less money which, I’ll admit if something of a frustrating addiction. Made worse as budget building stalwarts like plywood, lumber, and industrial epoxies keep going up in price. This last week I’ve been …
Folks around boats tend to become obsessed with costly materials which they give near-magical properties to whether or not they deserve it. So yeah, let’s talk teak… Or to be more precise, why you don’t want to use teak. Truth be told, teak in my opinion, is a far cry from what I’d consider a …
I’ve got a couple of pieces of wood that have been sitting out in the open for the last couple of years as sort of a “when-will-this-stuff-rot/fall-apart” test. Now, I’ll admit it’s not a serious scientific test and more a simple bit of satisfying my curiosity but it has been enlightening. The wood in question …
Why your local lumber yard might be your first stop… Read More »
So, you’ve been looking at the Michalak scow Boxtop and saying to yourself “I could knock one of those together in a hurry for not a lot of money…” So what would it cost to build? Well for starters, you’re looking at around 50-sheets of 1/2″ plywood which, if you go marine, is a chunk …
I went shopping the other day and with just about everything I popped in my basket I felt a certain “I’m-sure-the-price-on-this-has-gone-up” twinge. It’s getting a lot more expensive these days and if canned tuna goes up you have to know that so are boats and boat related products. Seriously, have you looked at what good …
Most people don’t realize it but it is really rather easy to make building or rehabbing a sailboat a whole lot more affordable… For example, let’s look at hatches since I recently replaced a few on “So It Goes”. My options were to buy new hatches, try and find used hatches, or build new hatches. …
Solving the cost per pound equation one step at a time… Read More »
Dudley Dix has some excellent thoughts regarding the whole why it’s smart to build your own boat… I’d call it a must read. That said, I still think the most logical choice for a VolkCruiser budget is to rehab something cheap/free in reasonable shape but I’d much prefer to build from the keel up if …
