The Gun Counter

Simply incredible. I wonder how much money he's saving by doing it himself?

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/artic ... 2%7C171652

Hard to say. A lot of the savings in labor costs could be eaten up by having to correct mistakes made as a result of inexperience, and there's definitely a huge cost in time; in that regard, the boat is already "over budget" by a whole year. A boat IS a hole in the water you throw money into, after all. Still, it's pretty cool.

I love the all steel construction. Wifey and I want a boat like that someday. Same size too. Of course, our pirate defense would be a bit more comprehensive. Still, I want that dude's boat.

Looked like a Dix 57'. Yacht kits can be ordered these days pre-cut by CNC plasma cutters and basically go together like large jigsaw puzzles. This has made construction much easier for the homebuilder. It seems that $1,000 a foot for steel, precut and delivered, is about right lately. Maybe a bit more once you break the 40' mark. The sucky part about steel is it has to be blasted and primed before you can paint it, both inside and out, and corrosion is a never ending battle once you get it in the water. I was happy to see he went with a framed design instead of one of the frame-less type that seem to be the rage lately. He may have the hull fleshed out, but the engineering and interior takes a huge chunk of time and effort.

Dudley Dix Design

Bruce Roberts Design

Wishing him luck no matter what though. Its a huge endeavor and one many people start but never finish.

Aaron wrote:I love the all steel construction. Wifey and I want a boat like that someday. Same size too. Of course, our pirate defense would be a bit more comprehensive. Still, I want that dude's boat.

I suspect he just made an off-hand comment about pirates and the reporter made a bigger deal out of it than it was. Steel is extremely common for serious cruising vessels, because there is a lot of crap drifting around offshore that can seriously %$&^ up a wood or fiberglass boat if you run into it.

Netpackrat wrote:

Aaron wrote:I love the all steel construction. Wifey and I want a boat like that someday. Same size too. Of course, our pirate defense would be a bit more comprehensive. Still, I want that dude's boat.

I suspect he just made an off-hand comment about pirates and the reporter made a bigger deal out of it than it was. Steel is extremely common for serious cruising vessels, because there is a lot of crap drifting around offshore that can seriously %$&^ up a wood or fiberglass boat if you run into it.

Deadheads, cargo containers, contact mines....

If I were to build, I'd go for aluminum. Costs more upfront, but you get a virtually maintenance free hull at that point. It doesen't even really need paint.

Al and salt are not friends - nor is Ti. Salt needs bronze, steel w. LOTS of nickel, or a polymer.

Aglifter wrote:Al and salt are not friends - nor is Ti. Salt needs bronze, steel w. LOTS of nickel, or a polymer.

That's almost entirely dependent upon the alloy used. There are lots of bare aluminum boats in commercial service up here.

I've seen a fair number of aluminum hulled motoryachts - but like others have mentioned, they tend to be big - over 50 feet(I remember seeing a bare hull, with just the powertrain installed, for sale on yachtworld - about 750 grand for a 100 footer).


HTRN

Shannons were excellent Al yachts - they just need to be kept painted... Let me rephrase - the Al on my Hobie 33 and salt were not friends - we didn't have it long after we switched, but the replacement parts, made by a different man, were supposed to be much better - even if it did add a whole 2# to the boat to go to that stronger process.