Any yards still building hulls for owner completion?

[fisherman]

Cygnus used to do a long keel Falmouth working boat hull, about 28-30ft, wonder where the mould is.

 

[Tranona]

Yes, I think you're right.
But being kind of "attached" to what I have (irregardless of having the budget or not), it's a bit strange for me to observe more and more of this "social behavior". Somehow I have always (although consciously naively) believed that boat owners to be somewhat immune to the consuming bit. But I guess that was only a majority 20years ago. Now maybe becoming a minority.

My wife once suggested that I could charter instead of waiting/saving to buy a small boat and although I can fully understand the financial benefit in some cases, for me it was a straight 2 milliseconds "No way" answer. I like to know exactly what I have and (I think specially) those moments that you are staring at your boat, just because you really have a connection with it. Irregardless of size, model, looks or even super performance. You love it and that's it.

At the end of the day, each to his own (and quite rightfully so), but it wouldn't work for me.

You are right to resist chartering - it can be addictive! After 3 years of chartering we bought our own charter boat in Corfu. Having access economically to a new bigger boat in a holiday sailing environment spoils you. With a bit of man maths and the right management deal you can almost say that your sailing costs you nothing.

The DIY culture is alive and well - just not in building boats. The emphasis has shifted to houses. I live on an estate of 1970's houses and would guess only 1 in 10 has not been extended or extensively changed. I have lived in the house since 1982 and we are on our third major extension project and in the last 10 years every one of our neighbours up to 6 houses either way has been extended. In most cases done with a mixture of tradesmen and DIY. The major difference is that such work, provided you do it in keeping with the house and area pays for itself in increased value.

 

[Yngmar]

It's fairly popular in Germany. Reinke is a designer that sells plans for boats, but also has 2-3 approved yards that will weld (all their current designs are metal boats) you an empty hull for you to complete. That's probably how most of them are built. RCD approval for these is not an insurmountable problem either. Details are on the website, which is unfortunately a mess (click "english version" somewhere near the top of the text): http://reinke-yacht.de/

Germany's most famous cruising couple is now on their 2nd Reinke of such build (professionally built hull and DIY everything else). Not a small project though for boats of that size, and you occasionally see an abandoned project for sale (or rotting in someones backyard).

 

[essexboy]

Sheerline in Norfolk supply mouldings, one owner completed boat for sale on Norfolk Yacht Agency website.

 

[Quandary]

I finished 2 from kits, the first an Achilles 24 was purchased as a completely bare hull but with keel and rudder attached and mast and rigging strapped over the deck, complete with a 4 wheel road trailer it cost less than £2k and was delivered the week before vat was introduced, I bought a baulk of teak and some faced marine plywood and as soon as I moved in to the house we were building got stuck in, couple of years later sold it at a profit (discounting my time and rampant inflation) bought a Trapper 300 'kit' and fetched it from Poole on the Achilles trailer towed by a builders van. It was not really a kit, everything was there except deck gear and sails, we were racing it within a month. The van was from a builder in Portglenone (County Antrim) looked a bit downmarket among the Range Rovers but when the guys in the yard read the address they started slapping union jack posters on the hull proclaiming 'another export achievement for Trapper Yachts, they thought we were going back to Italy.
A year or two later there was a bare hull for a UFO 34 at the Dublin Boat Show, we climbed down inside, it seemed massive without bulkheads or divisions, probably five years part time work?
After that I had a Sigma 33 and a yearning to get Rob Humphries to design me a cedar strip/epoxy 36-38 footer, (that was big in those days) I was only prevented by my failure to find a big enough shed with light and heat to put the hull together, lucky escape? Even when we moved on to the Sigma 38, I still wanted to have a go, at one stage I found a no longer competitive one tonner which would provide the rig and deckgear and some sails at a fraction of what I needed to buy them. By then I was self employed so the available time and energy were curtailed, to do this sort of thing you need to be a civil servant or work for an L.A. some sort of job that does not tax your time and energy.

 

[Neeves]

We built a new enclosed helm station from scratch using glass and foam. We soon discovered you do not build, as such. All your time is spent faring, and its a lot of time.

We soon lost enthusiasm for building a cat from scratch.

Many of those who do build from scratch also loose enthusiasm - you can tell from the quality of the finish (and the value of the completed yacht drops like a stone when you view the finished quality)

Jonathan

 

[rogerthebodger]

We built a new enclosed helm station from scratch using glass and foam. We soon discovered you do not build, as such. All your time is spent faring, and its a lot of time.

We soon lost enthusiasm for building a cat from scratch.

Many of those who do build from scratch also loose enthusiasm - you can tell from the quality of the finish (and the value of the completed yacht drops like a stone when you view the finished quality)

Jonathan

I purchased a steel hull and deck in 2009 that had been originally built in 1978 and had passed through at least owners before me.

It took me and 2 helpers /employees just over 4 years to fit out and launch plus finishing off after launch.

You can see the work progress in the link in in signature below.