Dufton
Member
Following John Pete’s brilliant posts on here documenting his build and launch of his beautiful steel build, I have been asked by a couple of people if I can give some details of my own build. I will happily do so but I certainly would not wish for direct comparisons to John’s fantastic story and wonderful finished vessel as everyone’s experience has to be put in the context of their own individual circumstances, resources, and skill set. Decisions are made along the way, the reasons for which may not be particularly obvious to others, or even the best in hindsight, but they had to be made in the light of the knowledge, circumstances and pressures at the time.
When I embarked on my build journey in 2005 and which turned out to last 14 years, I had literally absolutely zero experience of boating or boats! Nor had I experience of welding or working with metal! Indeed, this mad basic plan was hatched whilst talking to an almost equally inexperienced friend during a party on one evening! It came at the time I was nearing the completion of my extensive renovation project of my home, a listed old hall, and I was looking for another ‘project’. My friend and his family had just completed a one week day skipper tuition charter on a motor boat in Minorca and he was telling me how much he had enjoyed it but how expensive buying a suitable boat to continue his new hobby would be. Rather weirdly, I had literally dreamt on three or four occasions over the previous couple of years to this that I had built a big steel ‘ship’ in my garden, so it just seemed this was my destiny!
So it was that we embarked on a partnership - he would fund it and I would build it and together we would own it. As it turned out, due to a change in his circumstances, it actually became in the end a solo project that I built and financed - which partially accounts for a build time-line of 14 years instead of the initial (of course, totally unrealistic) estimation of 3-4 years! All that said, my friend has remained committed in other ways to seeing the project through to finish, and has been very supportive as a sounding board throughout the build (remember most of this was at a time of excruciatingly slow internet, and forums like this were virtually non existent!).
My degree and background is in agriculture and after leaving college I was a lecturer and training advisor in the industry. However, I have always also been quite a practical person and have been able to turn my hand to most jobs - indeed, as a former training adviser I know any practical job can be broken down into individual manageable tasks and with some careful analysis most skills can be quite quickly mastered. I have also always been quite entrepreneurial and tenacious and have set up and run several businesses in various sectors and disciplines. I love the learning curve and challenge of hatching and implementing a plan - the more challenging the better!
So, following a few months of detailed research I decided to base a build project around plans from Bruce Roberts - the Euro 1200 aft cabin. I also looked at the plans for the Almarine vessel that John Peet built which is very similar in design, but along the way I had formulated dreams of taking the finished boat through France to The Med and preferred the integral swim platform steps on the BR model which I felt would be better for stern-to mooring. I also realised that I needed to keep the LOA to slightly under 12m as this seemed the cut-off point for many aspects of practicality such as for easier RCD compliance, availability and reasonable cost of mooring fees etc. To make best use of my time it was important to me that I undertook the project at home in my garden alongside my existing workshop - even though space seemed a little restricted in width (which actually turned out to be a big advantage - see later post). The big downside however was that as my house is historically listed, I could not build a shelter for the project and everything had to be done in the open outside. This gave many challenges and restrictions to how/where/when I could work.
So, below is a couple of pictures of the finished vessel and a link to a video of “dufton” (named after the small Cumbrian village where she was built and I still live).
Her principal characteristics are:
The video was taken just recently, as she is “lived in” whilst at our current mooring on the Saone river in France and after emerging from the canal system earlier this year.
I will try to add instalments covering various aspects of the build project as and when I can get the time. Briefly looking back now though, it seems that for some aspects I do not have that many pictures so my apologies if some areas of my account seem to lack detail. I will however try to answer any questions anybody may have - but please bear with me if my responses and updates are somewhat late and/or spasmodic! I do still have a business to run and my time is sometimes limited. Thanks. Steve
When I embarked on my build journey in 2005 and which turned out to last 14 years, I had literally absolutely zero experience of boating or boats! Nor had I experience of welding or working with metal! Indeed, this mad basic plan was hatched whilst talking to an almost equally inexperienced friend during a party on one evening! It came at the time I was nearing the completion of my extensive renovation project of my home, a listed old hall, and I was looking for another ‘project’. My friend and his family had just completed a one week day skipper tuition charter on a motor boat in Minorca and he was telling me how much he had enjoyed it but how expensive buying a suitable boat to continue his new hobby would be. Rather weirdly, I had literally dreamt on three or four occasions over the previous couple of years to this that I had built a big steel ‘ship’ in my garden, so it just seemed this was my destiny!
So it was that we embarked on a partnership - he would fund it and I would build it and together we would own it. As it turned out, due to a change in his circumstances, it actually became in the end a solo project that I built and financed - which partially accounts for a build time-line of 14 years instead of the initial (of course, totally unrealistic) estimation of 3-4 years! All that said, my friend has remained committed in other ways to seeing the project through to finish, and has been very supportive as a sounding board throughout the build (remember most of this was at a time of excruciatingly slow internet, and forums like this were virtually non existent!).
My degree and background is in agriculture and after leaving college I was a lecturer and training advisor in the industry. However, I have always also been quite a practical person and have been able to turn my hand to most jobs - indeed, as a former training adviser I know any practical job can be broken down into individual manageable tasks and with some careful analysis most skills can be quite quickly mastered. I have also always been quite entrepreneurial and tenacious and have set up and run several businesses in various sectors and disciplines. I love the learning curve and challenge of hatching and implementing a plan - the more challenging the better!
So, following a few months of detailed research I decided to base a build project around plans from Bruce Roberts - the Euro 1200 aft cabin. I also looked at the plans for the Almarine vessel that John Peet built which is very similar in design, but along the way I had formulated dreams of taking the finished boat through France to The Med and preferred the integral swim platform steps on the BR model which I felt would be better for stern-to mooring. I also realised that I needed to keep the LOA to slightly under 12m as this seemed the cut-off point for many aspects of practicality such as for easier RCD compliance, availability and reasonable cost of mooring fees etc. To make best use of my time it was important to me that I undertook the project at home in my garden alongside my existing workshop - even though space seemed a little restricted in width (which actually turned out to be a big advantage - see later post). The big downside however was that as my house is historically listed, I could not build a shelter for the project and everything had to be done in the open outside. This gave many challenges and restrictions to how/where/when I could work.
So, below is a couple of pictures of the finished vessel and a link to a video of “dufton” (named after the small Cumbrian village where she was built and I still live).
Her principal characteristics are:
- 2 double cabin, 6 berth motor yacht
- Steel with fibreglass topside seating and cupboard units
- Aft cabin
- Semi displacement
- RCD category ‘C’ and MCA Category ‘2’ coded
- Single inboard engine (Perkins 225ti with Hearth gearbox)
- Length of Hull 11.95 m
- Beam of Hull 4.32 m
- Maximum S/W Draught (at max loaded condition) 1.38 m
- Air Draft (rear canopy and mast down at minimum operating condition) 3.40 m
- Mass of Empty Craft - 18,000kg
- Mass at Maximum Loaded Condition - 20519kg
- RCD - Maximum Load as on Builder’s Plate 790kg (450kg crew + 240kg baggage + 100kg stores)
- Maximum Capacity of Fixed Fuel Tanks (674L) 566kg
- Maximum Capacity of Fixed Water Tanks (340L) 340kg
- Maximum Capacity of Fixed Black Holding Tank (137L) 137kg
- Victron full AC/DC System
- 7.5 kw Cummins generator
- Vessel remote monitoring and automation system
- IP camera system
- Electric windlass with Auto Anchor
- Bow and stern electric thrusters
- 2 x electric crane davits for lifting dinghy
- NMEA 2000 system
- Vetus hydraulic steering system
- Coppercoat and ultrasonic antifouling
- Custom faux teak decking
The video was taken just recently, as she is “lived in” whilst at our current mooring on the Saone river in France and after emerging from the canal system earlier this year.
I will try to add instalments covering various aspects of the build project as and when I can get the time. Briefly looking back now though, it seems that for some aspects I do not have that many pictures so my apologies if some areas of my account seem to lack detail. I will however try to answer any questions anybody may have - but please bear with me if my responses and updates are somewhat late and/or spasmodic! I do still have a business to run and my time is sometimes limited. Thanks. Steve
