Van de Stad "Buccaneer"

[fishermantwo]

Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

There is one of these for sale locally. Its 23 feet long and a hardchine design. I've seen heaps of Primaats and a few Deltas but never heard of a Buccaneer. Built in 1970 it looks a really good unit and its very cheap, people seem to be scared of plywood these days.
Anyone have any info on this design, web page links etc? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[oldsaltoz]

Re: Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

G'day Graham,

Great little boat, easy to single hand in good conditions, points very high to wind like most Van de Stadt's do.

Take a good look around the keel inside and out, and any brown staining on flow coat or paint will indicate rotted ply.

Enjoy the link andavagoodweekend, I'm not far away in Qld.

http://www.smallsailboats.co.uk/boats/buccaneer.htm

 

[fishermantwo]

Re: Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

Thanks Brian. The boat shown in the link is identical. This unit is for sale for less than a seconhand carbon mast for my Finn. Just does not make sense to me. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[oldharry]

Re: Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

Plywood boats are cheap because they are plywood, and compared to GRP have a limited life expectancy. Maintenance is an absolute must, and unlike GRP which can be neglected for quite a long time, Plywood will fail very quickly if left exposed to the elements, and a neglected plywood boat is almost invariably 'dead'.

Thats the negative side. the positive side is that they are almost infinitely repairable (quote Eventide Owners Association), and with the proper treatment and maintenenace can go on for a very long time. You have the advantages of all the beauty of a wooden boat. A well designed hull will have immense form strength in a very light construction (half inch ply being the norm for boats around 25 ft LOA).

And, because people do not want the maintenance required, they are cheap. e.g. a 26 foot Eventide will change hands for around £5-7k, although the current home build cost is around £14k.

For anyone with reasonable DIY skills and with modern glues and sealants, there are very few repair jobs that cannot be tackled in a ply hull. The best older ones have Cascover sheathing from new - or a modern epoxy equivalent. The worst ones have Polyester GRP sheathing 'to stop the leaks' - an absolute killer for any plywood boat!

 

[kds]

Re: Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

Great fun to sail and handles bad conditions better than most of its length. Don't touch it if it has glasscloth sheathing. Oldharry hits the nail on the head re plywood.
Ken

 

[markras]

Re: Van de Stad \"Buccaneer\"

I have owned my Buccaneer "Calypso" for 10 years. Fabuluos fun, great twilight racing, cheap to buy. Very easy to sail in a blow. Some of the local boats have had a problem where the rudder exits the hull- check for excessive movement-generally the problem requires the removal of the rudder and replacement of the bottom bearing. 2nd hand sails are easy to come by. Just visit your local Dragon or J24 fleet for perfect fit headsails. A sailmaker can cut the bottom 3 feet off a Dragon main for a perfect loose footed sail.

Hope you find a good one like I did. I agree with all the comments about maintaining ply-I cleaned my deck and sheathed it in epoxy soaked 6 oz. mat. I painted with 2 pot epoxy 4 years ago. I haven't needed to touch it since.

Cheers from Tasmania.