I think you over estimate the time required to build a boat. Though this
is my fourth strip built boat, I was able to be on the water in one year.
The main reason for it taking one year was the time spent waiting for this
part and that part. With the work of Roger and Greg, more/better custom
parts are becoming available all of the time. I had the hull and deck
together in four months only working an hour or two some nights and
week-ends. You just have to make sure that you have a big chunk of time
when you do the epoxy/glass/carbon work.
Since the boat is encased in plastic, there is not neerly as much wood
work maintenance as you think. I have a canoe that I built five years ago
and I have only re varnished it once due to rocks and letting it sit in
the sun. Cover the boat and I think you should get five years with a good
spar varnish. Even a platic boat will show age if you leave it sitting in
the sun for five years. Spar varnish is easier to update than gelcoat.
On Fri, 13 May 2005 15:19:21 -0600, Bill Green <bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi all,
Great discussion and very interesting for someone like me who plans to
have a Swift one day but is not there yet. I have three points/concerns
about the boat in general -- one: although it is less expensive than
current competing boats of similar performance, it is not by any stretch
of the imagination an inexpensive boat (it either costs a fair amount of
money and a lot of time or just a lot of money to get in the class);
two: wood boats are beautiful and can last a long time as the Lindsay
505s have shown, but they are a lot more maintenance than a plastic boat
even if they last longer; three: as the hull shape becomes optimized
through experimentation, all current Swifts will be obsolete regardless
of how strong they still are. Along these lines, Greg and Christian made
[snip]
--
Don't be good have fun.
Live large, love lots, and sail fast!
Robert Harper
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