Yes HELLO, here I am !
But seriously, a quick run down of the points raised :
Anyone haves an idea of the price range it can cost me to build a blade 16 using plywood? I don’t need all hi-tech parts as I don’t plan to race with it.
My Taipan F16 (same building method, just a different hull design), fully fitted (Pentex Main, Pentex jib, spinnaker, snuffer), some carbon goodies, race ready and competitive finally came out at about 12.000 Euro's.
However, just like Rolf wrote by far the biggest part of the costs are the fittings and custom things like competitive sails etc.
I think I payed about 3000 Euro's to have the hulls build, painted and beamed. The other part is all the rest, like carbon rudders etc. I bought as good as everything new
So indeed just buying an old second hand catamaran and stripping it for parts will go a very long way to cuts costs. I expect you could then have the boat sailing for 5000 to 6000 Euro's. Note that not all secondhand available designs will be suitable. Check with us before buying.
Does Phil Brander sell his plans?
Yes, he has sold quite a few already actually. He charges 250 Aus$ for them = about 160 Euro's. I feel this is too inexpensive for the work he has done on the design and the building plans, but he wants it this way.
Or provide more detailed decriptions on his builds? His web site has great pictures, but some commentary plus some plans and you'd have a great resource to building a nice boat.
The plans he sells are detailed instructions on how to build you own hulls and boat. Nearly step by step instructions. So it is more then just plans (blue print). The instructions sold actually explain the building method and best practice approaches of how to do more detailed stuff. It is the most elaborate set of plans I ever seen. It contains explanatory pics of the various building stage. In addition he has a large collection of building pics of all his builds. He has a builders forum that you are invited to and where you can get help on details if so required. Phill gives active support while building and he is very accessible for any questions you may have. I think this to be lightyears ahead of other building plans including those for the Taipan F16 that I used. I think Phill should charge more for this level of support, but ...
Anyway; if support is a deciding factor then look no further.
Wouter, how did you do it?
I used the AHPC Taipan F16 plans (200 Euro;s I believe) and I received a huge amount of help from (again) Phill Brander. This was before Phill finished his Blade design; otherwise I would have chosen to do the Blade design. I got alot of help from various friends and such. What else can I say here ?
Wharram says 250 hours to build Hitia 17, 400 hours to build Tiki 21. Those are quotes for people with "some" skill with tools.
Your guess is as good as mine as to building time for the Blade.
About the same time I imagine, but building the Blade will always be more complex then building a Wharram design; I'm sure of that. However the Blade hulls do look 10 times better as a result. I appreciate the wharram design but they always look rather crude to me.
And also, how many hours are to be planned to finish the boat ?
Quite a lot. I think It took me another year to fully complete the boat but I didn;t spend to much time per week on it then. However the finishing up of the boat is a big portion added to the building time just the same.
I think in general one should expect to spend two years from scratch to fully completing the race ready boats that is fully fitted.
To these answers I would like to add that you don't need to make a FULLY fitted boat if you don't want to. If saving time and cost is important then just forget about the jib and spinnaker setups, this will save at least 2000 Euro's (maybe more) and a good amount of building time. You can skim on other parts as well. You can decide to build your own mainsail etc and that will save another 700 Euro's at least. And so on. But this things will take extra building time. It will be a trade-off.
It will never be really cheap. Quality stuff just costs and in such a corrosive and abusive environment like the sea you really do want to have quality stuff. However I don't really expect any more crude designs to be alot cheaper.
One of the biggest advantages of building the Blade F16 is that you have an active class to support you and keep you motivated. Probably this will also help resale value later on.
Personally I would take up Rolf on his advice and try getting a superwing mast for the boat. It is really halve the feel of the boat and mine was bought and shipped to Netherlands from Australia for 880 Euro's; I don't think that to be to expensive knowing what other dealors ask for their masts (2000 - 3000 Euro's)
If you really want to cut cost then Pieter Saarberg overhere (very close to me) still has a few older aluminium A-cat masts he wants to sell. These will not be really competitive in the A-cat class or F16 class but they will definately be good enough for recreational sailing. Here you see how important an active class around a design is. By using the network you can arrange for alot of stuff and support.
Good luck !
Wouter
