The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

56 Getting Started
mast; sails and sheet lines. Contact your designer
before making any alterations in the rig specified in
your plans.
You have three options when it comes to masts and
booms. You may build your own. You can purchase
parts and assemble a rig yourself. Finally, several
companies sell high-quality, inexpensive assembled
masts and booms. You may want to ask one of them
for an estimate on your designer’s specifications.
Boatbuilders often have trouble finding specified
extrusions. Ask for professional advice if you find
yourself in this position.
4. Instruments include a compass, depth sounder, log,
and radio. That is the short list. Your list of instruments
may be much longer. We think it’s best to buy
all your instruments from one manufacturer. <strong>The</strong>
advantages of having a single source are twofold: you
may pay less for a package deal, and you will have
to remember only one name if any instrument stops
functioning. Instrument repair is beyond the
capability of most of us, so consider availability
of parts and service when you make your estimate.
5. Keels are made of iron or lead by specialized
foundries. <strong>The</strong>y are usually poured into molds made
from patterns you provide. Find foundry addresses in
advertisements in marine publications and request a
few estimates. In order to avoid the big job of fairing
up a keel, specify the tolerance and finish you want.
<strong>The</strong> foundry’s quote, usually a per-pound price, will
include mold costs. Lead keels are more common
than iron because they require simpler molds.
When you have worked out all five groups of the
hardware inventory, add them for a total hardware
estimate. Add this to the bare hull estimate to determine
your potential total cash outlay.
Detailed Estimates—Labor
<strong>The</strong>re are so many variables involved in estimating
labor hours for boatbuilding projects that it is almost
impossible to give good general advice. Some spouses
of experienced builders insist that there’s really only
one rule—every stage will take two or three times as
long as they thought it would—but we believe that
it is possible to set a completion date for a boat and
to meet it.
As we see it, four factors determine the amount of
time it takes to build a boat: the size and type of the
boat, the construction method used, the skill of the
builder, and the quality of shop and tools. If you can
control any of these elements, you can significantly
reduce your labor investment.
Builder’s skill is by far the most important of these
factors. We have seen inexperienced boatbuilders
turn out excellent work right from the beginning of
their projects, but they took much longer than experienced
people did to do equivalent jobs. We have also
seen non-professionals perform as quickly and as well
as professionals. Builder efficiency is closely related
to tools and facilities; although you can sometimes
compensate for inexperience by having the right tool
for the job, it’s also true that you’ll never work effectively
if you’re poorly set up in the first place. See
Chapter 8 for a discussion of tools and boatshops.
Experience has taught us that time requirements also
vary with hull area, especially if scantlings systems
remain constant. As boats get bigger, scantlings usually
grow heavier and labor increases. A 40-foot boat
can take half again as long to build as a 30-footer.
Construction method, too, clearly affects labor hours.
A one-off hull built with the mold method requires a
relatively labor-intensive mold but less hull construction
time than other techniques might. Second and
third boats built on the same mold or with another
method will require much less labor.
To develop your labor hour estimate, figure the time it
will take you to finish a square foot each of hull, deck,
and interior, and multiply these figures by your actual
areas. Do not forget to estimate labor for lofting and
setting up a mold. <strong>The</strong>n add estimates for installing
miscellaneous but necessary appendages like rudder,
engine, and hardware. Finally, include the time it will
take you to commission the boat.
We find that on average, with a professional crew,
custom one-off hulls and decks for boats up to 30 feet