Hi everyone, we're building a boat!

[Rhonda S]

Greetings, I'm 67 and a retired travel consultant. You can guess what my role on the boat will be! My younger brother, Phil, and his wife, Marianne, are in the process of buying a highly customized Schionning Designs catamaran kit. We plan to start the build in January 2023 and have a 2 year build time. He started planning a round the world sail over 10 years ago. I jumped aboard the plan about a year and a half ago. I have watched a lot of YouTube videos (you can learn from them), have read a good deal, and been taught a lot by my brother. We are located in southern California and will be shake down cruising on the west coast before heading to Mexico and across the Pacific. My sailing experience is 1 day on the Chesapeake, which is quite a story by itself. My brother has been sailing since he was ten. I've been an avid reader of this forum for a year and a half, and look forward to chatting with all of you and asking lots of questions. Because we have had so long to plan, we have a very detailed website and will be joining the vast numbers of sailors sharing videos on YouTube opcorn : including the entire build.

Rhonda - S/V Lynx
S/V Lynx

[Dave_S]

Schionning..... excellent choice 🙂

Which model/size did you choose?

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the form Rhonda...Looking forward to a progress report.

[Rhonda S]

Thank you! It's nice to be on the site.

[Lepke]

Boats usually take much longer than the plan. It also costs more money. The closer you live to your build, the more will get done. If it's a long ride to the build site your enthusiasm will wane and you'll start taking days off. Better if you live at the build site.
Most home built boats I have been aware of in a long life, were finished by someone other that the original builder. Some were never finished.
I not trying to rain on your parade, just make you aware that your enthusiasm will weaken and you need to plan for it.
I've built several boats, alone, with a partner, and with a crew. One boat I didn't finish and scrapped it.

[thesaltytar]

Welcome aboard! Although it will be extra work, I think it's a great idea to get a channel going to expand the "inner circle" of people involved with the project. Hopefully it will provide some moral support and having people to answer to for progress can keep a person honest!

All the best.

[Ballsnall]

Originally Posted by Lepke

Boats usually take much longer than the plan. It also costs more money.

Start a YouTube channel and have other people fund your circumnavigation.

Seriously, good luck with the build. A kit is a great way to supercharge a build with great customer support. 2 years should be doable and it's all downhill from there. (Sailing, that is)

[Adelie]

Welcome.

[cdreid]

IF you do this right and .. have a little talent and are entertaining..(you have to think about making it entertaining for viewers..) you could possibly pay for that kit eventually via youtube. Seriously.
If your brother is that experienced and has been planning this for 10 years im absolutely certain hes the perfect person to do this...cant wait to watch the videos!

Note: i think your plan is to be the planner/supervisor lol. I have a feeling youre going to find yourself covered in fiberglass more than you think :P

[cdreid]

Originally Posted by Ballsnall

Start a YouTube channel and have other people fund your circumnavigation.

Seriously, good luck with the build. A kit is a great way to supercharge a build with great customer support. 2 years should be doable and it's all downhill from there. (Sailing, that is)

I never heard about this company but kit companies tend to provide you all the "hard to build timesinks" for you. I spent many years in my 20s lusting over some of bruice roberts designs.

[Chotu]

Godspeed. Make sure to read all of my posts. Ha ha. There’s a lot to watch out for, physically and emotionally.

[ItDepends]

I seems to me that four man-years (two people working full time for 2 years) is a really optimistic timeframe to assemble and outfit a 50 foot cat.

Have you talked to anybody else who has done it? The kit supplier ought to be able to refer you to someone who has been there and done that...

[Rumrace]

Sounds fun. You sure will know your machine.

[MicHughV]

I built my own boat. But I was in my 20's when I started.

I had planned everything down to a t, regarding money and time to build.

When I was finally done, my actual expenditure, was more than double my original estimate, and time to build it was about three times as long.

'jes sayin'....

Before you can even start to build the boat, you will have to either find a shed or build a shed to build it in. Right off the bat, that takes time and money and has nothing to do with the actual boat.

When I initially started building my boat, I lived some miles away from the build site. This quickly took it's toll, and so I purchased a small trailer trailer to park next to my build. This eventually became my "home".

And, there is this...building your own boat typically takes a big toll on married life.

Finally, at age 67, you will find that though the spirit is willing, the flesh will be weak.

Having painted this picture, I do wish you well, and hope you'll post your build as time marches on.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I built my own boat. But I was in my 20's when I started.

I had planned everything down to a t, regarding money and time to build.

When I was finally done, my actual expenditure, was more than double my original estimate, and time to build it was about three times as long.

'jes sayin'....

Before you can even start to build the boat, you will have to either find a shed or build a shed to build it in. Right off the bat, that takes time and money and has nothing to do with the actual boat.

When I initially started building my boat, I lived some miles away from the build site. This quickly took it's toll, and so I purchased a small trailer trailer to park next to my build. This eventually became my "home".

And, there is this...building your own boat typically takes a big toll on married life.

Finally, at age 67, you will find that though the spirit is willing, the flesh will be weak.

Having painted this picture, I do wish you well, and hope you'll post your build as time marches on.

This is really good advice from someone that knows exactly what they are talking about.

I started building a fast cat to charter with the wife. We were already doing a very successful charter business. I started building then:

*divorce lost half the build money
*had to earn back lost money
*had to go through emotional healing
*became a little allergic to epoxy. Ignored it.
*became deathly allergic to epoxy (anaphylaxis)
*epoxy allergy set off allergies to citrus, dairy, mold, etc
*all allergies caused severe allergic asthma
*2 hurricane eyes passed over my boat. Category 3 and 4. Sustained heavy cosmetic damage while boats sank around it smashing into a sea wall. The mooring field moved into the sea wall.
*was robbed blind when away working to make money for build - dinghy, outboard, bicycle, even the damn anchor off the bow roller
*first day in the water fuel company delivered water and a little gasoline into my brand new tanks. Destroyed the injectors on my unused, brand new outboards and they had to be replaced. Company didn’t take responsibility.
*really struggled with windows
*designer no longer available to me for questions
*12 days after covid vaccine, heart filled with blood clots
*widowmaker heart attack and heart failure
*can no longer go near epoxy (wet, cured less than 6 months, or machined dust)
*have to hire out all epoxy work
*needed some mental breaks due to the above so boat took more than twice as long as estimated

An example of what can go wrong during a build. Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best.