Van de Stadt 40

[jemsea]

Any thoughts on the Van de Stadt 40 constructed from aluminum?

http://www.vandestadt-usa.com/website/caribbean.html


Just dreaming here but if it were possible money-wise how would this boat do as a blue water cruising boat?

[Talbot]

Aluminium hull will give a strong relatively light weight boat from a well known maker of good boats. However, corrosion is the biggest problem. you haave to be very careful with addding any additional bits on the boat to make sure that you dont introduce corrosion, and costs for antifoul will go up considerably in inverse proportion to their effectiveness as I believe copper antifoul and an aluminium hull are not compatible. As a blue water cruiser, you wont be in a marina very much , which is another problem area for this material, as the corrosion can accelerate if grounding is not done properly, and especially if galvanic isolation is not fitted where appropriate in your boat AND YOUR NEIGHBOURS.

[Boracay]

I built a small Van der Stadt yacht a few years ago.
Van der Stat boats are highly regarded in Australia- They seem to bring in a premium price secondhand.
From a builders perspective the plans were very complete and easy to follow.
From what I can gather the plans for the larger yachts have been drawn to make the building as rapid as possible.
It is possible to get the steel or aluminium computer cut, and this can save a lot of time.
Aluminum is not an easy material to weld. It requires a skilled welder with current practice and some expensive welding gear.
It would probably be a lot easier to find a steel welder who could produce a first class product.
Aluminium boats can suffer from sudden catastrophic failure if the wrong combination of circumstances occurs.
If you work out how much the total boat will cost you you could get a horrible surprise.
Figure on a least 4000 hours of highly skilled work. plus all fittings and materials.

[Jeff H]

As has been noted Van de Stadt is a highly regarded designer. The Caribbean 40 appears to be a nice boat although slightly dated in terms of being derived from a more IOR era design approach to buoyancy distribution and foils and so less likely to offer as comfortable a motion or as high a performance as a more advanced design. The fractional rig is a great choice, offering easier handling, a smaller sail inventory, lower stresses on the boat and crew, and a wider range of flexibility in changable conditions.

I personally like aluminum construction given the newer and better choices in alloys out there, but probably would build using the cold molded wooden option because cold molding is generally cheaper, and offers some combination of being stronger, and lighter than aluminum or steel. I think that building this boat in steel would be a major mistake in terms of lost seaworthiness, motion comfort, carrying capacity, higher maintenance costs, and performance.

Respectfully,
Jeff

[jemsea]

Thanks for the responses.

As I said earlier this may all be a little out of our reach. However, we are going to find out. I have ordered study plans, both quick assembly and round bilge.

I have also contacted Christensen Yachts and Reyse Marine, both located in B.C. who are willing to give me an estimated cost of building a Caribbean 40.

We are asking for a boat with minimal systems such as S/V Hawk that Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger had built.

Great picture Jeff, the sail shape is impressive!

John

[Talbot]

The fractional rig is a great choice,

For a performance boat perhaps, but for a blue water boat, I would much prefer to have a good cutter rig, preferably designed so that the mast does not need to have back stays that need to be madeup/released as you tack.

The cutter may not be so good to windward, although on a heavy cruiser that could be disputed, but it does divide the rig up into more easily handled packages, with the staysail preferably on a self tacking device for even easier short handed tacking.

[Boracay]

The small Van der Stadt that I built had a fractional rig.
I only did one serious coastal trip in it ( from Wewak to the entrance to the Sepik River) under light conditions, but I found the fractional(seven/eighths) rig to be easy to manage short handed, and very fast.
I would give serious consideration to a fractional rig if I was building another sailing boat.