Samson C-Witch 63 ?

[Thorin]

So I am a silly person and I want to build my own boat. I have been looking at a few different plans and so far the one I like best is the Samson C-Witch 63 with the cutter bow and schooner rigging (i don't like ketch rigging, sadly that is base purely on looks for me). I would like very much to hear from anyone that has sailed on one before and to find out what you thought of it. Or if you know of another home built design that can stand up to the deep blue in that class. My dream is to sail with her from Vancouver south to the Antarctic then north (where else do you go from the antarctic) through the Atlantic to the Arctic then back to Vancouver. Any thoughts?

[zeehag]

only problem with samson is the insurance companies dont like to insure ferro boats.....

[Thorin]

So the only issue is insurance? I guess my question is how does she feel to sail.

[zeehag]

i have a friend who had a samson and sailed her a lot--she was named surfer girl. she ran onto a reef a few yrs ago and he is still comparing every boat he sees to her. he has a fast wood schooner now but misses his ferro...what can i say. i lik efiberglass. the woodies looked awesome but not practical. i am not in love with ferro but i do know some who are.
surfer girl was featured as a cover for one long ago latitude 38 with a hobie 16 on her bow--fully ready to deploy...and when she fell off the face of the earth and became a reef. she was a cool boat. i have been aboard when one motored around port of lost angeles a while on back..was smooth--they were 65 ft --not a samson--and had a 210 hp engine to push her around.. was gorgeous boat named kiwi. i knew of her in 1990 was gorgeous, some friends had one named winsome until 1998 or so--was 45 ft and beeeyoooteefull--didnnt know was ferro until they told me...beautiful cutter with a yardarm...awesome... she was fast.....

[roverhi]

There are a ton of these sidewalks littering do it yourself boat yards around the country. You should be able to pick one up for a song and finish it out. Just be aware that you'll be throwing away $0.95 of every dollar you spend as there is virtually no market for these boats, or at least no market at what it costs to build them.

The Samson designs were rehashs of old outdated boats. They aren't very good sailing boats. If you are stuck on buiding a floating sidewalk, check out some of the designs from NZ and OZ. They at least built some good Ferro boats.

[Boracay]

63' is huge as recreational boats go. Have you looked at any boats this size?

As others have pointed out you are looking at a project that will take every penny you can find for at least the next 20 years and be worth next to nothing when finished, so what I'm wondering is "Why?".

[Thorin]

Originally Posted by Boracay

63' is huge as recreational boats go. Have you looked at any boats this size?

As others have pointed out you are looking at a project that will take every penny you can find for at least the next 20 years and be worth next to nothing when finished, so what I'm wondering is "Why?".

Yes 63' is more boat than I need, by a good 10'. But I love the look of her Samson boat plans 'C-Witch' sail boat and I really want a boat with a clipper bow and topsail schooner rigging. I am looking to build a boat that I can explore the world in and live aboard full-time. And I need to build it with my own hands. It's not a money thing I could go out and buy anything I want... Anything the bank let's me. It's a need to create. Now as for the costs. Building in ferro, even at 60+ feet won't cost me that much, as long as I do it right. Buy my early calculations building the hull shouldn't cost more than CAD$36 000.00. It will easily cost that much again to build the interior, gel coat the exterior, and put all the fittings on the deck. I also need to put in motors, genset, batteries, navigation equipment, autopilot, radar, and set up that schooner rigging that I want so bad. All of it will cost and I haven't bought an actor yet.

So I guess with out being any more of a jerk than some might think i am. I don't care about investing the money. I am investing in the life I want so it's worth it to me.

[4900bruce]

I believe you are a long way off the mark re cost of building a 63 ft boat.the hull is the cheapest part of the boat,maybe 8% of totall cost and how many years are you allowing for to build the boat.
I agree that she is a great looking boat and samson design is a good choice for the type of sailing you intent doing.
a friend has a 60 ft glass boat and like all glass boats it had the pox.he moved boat to yard and decided to atotall refit .he had a budget of i million to spend on hull repairs and refit,that was 2 years agoe he has spent the 1 mill and needs another half mill to finish .
when he is fonished he will own another glass boat full of pox worth about $900000.00

[DannySt]

It looks like a beautiful design. good luck. One point - if you go live aboard on a boat, either its a ferro or a fiberglass, or steel, after a year of endless maintenance you will feel like you have built the damn thing anyway. If you really want to feel it is all you, buy an old wooden boat...

[Thorin]

Originally Posted by 4900bruce

I believe you are a long way off the mark re cost of building a 63 ft boat.the hull is the cheapest part of the boat,maybe 8% of totall cost and how many years are you allowing for to build the boat.

Once I start my estimate for time is 500 hours to build the hull. For the inside Wood work; cabinets, lockers, floor, gally And fixtures; plumbing, electric wiring I count on 350 hours. That is being liberal with my time and doing it as a labour of love. I can custom build a 1500 Sqf house in 320 hours from foundation to Finnish, giving myself 3 x that much time to put everything but the motors and rigging into my boat sounds do able to me.

To be honest I don't know how much the rigging will cost. It could cost half a mill alone for all I know, if that is the case you will see a very scary boat with a couple of wooden masts and tac that came right out of the golden age of piracy!

I do know I won't be paying anyone to do what I can do myself. The point is for me to do it myself. But if you can set me straight on costs I welcome the input.

[Blue Stocking]

Please let us know at exactly what stage of finish the hull is at, after 500 hrs.

[Doodles]

I've only built a 8' pram, and never a 1,500 sq. ft. house, but I did plan on building a Wharram catamaran at one time and according to the study plans Wharram estimated 4,000 hours for the Pahi 63. I was looking at something much smaller but everyone I talked to said the hourly estimates were low, so your estimates seem way out of line. What does your designer say?

[witzgall]

Originally Posted by Thorin

Yes 63' is more boat than I need, by a good 10'. .

How many people besides yourself, to need at at least a 53 foot boat?

I have a friend that built and lived aboard a 58 foot ferro boat for years. He told me to cost him about $10k in Maintenance alone, per year. It took him eight years while working to finish the interior completely.

Chris

[Thorin]

Of course now that I am looking for it I can't find it, but honest, I had read about a guy that built a tahitian. According to him it only took six weeks to build the frame work and a 14 hour day for eight people to one shot it ( two shot is better but that is a newish discovery ). Now the Tahitian is around half the size of the C-witch so that was an extrapolation, the guy building hadn't done anything even close to this before, for me it's old hat in a new shape. So until I do settle on this plan for sure or find a clipper designed for schooner rigging that I love even more Hopefully smaller! for all you who don't want me to have a bigger boat then them!.

On a related question has anyone here taken their boat to south east Asia to get materials to Finnish/Reno their cabin? I was hoping to pinch a penny going to the materials instead of having them come to me. I have friends that would go to the moon in a bathtub if I said that I was going, two of them can really sail too boot! So I know I could crew my bare bones yacht to get there. My cost me a fortune in beer once I got home but that's what friends are for.

[witzgall]

Originally Posted by Thorin

Hopefully smaller! for all you who don't want me to have a bigger boat then them!.

Actually, what you will find is that many people realize how much the costs, hassle and time increase exponentially as the boat size increases. Beth Leonard estimated that the cost maintain a boat is TRIPLED for each additional 10 feet of vessel. My own informal research has borne that out, or at least close. This is generally helpful community here at CF. What we don't want to see if people's cruising dreams broken when they take on way more than they can handle, either financially, or time, or work. This happens allot more than you think. After all, it is the american way to buy/build the biggest you can afford, or at least think you can afford.


Chris