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44'cruisingcat · 21-08-2016, 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoppy

I guess shipped to Aus it would be a $50k hull

Yeah, a bit less tempting. There's also the time and cost involved in just going to have a look at the thing.

hoppy · 21-08-2016, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Yeah, a bit less tempting. There's also the time and cost involved in just going to have a look at the thing.

The travel can be written off as a holiday....

I guess if it's worth $50k as a head start in a home build project, then it won't be sold for $15k. So it probably will only ever be viable for someone more local.

44'cruisingcat · 04-01-2017, 12:35

Someone's doing it:

https://www.facebook.com/Themultihul...type=3&theater

SDChristian · 04-01-2017, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Someone's doing it:

https://www.facebook.com/Themultihul...type=3&theater

I'm very jealous.

**Cotemar** · 04-01-2017, 14:07

After they put $500,000 usd into Rainmaker they will have a very nice $400,000 cat.
Nice to see someone has a bit of dedication.

SDChristian · 04-01-2017, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotemar

After they put $500,000 usd into Rainmaker they will have a very nice $400,000 cat.
Nice to see someone has a bit of dedication.

*very fast $400,000 cat.

**Cotemar** · 04-01-2017, 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDChristian

*very fast $400,000 cat.

The Only way Rainmaker would be a fast catamaran again is if she was taken back to the original GB factory in North Carolina to be factory restored.

No one is going to give them a blueprint, so she will never be anything close to what she was.

Every time we have seen these wrecks restored in the past, they come out the other side as a 55 Foot Catamaran Bar/Resto Party Boat.

SV DestinyAscen · 04-01-2017, 15:24

Wonder what's the hill construction like - with the amount of fixtures and items ripped off/salvaged and then sitting in water, the hull has got to have saturation issues with core material.

44'cruisingcat · 04-01-2017, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotemar

After they put $500,000 usd into Rainmaker they will have a very nice $400,000 cat.
Nice to see someone has a bit of dedication.

Anyone willing to put in a couple of years and do the work themselves could build this into a very nice fast cruising boat for half that.

44'cruisingcat · 04-01-2017, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotemar

The Only way Rainmaker would be a fast catamaran again is if she was taken back to the original GB factory in North Carolina to be factory restored.

No one is going to give them a blueprint, so she will never be anything close to what she was.

This is nonsense of course. There are many people other than Gunboat who'd be capable of rebuilding Rainmaker into a very fast boat. I could do it. And if the hulls had been available for sale in Aus at the right time and price, I probably would be doing it right now...

You'd quite likely be able to buy the hull construction plans from the designer.

**Cotemar** · 04-01-2017, 16:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

This is nonsense of course. There are many people other than Gunboat who'd be capable of rebuilding Rainmaker into a very fast boat. I could do it. And if the hulls had been available for sale in Aus at the right time and price, I probably would be doing it right now...

You'd quite likely be able to buy the hull construction plans from the designer.

No doubt a person with your skills would be able to build a fine cat out of Rainmaker.

There are very few people with your skill set.

The problem is that Rainmaker was a $2.5 million dollar boat.

It took 20 highly skilled craftsmen 3 months to build her.

To bring a $2.5 million dollar boat back to Bristol condition would cost far more than any bank would give you for restoration.

This boat is still in production under new management, so they would not be giving away any blueprints to a home builder, especially after GB's china partner stole a lot of GB's proprietary blueprints already.

brownoarsman · 04-01-2017, 19:47

Well there's an easy solution: buy the plans from GB's China partner for pennies on the dollar!

44'cruisingcat · 04-01-2017, 20:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cotemar

No doubt a person with your skills would be able to build a fine cat out of Rainmaker.

There are very few people with your skill set.

The problem is that Rainmaker was a $2.5 million dollar boat.

It took 20 highly skilled craftsmen 3 months to build her.

To bring a $2.5 million dollar boat back to Bristol condition would cost far more than any bank would give you for restoration.

This boat is still in production under new management, so they would not be giving away any blueprints to a home builder, especially after GB's china partner stole a lot of GB's proprietary blueprints already.

I'd argue that there are more than few people capable of building a decent boat. And this boat doesn't have to be rebuilt exactly the same as it was.

I wouldn't. I'd have made a more "conventional" boat out of it. A more enclosed bridgedeck cabin, a forebeam, etc.

I wouldn't want or need some of the luxury stuff. AC, diesel gensets etc. etc.

What I'd have been getting is a huge headstart to a fast, light and simple 55 footer. I'd be targeting a launch weight of around 5 tonnes dry, maybe cruising at around 6.5 - 7 tonnes. Around a 18-19 metre mast, reasonable sail area, say 125m-135m (working sails) and you'd have a pretty quick boat. Not a rocketship, but definitely a fast cruiser. And it wouldn't need to cost all that much.

For a rumoured $10k, the buyers have gotten a pair of carbon fibre hulls and bridgedeck whose materials alone would have been worth far more than that. Even if it cost another $10k (unlikely) to strip out all the motors and wiring etc, and clean it all up, it's still a real bargain.

I wouldn't be attempting to rebuild a Gunboat 55. So I wouldn't really want all of the plans. Just the hull layup specs really. And if need be, I'd do without them. The strong points would be pretty obvious anyway. But I also wouldn't be asking them to GIVE me them. I'd be looking to buy them, as long as the price was sensible.