Hi everyone, we're building a boat!

[double u]

Originally Posted by Ballsnall

Wow, nothing like posting a hello in the Meets & Greets section to a warm and welcoming community of wonderful like minded peoples.

...could it just be, that "been-there-done-that"-s do not take fools gladly?

[LakeSuperior]

Wow! I think if Rhonda and crew put as much time into the build as they have in the trip planning, video productions, and website construction it will be finished on schedule and on budget.

On their website, which I have just visited, they have videos showing the planned twice circumnavigation routes and guests that will participate in each leg. Absolutely mind blowing.

This is so far from the actual grind of building and outfitting a yacht I can't believe it. I know that Californians have a bent toward talking about what they are going to do. And of course the reality of what is actually accomplished as a rule is way different.

One has to be single minded and focused over a long haul to get a boat build and in the water.

We will see however as their webpages are set up for 15 years of sailing adventure.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

I know that Californians have a bent toward talking about what they are going to do. And of course the reality of what is actually accomplished as a rule is way different.

Probably an unfair statement considering the achievements amateur boat builders have accomplished in Ca. I have lived here for 42 years and experienced the end of the Ferro-Cement era...Been part of the "Fast is Fun"era and was involve in building two of my own steel sailboats. We have decent enough weather to work throughout the year as opposed to a sub zero weather for 4-8 months of the year, depending. There is a lot of innovation that goes on in Ca.
All that said, there are the dreamers in all states. We see them here on C/F. I'm going to this and I'm going to that. There is a husband and wife team that are Moderators here that started out Ca., traveled and settled in another country. I would even go as far to say that California has more active racing fleets than any other state.

[double u]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

Wow! I think if Rhonda and crew put as much time into the build as they have in the trip planning, video productions, and website construction it will be finished on schedule and on budget.

On their website, which I have just visited, they have videos showing the planned twice circumnavigation routes and guests that will participate in each leg. Absolutely mind blowing.

This is so far from the actual grind of building and outfitting a yacht I can't believe it. I know that Californians have a bent toward talking about what they are going to do. And of course the reality of what is actually accomplished as a rule is way different.

One has to be single minded and focused over a long haul to get a boat build and in the water.

We will see however as their webpages are set up for 15 years of sailing adventure.

Do I see this correctly on their website: they have NOTHING to show so far, apart from "digitals"? WOW!
(Could this be a university project to study reactions of the nautical hoi polloi to this kind of shooting ones mouth off?)
Lets take the whole "endeavour" for "real" for a moment & compare to my own experiences:
I built a very simple 34' catamaran from 77-81, it took me ~4300 manhours.
As I was a rank beginner, for an experienced homebuilder with better manual skills & better tools - lets halve this: 2100 manhours.
Now let's scale this up to their "project":
mine was a Wharram cat without deck cabin, so extremely simple to build.
The only electric "installation" was a tricolour nav-light, a chartable light & 6x 5W lights in the "cabins" (more like coffins). There were 2 electronic "devices": a Seafarer depthsounder & a Grundig Satellite allband receiver (Log was a mechanical VDO Sumlog, navigation celestial). Engine was a crudely installed 1cyl. Ducati diesel with a Sonic outdrive (that had to go in Gibraltar for weight reasons).
To my 4300 manhours you have to add all the hours spent in various harbours along the trip (we set off from the Adriatic immediately after launching, starting off with little steps & stretching our stride to cross the Atlantic after 6 months) with modifications (building a windvane out of water pipes & a bicycle sprocket in Malaga, switching to outboard in Gibraltar, painting the decks with effective nonskid in Grenada,...)
Now if I scale the assumed 2100 manhours for my 70s build up to a 50' modern, well equipped & comfortable 3-tier catamaran, where do we end up? 10.000 manhours do sound insufficient to me, in view of the partly inexperienced & elderly crew.
(I was in my early twenties during my build, could sustain working 7 days a week 12 hours a day, could climb up halyards hand over hand, no feet, & pull up a 45lbs anchor with 50' of chain without a bowroller - this was another of the projects "under way". - No way now at 66 could I come anywhere near that, even though having been a sports nut ever since...
(&, btw, we*) sailed our boat "all the way around planet Earth" - their wording!!! in 7 years. An incredible adventure for two landlubbers from landlocked Austria, &, in all modesty, a little achievement for a teacher & a tourist expert with no prior knowledge of sailing or boatbuilding, apart what they learned from books)
*)"we" is the lady & I, she has been my companion now for 44 years & more than 100.000 miles in 3 & 1/3 rtws, who made it all possible.

So I stand by my initial estimate: their chance of success is in the third decimal! (if it is not the website, that is already teemed "success").
(& just maybe youall understand now, why I take exception to people bragging before they have to show anything...)

[Ballsnall]

Originally Posted by double u

So I stand by my initial estimate: their chance of success is in the third decimal!

Obviously, compared to you they have absolutely no chance of achieving their dreams so they should just pack it in and give up now.

[double u]

what is there to "pack in"? Apart from the website & big words?
Do you REALLY think it cool to brag about a big project in advance? To write about the "Circumnavigation of planet Earth" when the boatbuilding hasn't even started? This is the way to do it? (not to mention that this has extremely rarely been the way it was done...)

[Calif.Ted]

I know that Californians have a bent toward talking about what they are going to do. And of course the reality of what is actually accomplished as a rule is way different.

No need to apologize, I'm not offended by sour grapes anymore, it must be horrible to face a Lake Superior winter and such SHORT sailing seasons.

[Rhonda S]

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all the replies even the negative ones : ). I thought the thread had died which is one of several reasons I hadn't checked back. I'm much more of a reader than a poster, so please forgive my delay. I will keep a better eye on my posts! Here are answers to some of your responses.

My brother, Philip is an experienced sailor. He learned to sail on the North Sea of Germany. I wrote the August blog on our website "Making a dream into reality" about him.
https://svlynx.blogspot.com/

For years our family has called him a renaissance man. Anything he sets his mind to he does, and his interests are very wide.

His best friend Brian is his XO. Brian is leaving his job in January to build the boat full time along with Phil. He is an electrician.

Although they are both older, they keep in great shape mountain biking, snow skiing, hiking, diving and sailing Phil's 18' hobie cat. They are very adventurous. Having to give all that up for 2 years is a downside for them. I believe they both have the mental toughness which is required in addition to physical toughness and endurance.

Is this an extremely daunting task? Yes. Will they do it? Yes

Phil's been extremely busy this summer.
He found a place to build 5 minutes from his house, and it is paid for and under contract.
He bought and picked up the tent and poles for the huge tent to cover the boat build. They start putting it up January 2nd.
A shipping container will be delivered when the tent is built to sit next to the tent and hold tools and materials.

He sold his hobiecat to make room in his garage for extra stuff coming from Schionning in the container.
He has purchased many tools to make it easier to build.
He built test batteries for the solar system we will have on board. Another friend wanted them for his house and paid for the materials and tools for building the batteries. Phil's time for building means he gets to keep all the tools to build our batteries. There will be extensive videos about building these batteries. The solar system will power the build site.

Due to the strength of the dollar internationally, he has been purchasing as much as he can that needs to come from outside the US. It has saved him several thousand dollars already.
He ordered the basalt we are using on the hulls instead of fiberglass, and after being shipped by slow boat from Australia, it arrives this week. Ah, the joy's of import taxes and fees and dealing with shipping agents.
He drove to Arizona to get a good deal on solar panels.

Schionning has been amazing to work with. He has spent a lot of time working with them to get exactly what he wants.
He built the new website and keeps it updated.
There is a lot more. I just can't think of it all right now.

Our big news is the video channel, which is up and running. The first 3 videos are up. The new one comes out Friday, and it is a really fun one. Sailing SV Lynx on YouTube.

Rhonda

[LakeSuperior]

Well, if they get it completed they will be in the 98 percentile of home boat builders.

[RaymondR]

Basalt, is this a brand name or typo or are you actually thinking of carving it out of a big piece of rock?

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Basalt, is this a brand name or typo or are you actually thinking of carving it out of a big piece of rock?

Might want to google it. It's a pretty amazing fiberglass replacement used on a few boats in the past decade... But probably a lot more in the future.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Basalt, is this a brand name or typo or are you actually thinking of carving it out of a big piece of rock?

I can field that one. It’s an environmentally sound fiber kind of like fiberglass. It has been used in some boats to date. Interesting stuff. Check it out.

After all, Fiberglass is just a big piece of sand anyway isn’t it?

[Mickeyrouse]

You can learn a lot from you tube videos, but do not think it replaces experience.
I once met a dude from Winnipeg who was planning to sail from Port Isabel Texas to the Yucatan on his yet-to-be-wet Macgregor 25. He’d never seen any body of water bigger than a fresh water lake, but felt prepared to cross because he’d “read Chapman’s- twice!”

[Rhonda S]

Several catamaran manufacturers are now using basalt. This is one of the new ones https://www.windelo-catamaran.com/en/ecology/

It is stronger than fiberglass and less expensive than carbon fiber. We will be doing a video about it in the future.

Schionning Designs worked with my brother on using it for our hulls. It was a first for them as far as requests. Their engineers let him know exactly what he needed to buy. We will be using fiberglass everywhere else.

Interestingly and a bit of a headache when buying it, Phil found out one of the largest manufacturers of basalt cloth is Ukraine.

[Celestialsailor]

From what I have read Basalt is only 3% stronger than fiberglass. It is also stiffer which goes against the thought of using a vinyl-ester resin to improve flexibility in a composite hull. It is suppose to be environmentally safer but there is little detail as of how. With that said, an epoxy resin is still used and that in itself is not that safe to handle.