5 Steps to (NOT) Build a Boat: Planning for DIY Yacht Construction

No matter what, building your own yacht will always require more than you anticipated. Before making the commitment to build your own boat, take time to seriously consider all the hidden costs and extra effort required. The best yacht for you is the one you can finish.

References

[2] E. J. Barbero, Introduction to Composite Materials Design, 2nd Edition, Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, 2011.

[bobcornwell]

An excellent lecture.
Left out a few possibilities.
1.) plywood/epoxy construction to end up with a wood boat far less likely to rot. Developed surfaces, or lap planked are best.
2.) buying a bare hull and deck, or just a bare hull (good way to go with GRP) and fitting it out.
3.) Steel hulls can be built without a lot of specialized equipment, as long as the hull shape is kept simple. Some kind of gantry is needed to lift the heavy plates. Once lifted they have to be properly oriented and tack welded at the mid point of the curve. Then the ends can be pulled in with a come-along.

[otosjvantolerbok]

This is one of the most important videos about yachtbuilding I have seen!

[ezraboren]

11:55
I've built 2 boats and am currently building my 3rd (not necessarily a yacht but smaller boats) and this is very true, whatever you think its gonna take, it's probably gonna take twice as much

[johnkelly]

My dad and I built two boats.
The first one was a 12' rowboat and it was from just drawings and yes it was basically flat plywood.
The second one was a kit boat. But different from the Kit boat you described, ours came with a separate molded Hull, sides, cockpit items such as seats and transom, cabin, and a molded deck. So effectively we had to put it together like a big model, cut a hole and build the housing for the swing keel, fiberglass in the stiffeners, as well as filling the void areas with expanding foam for flotation. It was a 16 foot Sloop, and it took us about six months of weekends, Fridays and Saturdays since we didn't work on Sundays.
I got to admit that experience has gotten me itching to build another one (and it's not because of the fiberglass.) LOL

[fixedG]

But Nick, I can build my own boat *and* my own shipwreck!

[dominictarrsailing]

I've built a few small boats, several dinghies and 16 foot sailing canoes, and restored a 31 foot catamaran. In my opinion, if you want to build a boat with some given length, start by building a boat half that length. You are probably gonna need a dinghy anyway. Building the smaller boat will be so much faster than the bigger boat, that it won't eat very much into the project time, also you'll learn so much from building the small boat that you'll probably save time building the big boat!

[fredio]

Best boat is one you can finish: Amen, you can always find a half finished hull in weather beaten condition in some corner of every country :-D Big dreams, not quite the reality to match. I helped build out boat 26 years ago, 40 feet, and a material you didn't even mention: wood. Plywood, glass over, epoxy, not polyester, frames and stringers under it, 3 layers on the bottom, two on the sides, marinised truck engine, original budget was 100k local currency and 1/3 of that was the nav/electronics package parallel imported.

[jeffeck]

I've been dreaming of an aluminum hull swath sailing catamaran ever since I saw your videos on swath hulls. I believe the swath design would have benefits no one has even considered yet. With a computer sensing tension on the different rigging cables, the computer could automatically ballast the upwind hull to make it nearly impossible for the boat to go over. With experimentation, I suspect the captain of the boat could find a more stable configuration for very rough seas, how much or how little ballast and where... Another thought is it would allow the captain to lower the boat in the water when at anchor insulating the submerged skin of the boat from the heat of the sun and also make playing in the water easier. I saw a while back a fiberglass boat that had a solid foredeck (term?) and they were promoting how it was possible due to the way they drained the water fast. I could see the Swath hull to allow for a much larger solid deck in front of the cabin or more interior space. Just some random thoughts from a welder in Kansas...

[dejayrezme]

Ah well not quite that rich. And I know the sanest way is to buy an old sail boat...
But I'm still dreaming of a fully solar powered power trimaran :)
In terms of complexity of systems it should be simpler. Any boat will have solar panels, this will just have a lot more and bigger electronics and batteries. Commercial solar panels are dirt cheap now. Upside is that you'd have ample solar power to run appliances.
Sailboats have motors and fuel tanks and filters etc. Electric motors are simpler to maintain. You don't need any mast or rigging or sail which also saves money and work.
Unfortunately I haven't found any plans for something like that yet.
It would need to be very long and thin for displacement efficiency and have a wider deck that is perfectly flat for panels. Almost like a mini aircraft carrier haha.
Well for now it's just a dream.
I'd be curious what you think of the "intelligent" vacuum infusion method of the harry proas?

PS: Thanks for your videos!

[lachlanlandreth]

Watching this, the guys building his own vessel, SV Seeker, springs to mind. I do wonder if that vessel will pass survey.

[George-jgsy]

I don't understand why someone clicked dislike on this video. I'm sure he makes better naval engineering videos...

[Falconnner]

Hi Nick, very clear and structured video. What do you think about HDPE etc. materials for boat hull construction?

[thematronsmilitia]

Have you seen the DIY project underway over at RAN Sailing? I think it's amazing. It's a 50ft monohull, cedar strip sandwiched in fiberglass

[franciscomartinezzea]

Fantastic pragmatic advice. Thank you.

[redsmith]

Excellent topic, and good to know, Thanks!

[mymrmelon]

naw imma just go warp some wood and stick an 1800's sloop together with nails and duct tape LMAO

[panpiper]

I think I've watched this video three times now.

[JyttesTrailCamera]

Not a single mention about wooden boats? They do still build them you know 😊
Excellent channel btw, I've learned a lot here. Thank you.

[bobbyshaftoe]

3D wire-feed boat printing is the future.

[marinusjansen]

Being a naval architect by degree, I like your videos. Still I'm set on doing my own boat.

I will however be using an "off the shelf" linesplan, shell development and rigging arrangement.
That being said I'm into Dutch Leeboards so that's an odd duck in and of itself.