Cost

[gert]

There was once a discussion here on cost to build based on dispacement; was there ever a conclusion to that?

[Ian McColgin]

It tracks fairly well with the cost of beef, quality making a difference.

Cheapest 12 ton boat, like the cheapest nasty ground chuck, might take $48,000 and it would be easy to spend $170,000 or so for the best filet.

[Venchka]

I concur! When I inquired about having my 1/4-3/8 ton boat built. There was so much variation, you would have thought I was getting quotes for different boats.

[gert]

this would be home built; enough boats have been built be enough people that there must be some formula that gives you a ruff idea.I know what drives costs, we built our home 12 years ago and it went 20% over budget but we still knew what the budget was, so how does it work with dispacement boats?

[ 08-11-2003, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: gert ]

[Venchka]

Build a spreadsheet and list ALL of your materials and their cost in your area. I did that for the wood in my boat. It's the only way to know how much things will cost.

[John E Hardiman]

And then there are the buried costs :(

For a gross example on a riveted lapstrake hull

every 100 holes a new drill bit or amortized sharpening rig
every 1000 holes a new plank for just plain bad luck
every 1500 holes a new cheap drill (worn out)
every 5000 holes a new expensive drill (droped)

so for a 7 strake 20' boat ~1680 holes:

17 drill bits or a good bit grinder
2 extra planks
2 cheap drills or one expensive drill

[Venchka]

Obviously, expendables will add up. Saw blades. Sandpaper. Brushes. The list goes on.

Wood cost varies all over the place depending on what's at hand and what must be "imported". If you're lucky and can sift through the discards of a lumber mill you might find lovely boat lumber for free. There is all of that lovely yellow cedar, Douglas-fir and Sitka spruce up in B.C. Use it well!

I really don't think cost per pound can be quantified. Too many variables. Taking a wild crazy guess, cost probably varies directly with the cube of the increase in displacement. I'm kidding of course, but seriously, a 10 ton boat is going to cost a lot more than two times the coat of a 5 ton boat.

I've been up since 3:30 am and I'm rambling. Boats cost what they cost and not a penny less!

[Fishboat]

Michael Kasten wrote an article covering the concept of $X/pound displacement.

http://www.kastenmarine.com/offshore.htm