Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

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  • DavidF
    Don't Remember
    • Mar 2002
    • 423

    Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

    I am convinced I will build Harry Bryan's shanty boat (or something like it) at some point when I slow down. It is a great idea and well executed. But the price estimate of $75,000! Obviously a reasonable price tag from someone who is making a living at boat building. But what do you suppose it would cost to build one yourself? If I do a square-foot calculation and I use local wood I can buy the supplies for less than three grand.
  • kenjamin
    Senior Member
    • May 2005
    • 3504

    #2
    Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

    You might be a little optimistic on your cost analysis but yeah I was taken aback some when I read the price tag. Still, even doing your own labor, I'd figure 10 to 15K to get anything near that nice. That's just one man's opinion. Everyone's got one and that's mine.

    Comment

    • McMike
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2009
      • 11713

      #3
      Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

      15K sounds right to me in so far as material is concerned. 75k seems right in so far as retail value. Is it clear that Harry was stating 75k was total cost or just material?

      FWIW, I had the privilage of viewing the Shanty Boat at the Mystic WBS and I loved it!!!
      In the US this perverted idea of “blood and soil” over “constitutional principles” is the most radical and anti-democratic and anti-Conservative idea I have heard in my lifetime.

      ~C. Ross

      Comment

      • McMike
        Senior Member
        • Oct 2009
        • 11713

        #4
        Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

        In the US this perverted idea of “blood and soil” over “constitutional principles” is the most radical and anti-democratic and anti-Conservative idea I have heard in my lifetime.

        ~C. Ross

        Comment

        • rbgarr
          43.50.918 N, 69.38.583 W
          • Apr 1999
          • 25479

          #5
          Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

          Keep in mind that the Bryan design had a lot of curves in it, adding to the labor hours. A more boxy houseboat like the Atkin "Retreat" is built with straight timbers for the most part.

          http://www.atkinboatplans.com/Misc/Retreat.html

          They aren't shantyboats as such, but there are small cottages on rafts (no motors) moored in the Annisquam and Essex Rivers near Gloucester, Mass.



          They aren't uncommon in quiet waters along the eastern seaboard. Woods Hole's Eel Pond has a number of them.

          I like them, probably because some friends built and moored a REALLY small one in a Cape Cod harbor when we were young. It did have an outboard well but was barely maneuverable.
          Last edited by rbgarr; 12-18-2011, 11:47 AM.
          For the most part experience is making the same mistakes over and over again, only with greater confidence.

          Comment

          • JimD
            Senior Mumbler
            • Feb 2002
            • 29704

            #6
            Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

            Beautiful! ...but needs black stove pipe
            Last edited by JimD; 12-18-2011, 02:18 PM.
            There is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.

            Comment

            • john welsford
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2002
              • 7752

              #7
              Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

              Originally posted by DavidF
              I am convinced I will build Harry Bryan's shanty boat (or something like it) at some point when I slow down. It is a great idea and well executed. But the price estimate of $75,000! Obviously a reasonable price tag from someone who is making a living at boat building. But what do you suppose it would cost to build one yourself? If I do a square-foot calculation and I use local wood I can buy the supplies for less than three grand.
              Just looking at the two photos, and taking a guess, there is three grands worth of very nice paint on and in that shanty boat, another three grand or more in that beautiful big cast iron stove, a third three grand in the professional looking squabs and upholstery and thats the thick end of ten grand before any labour or actual boat materials enter the equation. There will be other items that add to the costs very quickly.
              The cost of a boat will depend entirely upon the standard and nature of equipment, and this one seems very nicely built, and very nicely equipped, brushed linseed oil, a sterno stove and some sackcloth over straw pallets would bring the price down a long way but I'm not sure that I'd want to live in that style.

              John Welsford
              An expert is but a beginner with experience.

              Comment

              • David G
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2003
                • 89688

                #8
                Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                For another approach to shanty-boating... take a peek at Philip Thiel's various boats. For example: Escargot and Friendship --





                David G
                Harbor Woodworks
                https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

                Comment

                • JimD
                  Senior Mumbler
                  • Feb 2002
                  • 29704

                  #9
                  Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                  Thanks for that, David. Never seen this before. Very interesting:

                  There is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.

                  Comment

                  • David G
                    Senior Member
                    • Dec 2003
                    • 89688

                    #10
                    Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                    Jim,

                    de nada.

                    If you like those... he's done several variations you can check out.
                    David G
                    Harbor Woodworks
                    https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                    "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

                    Comment

                    • SScoville
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2008
                      • 474

                      #11
                      Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                      I've been building to Harry's original design over the past year using plywood for the hull. I'm confident the $75,000 is total cost of a finished boat from Harry. He has a 12' Fiddlehead open design for sale on his website for 3,400. At any rate, I think the plywood I bought for the hull was about 1300. I used df marine plywood. It's certainly not the best money can buy. I have 3/4 topsides and 2 layers of 1/2 in. on the bottom. The wood for my frames I had on hand already. I don't think that would cost you more than about 1200. Some bronze screws, epoxy and glass tape (I only glassed the seems and put 2 coats of epoxy on the hull. Rustoleum marine paint in red and voila, you have a hull that I'm hoping looks a bit like Harlan Hubbard's did.

                      I've started framing out the interior and hope to start installing the studs before year's end. I don't see any reason to use anything other than construction grade spruce/fir for the studs. The point now is to keep the weight down. I THINK I will have less than 10k in her in materials before I add a stove, etc. I really have not kept track.

                      Others will surely want to to use BS 1088 ply and sheath the entire hull. I understand that and would have used Hydrotek if I could have - long story.

                      Comment

                      • kenjamin
                        Senior Member
                        • May 2005
                        • 3504

                        #12
                        Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                        My experience from contracting a couple of my houses has been to estimate as accurately as possible the costs and then double that. It's the little things that add up but keeping track of every little penny you spend is almost a part-time job in itself. On the fir plywood, it sure likes to check but I built a little skiff with 3/8" fir ply back in the late 1970's and we fished out of it for like twenty-five years and when I sold it in 2006, it was still going strong. It had glass on the bottom but nowhere else and I painted it about every five years. It lived up-side-down in the yard and the dogs loved that thing.

                        Comment

                        • davidrparker
                          Member
                          • Jun 2006
                          • 93

                          #13
                          Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                          Are Mr. Thiel's plans available for purchase and if so, where?

                          Best regards, David

                          Comment

                          • JimD
                            Senior Mumbler
                            • Feb 2002
                            • 29704

                            #14
                            Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                            Originally posted by davidrparker
                            Are Mr. Thiel's plans available for purchase and if so, where?

                            Best regards, David
                            Good question. The website seems to say to write him via snail mail, presumably at this address:

                            Philip Thiel
                            4720 7th Avenue NE
                            Seattle WA 98105 USA

                            His bio says he was born in 1920 so its possible Mr Thiel likes to do business the old fashioned way.
                            There is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.

                            Comment

                            • Robmill0605
                              Senior Member
                              • May 2006
                              • 1871

                              #15
                              Re: Harry Bryan's shanty boat is sweet, but

                              I've always thought the shanty boat lifestyle was just terrific. Before I bought Heart of Gold II,I was thinking about just such a boat to live aboard in my retirement years. There are a lot of factors involved in calculating costs. I was also somewhat surprised at the 75K figure, but then you have to add labor costs from a professional builder, as well as the profit beyond just labor.
                              Still, 75k strikes me as pretty darn steep for a 20 ft boat, no motor, no wiring, no electronics, no galley, no head, etc
                              " He who works with his hands is a laborer.
                              He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist".
                              St. Francis of Assis (1181-1226)

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