Re: Plans vs. kit

Posted by Alan Speakman on Sep 12, 2006

Hi Randy,

Let's see if we can break the costs down... (I'll "guesstimate" the Chessy 18 stuff...)

If you just buy the plans and manual from CLC: * Plans and manual - $75 * Okoume - $200 * Epoxy/glass - $150 * Mahogany/other wood - $50 * Fasteners - $10 * Misc. (seat, bungees, gasoline, lunch on the road picking up stuff...) - $100 Ballpark total: ~ $600

Now, if you buy the complete kit on sale: * Kit - $704 * Plans/manual - $69 * Shipping - apx. $100 Ballpark total: ~ $900

Yeah I know these figures are rough, but they should at least be "in the range".

Now, here comes the tough part... The "immeasurables": * Amount of time spent going the "non-kit" route (finding stuff, ordering stuff, picking up stuff, returning stuff, making stuff) - 80 hrs easy * Hassle - Who can count? * Quality/appropriateness of parts gathered here and there - Who can count? But one thing is an irrefutable fact - CLC provides superb-grade materials in their kits. * One of the great mistakes about "using stuff I already have" is that you don't have to pay for it... Usually nope - that just ain't true! Typically, you either paid for it in the past, you pay for it now, or you'll pay for it in the future via a credit card... But one way or another you usually have to pay for the part. * And the final "immeasurable" is this... Randy, you may just want to build the boat from plans and scratch... If that's the case, that's cool... I've built three that way.

So, the bottom line as I see it is this... Build from scratch for love of the process (at something like minimum wage), or build from the kit (which is a heck of a bargain on sale...)

Alan

In Response to: Re: Plans vs. kit by Andrew Sommer on Sep 11, 2006

Replies:

• Re: Plans vs. kit by Steve Miller on Sep 12, 2006
• Re: Plans vs. kit by CLC on Sep 12, 2006
  • Re: Plans vs. kit by Alan Speakman on Sep 12, 2006