Hi everyone i am looking at a TY 43 Roberts in steel kit form i have suitably qualified friends and a reasonable level of experience to be confident of doing the build. What i would like to find out if there is anyone on the forum who has done or knows of anyone who has done one of the Roberts kits in steel and their experience not only with the quality of the material but also in the final end result is it what they expected and if the boat performs to expectations.
Roberts steel DYI kits
- Thread starter kbad
- Start date
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Tidahapah
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,859
- Location
- Australia
- Vessel Name
- Flora
- Vessel Make
- Timber southern cray boat
many years ago a friend of mine built a Bruce Roberts PCF 40. This is a motor sailor and a fine boat it is.
He extended it length wise by 3 ft and also put about 6" in the middle. He required a little more flotation for a Gardner 6LW and extra fuel.
The boat is still going strong with the original builder.
His wasn't a kit he built it from the plans and I never heard him complain about anything from Bruce being wrong and he has been very happy with the way the boat performs.
Mind you this was about 20 years ago.
I still like the PCF design it is very similar to our Tassie cray boats
He extended it length wise by 3 ft and also put about 6" in the middle. He required a little more flotation for a Gardner 6LW and extra fuel.
The boat is still going strong with the original builder.
His wasn't a kit he built it from the plans and I never heard him complain about anything from Bruce being wrong and he has been very happy with the way the boat performs.
Mind you this was about 20 years ago.
I still like the PCF design it is very similar to our Tassie cray boats
Conall63
Senior Member
I built one and just launched. Check out my blog. Email me for questions or we can discuss here on this forum.
Conall
Conall's Boat Build
Conall
Conall's Boat Build
sunchaser
Guru
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2008
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- 10,194
- Location
- usa
- Vessel Name
- sunchaser V
- Vessel Make
- DeFever 48 (sold)
I know of two who did this with some good and bad results. Good because they (Sonata) followed the plans and were dedicated like Conall. On the other the builder/owner died about 75% of the way through the project. The widow dedicated insufficient money to do the finish job right.
Conall, I note your headroom point - one I spent some time on had a large beam about 12" off the ceiling as you enter the salon from the back deck. OUCH!
Conall, I note your headroom point - one I spent some time on had a large beam about 12" off the ceiling as you enter the salon from the back deck. OUCH!
Conall63
Senior Member
I'm 6' tall Sunchaser, and I'd have to check, but I think we're 7'2 in the salon and wheel house, and 6'10 in the master cabin... great headroom as far as I need. 5' in the engine room is decent, but I'm happy with it although I'd for sure rather have 6'+. I think stand up engine room is tough to find with boats under 50'.
The headroom over the step up to the wheel house is lousy, and I have to duck. Strangers not used being on board usually crack their head at least once stepping up to the wheel house. If I were to do it over, I'd for sure frame a notch in this area.
Building a boat of this size is a huge undertaking. Being in the construction business all of my life, and having built my last two houses, I can for sure tell anyone, that building a boat is probably seven or eight times the work one figures/guesses it to be.
As far as performance goes, I can't offer much on that since I've only ran her lightly for half a season, and on a River. I can say she tracks straight as string, and one barely has to touch the wheel every two or three miles. The fuel economy seems decent at bit under 3mpg with a Deere 6068TFM. She's heavily insulated and sound proofed, so I think one would be hard pressed to find a quieter boat. The little bit of wave and wake action we see on the Ohio River is hardly noticed.
This was a ten year project for me that I enjoyed. I'm happy with the appraised value, and I'm for sure happy to be a debt free boat owner. Building this is more of a lifestyle than a project, so it's not suited for many people.
Conall
The headroom over the step up to the wheel house is lousy, and I have to duck. Strangers not used being on board usually crack their head at least once stepping up to the wheel house. If I were to do it over, I'd for sure frame a notch in this area.
Building a boat of this size is a huge undertaking. Being in the construction business all of my life, and having built my last two houses, I can for sure tell anyone, that building a boat is probably seven or eight times the work one figures/guesses it to be.
As far as performance goes, I can't offer much on that since I've only ran her lightly for half a season, and on a River. I can say she tracks straight as string, and one barely has to touch the wheel every two or three miles. The fuel economy seems decent at bit under 3mpg with a Deere 6068TFM. She's heavily insulated and sound proofed, so I think one would be hard pressed to find a quieter boat. The little bit of wave and wake action we see on the Ohio River is hardly noticed.
This was a ten year project for me that I enjoyed. I'm happy with the appraised value, and I'm for sure happy to be a debt free boat owner. Building this is more of a lifestyle than a project, so it's not suited for many people.
Conall
