Glen-L.com

That is the exact boat I want to build! It is so beautiful! What a job! I am very new new to this, actually I am a virgin. I am a good wood worker but this is way different. How long am I looking at the build process, and wht do you think the average cost is?

Awesome Bullet build! Regarding the question about build time and budget...My son and I built a Bullet in 2008 and it took us three months. We worked on it most evenings and put in some serious hours on the weekends. We spent about $10K. We used vertical grain douglas fir ($$$) for the solid wood parts and okuome marine plywood for the rest. That included a new trailer ($1,200), new Yamaha 25 hp motor ($3,800), and wiring the boat with lots of accessories to include stereo, tach, horn, anchor lights, nav lights, bilge pump, bilge blower, and a depth finder. Yes, you could buy a lot more used boat for a lot less money, but that's not the point is it? We have a good time on our Bullet whenever we take the time to get out on the water. Remember this is a two-person boat. We slalom ski behind it with just the driver in the boat. You can wakeboard and combo ski behind it with a passenger in the boat. Pulling two people in a tube is best done with only the driver. Another consideration...some states require a passenger to spot in the boat when towing a skier or tuber.

Thank you, the boat took about 6 months, I worked on it in my shed a couple of hours here and there. This forum helped me so much, I took a shop class in high school about 25 years ago and thought I was getting in to deep but the plans and with the help here I learned alot and it was one of the most satisfying things I have done.
As far as the cost I went cheap, frames from White oak, outdoor plywood for stem and transom.Chines cedar, the skin is 1/4 in marine plywood. I did use west marine epoxy, about 5 galllon.And a crap load of brass screws.
All my hardware came from ebay or craigslist, I would suggest looking for a donar boat, there's always someone looking to give one away.
I made every cut, yes every cut with a hand held jigsaw, some cuts were not perfect especially the shears and chines but nothing a belt sander could'nt fix.
Tools I used, Belt sander!!!!love it for faring, Jig saw, Clamps, Lots!!, screw gun, and alot of brushes.
My finish was West Marine epoxy, then pinstriped with auto pinstripe tape,then painted the blue with Rustoleum Topsides marine paint(found it at lowes), then put about 7 coats of Rustoleum Marine varnish.
I powered the boat with a 1995 25hp Mercury, craigslist(1000.00 with controls)runs great!

I kept pretty good track of my spending and I figure I spent about 2100.00 on the boat and 1000.00 on the motor, it also has a bilge pump, lights, and stereo.


Have fun!!!!!

We recently built a TNT which is similar in size to the Bullet. Our thread is "Another TNT build". We went for the good stuff. We used Phillipine Mahogany lumber and Meranti Mahogany plywood with silicon bronze fasteners. I (and others) recommend bronze, brass is too soft. We glassed/painted the bottom and sides and went with a bright varnish finish on the deck. We spent close to $3k on materials for the boat not including the trailer or motor.

I've got my Bullet build form complete. Next step is glueing up the transome, frames, stem... The screws and 'poxy kit arrived today! The directions don't describe much about fastening the frames to the form. I realize they need to be solidly attached, but what's the best way? I'm thinking frames get mondo clamped to the setup members for the duration of the inverted portion of the hull build; I seriously doubt you want to glue them. How about screw 'em?

_________________
Art Shand

Art,

You definitely don't want to glue anything to the form unless that part of the form is supposed to become part of the boat.
In my build the stringers are considered part of the form setup, but they will also end up being part of the boat itself, so all my frames, etc. get glued to them. But the stringers themselves are only screwed to the form/frame members.

I doubt you'd be able to do it with only clamps without them getting in the way. Just use screws, and fill any screw holes after the flip.

_________________
Jeff

My Celerity build.

Quick update- I've completed all the frames and longitudinals save for one last bit of business- fastening the chines to the stem. Then begins the fairing process.

_________________
Art Shand

Look's Great, Art!!!

Roberta

_________________
Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"