Martzcraft 46'

[mjak42]

Hi everyone, newbie here, I am looking at buying a yacht for wife and I to go cruising when the rugrats leave home 5-6 years, so am looking for a boat now that we can holiday on, and over the years set it up just right for extended cruising, after searching various sites all boats around 46' either had 3 or 4 cabins, with small sleeping quarters, as we will be living aboard we wanted comfortable for 2 but able to take visitors and crew for ocean voyages. I came across this boat in a local magazine from a small builder, Martz Cruising Yachts
the attention to detail he puts in and the strength of the hull is swaying me towards this, also you can help him build the boat at a reduced cost, this way allowing you to see exactly how it goes together, where in a production boat an employee may cut a small corner just to get his job finished for the day.(not good if that part lets you down in rough seas).
Can some of you more experienced guys have a look for me and give me your thoughts. Am going out for another sail next weekend and a good look over, so some questions to hit him with would be great.

[Sailormann]

Boat looks nice - construction seems to be very good. Wondering about the "Gun Metal" that he is using - is this a type of stainless ? If not - can he substitute stainles for it ?? What type of PVC Foam is it ? If he is using foam in areas where there are deck fittings and/or thru-hulls, it could be a problem, as the compression resistance of foam is not good. Ideally, the areas where winches, sail clutches, etc. are located will not be cored, they will be solid glass. This is particularly important at the hull/deck joint. Outside of that - can't think of anything. Nice-looking boat, and a good idea to help build it so that you know where everything goes. Have you had a chance to contact any owners of the boats he built previously ??

[mjak42]

Thanks "sailorman" for reply I will ask about "gun Metal" and "pvc foam" all deck fittings are reinforced with marine ply pads and marked clearly in the moulded traction pattern on the deck. As for other owners I am meeting one of them before we sail next weekend, others keep in contact with him including the one who has just finished the I think " Melbourne to Osaka" race

[Sailormann]

reinforced with marine ply pads

This is not a good practice and I am surprised that your builder is doing this. Marine ply is the LEAST durable core material there is. It rots fairly quickly. If you do a search on this or any other forum, you'll find extensive discussion of rebedding/re-coring of decks. Read them before you buy any boat. The only builders who are continuing to use plywood are the low-price, high volume companies.

I am not sure what this company is charging for these boats, but I would suggest you look at a few different brands to determine what a good quality 46 foot yacht costs. If this boat you are looking at is signficantly cheaper than those prices, you are going to have a lot of problems down the road. Every builder out there tries to control their costs, regardless of who their market is. If it was possible to turn out a good quality boat more cheaply, they'd be doing it...

[mjak42]

What do you suggest to be used to reinforce deck where whinches etc are, to purchase a boat complete is more expensive than other boats of its size, when you do the D.I.Y option with him you pay him for his wages and you pay for materials used at the prices he can get them for (e.g trade price) he offered to show me a complete price breakdown of boat, and even if you only complete boat to "lock-up stage" with him then take it away to finish, you only need ring him up and he will aquire materials, oven, lights, motor, rigging and electrical equipment using his buying power, he appears very up front with everything, he just enjoys building boats and as long as he is getting paid wages, he will help you in any way to get the boat built as cheaply as possible as if you were a builder yourself.

[tdw]

Martz is a well credentialled boat builder from Australia. His previous undertakings include the Martzcraft 35 which is a well known and highly thought of vessel whose only drawback appeared to be that it was a Bruce Roberts -for want of a better word- design.
Not many of them appear on the second hand market. They always seem to carry a good price and sell quickly.
The Martzcraft 46 is his latest model designed by Colin Clifford who I know absolutely nothing about at all.
There are not many Australian builders in this area of the market because of the small market and relatively high labour and material costs in this counry. Other than Martz I can only think of Buizan and Bluewater Yachts. I'm not up on the comparative pricing of the three but would definitely suggest you check out the other two before you buy. Buizan produce superb vessels and Bluewater's craft are pretty damn good also. I've been on board craft by both of them and been highly impressed. Quality of build is up there with the best of them and certainly surpasses the likes of Beneteau, Bavaria etc. Ms Wombat and I had good long look at Bluewater's Cavalier 39 at the Sydney Boat show a couple of years back and were very impressed. I forget his name but the bloke who runs Bluewater impressed me more than most in an industry littered with relatives of the Dodgey Brothers.
If you are after an Australian produced, low volume, high quality, albeit expensive vessel any of the three should suit. I guess the major downside would be if down the track you decided to sell outside of Australia as none of the three would be well known internationally.
I've never been in and never expect to be in the position to commission the building of a new vessel but if I were then I'd start with those three although I'd still think that late model second hand is a better waste of your money than new, if only cos you burn less of the stuff. I'd also check out NZ. The Kiwis have a reputation or building very good boats indeed.

[mjak42]

hi tdw, thanks for your input, as this will possibly be our one and only boat purchase i want to make the right decision, I had a look at Bluewater yachts they are very nice, but too expensive for me, but have taken on board some of the applications they use, e.g "a layer of Kevlar forward of the main bulkhead to protect against collision." otherwise the building techniques are basically the same except they use solid GRP layup, where Martz uses 25mm High-density PVC foam, N.P.G gelcoats and vinyl-ester resins, and now uses vacuum bagging of the foam core.
I like the use of fibreglass for all the interior furniture, which is trimmed off in Teak, very easy to maintain and keep clean, my wife likes the brightness and modern look of the glass interior, not so claustrophobic as a full timber interior, we are going for another sail with Brent Martz on his boat for another look this weekend, where I will look at all the plumbing, wiring & mechanicals.
Brent was most helpful last time and is open to any changes we would like to make e.g taking out seat at rear of cockpit moving steering pedestal back & fitting a table similar to Jenneau & Beneteau, this we will do whilst laying up the deck. And also changing the staysail to a self tacking system.
The thought of helping with the building side to reduce costs also excites me, that way I am confident everything has been done correctly and I can proudly say " I helped build it" I will know how every part of the boat was put together including plumbing and electrics.

Could not find Buizan.